Title: Developing intellectual capital globally: an epistemic community perspective

Authors: James H. Tiessen

Addresses: Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M4, Canada

Abstract: This paper employs the epistemic community (EC) concept, borrowed from the international relations field, to examine the process of global innovation in multinational firms. An EC is a worldwide group of experts who develop and diffuse innovative policies by interacting with each other while advising the government decision-makers above them in their own countries. Multinational innovation resembles the process of international policy development, so lends itself to this view. The key implication for multinationals is that they can develop their intellectual capital by fostering and harnessing the specialised knowledge residing in all their functional and geographic areas, not just the R&D department at home.

Keywords: multinational innovation; global learning; international political perspectives; functional specialists.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.1999.002799

International Journal of Technology Management, 1999 Vol.18 No.5/6/7/8, pp.720-730

Published online: 07 Jul 2003 *

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