Editorial-managing innovation in emerging economies: An introduction to the special issue

Abstract

The February 2010 special issue of IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management contains several papers on managing innovation in emerging economies. Li's paper on global R&D alliances uses an organizational learning perspective to examine when multinational corporations (MNCs) select universities rather than local firms as partners for R&D alliances in China, a country without a strong intellectual property (IP) regime. Quan and Chesbrough investigate how a multinational corporation has to manage its R&D process in emerging economies with a weak IP regime so that the organization can protect. Bromfield and Barnard examine the evolution of IP strategy of Sasol, a South African industrial chemical firm, starting out as a firm with limited technological expertise and no IP strategy to develop into a firm with proprietary technology. Song et al. examine how a formal process for market information acquisition and usage plays a significant role in the success of new Chinese ventures.