We are living in the age of globalization, and information technology has penetrated our society in every aspect. Multinational firms seem to operate relentlessly anytime, anywhere, and in every activity. They have research and development (R&D) centers with global reach, and collect knowledge and innovations from all over the world to create new technologies and products, or at least so they claim.
However, a closer investigation into how Toyota, Sony and Canon, three successful global players, conduct their R&D activities reveals that the overwhelming proportion of R&D takes place within each firm’s core region. Moreover, the scope of this core region is substantially smaller than national, or all of Japan, but rather matches with the metropolitan scale: the Toyota-Nagoya region for Toyota, and the southern Tokyo region for Sony and Canon.
To read the full, original article click on this link: The Secret to Great Innovation: R&D Clusters - Forbes
