Title: Appropriability regimes in the international playground for innovation

Authors: Pia Hurmelinna-Laukkanen

Addresses: Oulu Business School, University of Oulu, PO Box 4600, 90014 Oulu, Finland

Abstract: In the field of innovation, internationalisation and competitive advantage, the uniqueness of firm-specific knowledge assets and the need for their controlled transfer can be identified as common denominators and critical success factors. Therefore, a firm's appropriability regime - the combination of different mechanisms that simultaneously enable both knowledge protection and utilisation - is relevant. Adding to the existing research, this study examines the importance of the scope of the appropriability regime with respect to internationalisation. The results from an analysis of data gathered from 299 Finnish companies indicate that the scope of the appropriability regime is positively related both to the likelihood to internationalise in the first place and to the level of international performance.

Keywords: internationalisation; firm performance; innovation; appropriability; Finnish firms; Finland; competitive advantage; knowledge assets; knowledge transfer; critical success factors; CSFs; knowledge protection; knowledge utilisation.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2014.064898

European Journal of International Management, 2014 Vol.8 No.6, pp.621 - 643

Received: 17 Oct 2012
Accepted: 04 Apr 2013
Published online: 21 Oct 2014 *

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