International Business and Strategy,

Henley Business School

PhD Masterclass
30 March – 1 April 2022

International Business, Innovation and

Geography
by
Lucia Piscitello and Davide Castellani (with Ari Van
Assche)
About the course instructors:
Lucia Piscitello is Professor of International Business at Politecnico di Milano. Her research
interests cover the economics and management of MNEs, the international aspects of
technological change and the geography of innovation. She is Fellow and Chair of the
European International Business Academy.
Davide Castellani is Professor of International Business and Strategy at the Henley Business
School, University of Reading. His research interests lie at the intersection of International
Business, Economic Geography and International Economics and covers the analysis of
determinants and effects of international business activities.

About the guest speaker:

Ari Van Assche is Professor in the Department of International Business at HEC Montreal. His
research interests cover international trade, global value chains, industrial clusters, Chinese
economy, international business policy. He is Deputy Editor of Journal of International
Business Policy.

Henley Business School, University of Reading 2021 Monday, 20 December 2021, Page 2
Course Themes
Innovation is at the core of IB. On one hand, it is one key firm-specific advantage, which
determines the scope and direction of firms' international activities. On the other hand, by
expanding in foreign markets, and in particular by internationalizing the R&D and knowledge-
creating activities, MNEs can further shape the pace of innovation and their technological
trajectory. In both cases, geography plays a key role, by creating constraints and opportunities
for the location of MNEs innovative activities.

This course addresses the complex relations between innovation, IB and Economic
Geography, by providing a state-of-the-art critical overview of conceptual and empirical
research organized around the following topics:

1. The Changing Nature of Innovation in Clusters and Global Value Chains

2. Geography of Innovation and the MNE
3. Agglomeration economies and MNE location strategy

Course Objectives
This course is intended for doctoral and post-doctoral researchers interested in the complex
relations between IB, Innovation and Economic Geography. It aims at providing the tools to
critically assess some of the main conceptual and empirical issues in the literature on IB,
Innovation and Economic Geography

Course Overview
The course will be taught face-to-face at the Henley Business School, University of Reading
(Whiteknights Campus). While the course has been designed for face-to-face delivery,
participants who are unable to travel to Reading will be able to attend the live sessions
online, via MS Teams.
The course consists of five sessions held over a period of two and a half days (see the
preliminary class schedule below). During each session, there will be a lecture with class
discussion. Each class participant will also have the opportunity to present their own PhD
research outline and should prepare a 5-minute presentation for this purpose. These
presentations are encouraged, but not compulsory.
While the core syllabus is fixed, there is scope for incorporating additional material on
special topics at the request of individual participants. These requests can be made either
before or during the course.
Participants wishing to obtain formal credits for the course should submit a 2,500 word
(excluding references) original report on a chosen topic covered in the course. The report

Henley Business School, University of Reading 2021 Monday, 20 December 2021, Page 3
should include a critical review of the literature on the chosen topic and outline a future
research opportunity. This report can be submitted at any time up to 1 July 2022, and the
assessment process will be completed within one month of submission.
Participants who are not formally enrolled on the masterclass are exempt from submitting an
assignment. Such students will receive a certificate of attendance upon course completion.

Class Schedule (preliminary)

Time 30/3/2022 31/3/2022 1/4/2022

am Geography of tbc
innovation and the
MNE (D. Castellani)

LUNCH LUNCH LUNCH

pm The changing nature Agglomeration Methodological

of innovation in economies and MNE challenges in
cluasters and GVC (A. location strategy (L. location strategy
Van Assche) Piscitello) Students’
presentations

Henley Business School, University of Reading 2021 Monday, 20 December 2021, Page 4
Reading list (preliminary)
1. The Changing Nature of Innovation in Clusters and Global Value Chains

Ambos, B., Brandl, K., Perri, A., Scalera, V. G., & Van Assche, A. (2021). The nature of
innovation in global value chains. Journal of World Business, 56(4), 101221.
Balland, P. A., Jara-Figueroa, C., Petralia, S. G., Steijn, M. P., Rigby, D. L., & Hidalgo, C. A. (2020).
Complex economic activities concentrate in large cities. Nature Human Behaviour,
4(3), 248-254.
Bathelt, H., Malmberg, A., & Maskell, P. (2004). Clusters and knowledge: local buzz, global
pipelines and the process of knowledge creation. Progress in human geography, 28(1),
31-56.
Giuliani, E., & Bell, M. (2005). The micro-determinants of meso-level learning and innovation:
evidence from a Chilean wine cluster. Research policy, 34(1), 47-68.
Turkina and Van Assche (2018). Global connectedness and local innovation in industrial
clusters. Journal of International Business Studies.
Turkina and Van Assche (2019). An anatomy of Bengaluru’s ICT cluster: a community
structure detection approach. Management and Organization Review, forthcoming.
Turkina, Van Assche & Doloreux (2021). How do firms in co-located clusters interact?
Evidence from Greater Montréal. Journal of Economic Geography.

2. Geography of Innovation and the MNE

Castellani, D., Jimenez, A., & Zanfei, A. (2013). How remote are R&D labs? Distance factors
and international innovative activities. Journal of International Business Studies, 44(7),
649-675.
Castellani, D. (2018) The changing geography of innovation and the multinational
enterprise. In: Cook, G., Johns, J., McDonald, F., Beaverstock, J. and Pandit, N. (eds.) The
Routledge Companion to International Business and Economic Geography. Routledge,
Abingdon. Available at
http://assets.henley.ac.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/defaultUploads/PDFs/research/papers-
publications/JHD-2017-02-Castellani.pdf
Crescenzi, R., Pietrobelli, C., Rabellotti, R. 2014, Innovation drivers, value chain and the
geography of multinational corporations in Europe, Journal of Economic Geography,
14(6): 1053-1086.
Crescenzi, Riccardo, Dyevre, Arnaud and Neffke, Frank (2020) Innovation catalysts: how
multinationals reshape the global geography of innovation. Geography and Environment
Discussion Paper Series (7). Department of Geography and Environment, LSE, London,
UK.
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/105684/1/Crescenzi_Dyevre_Neffke_Paper_7_innovation_catal
ysts_2020.pdf
• See associated Blog Post: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/gild/2017/10/12/innovation-and-the-city-the-
quest-for-membership-of-an-exclusive-club/
• Watch a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYvBp1SPmMQ&feature=youtu.be

Gertler, M. S. (2003). Tacit knowledge and the economic geography of context, or the
undefinable tacitness of being (there). Journal of Economic Geography, 3(1), 75-99.

Henley Business School, University of Reading 2021 Monday, 20 December 2021, Page 5
3. Agglomeration economies and MNE location strategy

Alcácer J, Chung W. 2007, Location strategies and knowledge spillovers, Management Science
53(5): 760–776.
Alcácer J, Zhao M. 2012, Local R&D Strategies and Multilocation Firms: The Role of Internal
Linkages. Management Science, 58(4): 734–753.
Alcácer, J. (2006). Location choices across the value chain: How activity and capability
influence collocation. Management Science, 52(10), 1457-1471.
Alcácer, J., & Delgado, M. (2016). Spatial organization of firms and location choices through
the value chain. Management science, 62(11), 3213-3234.
Alcácer, J., Chung, W., Hawk, A., & Pacheco-de-Almeida, G. (2018). Applying random
coefficient models to strategy research: Identifying and exploring firm heterogeneous
effects. Strategy Science, 3(3), 533-553.
Castellani D., Lavoratori K. (2020) The Lab and the Plant. Offshore R&D and co-location with
production activities, Journal of International Business Studies, forthcoming
Chung, W., & Alcácer, J. (2002). Knowledge seeking and location choice of foreign direct
investment in the United States. Management Science, 48(12), 1534-1554.
Mariotti S., Mosconi R., Piscitello L. (2019) Location and survival of MNEs' subsidiaries:
agglomeration and heterogeneity of firms and contexts, Strategic Management Journal,
40: pp. 2242–2270.
Nielsen B.B., Asmussen C.G., Weatherall C.D. (2017) The location choice of foreign direct
investments: empirical evidence and methodological challenges. Journal of World
Busiess, Vol. 52, 62-82.
Shaver JM, Flyer F. 2000, Agglomeration Economies, Firm Heterogeneity, and Foreign Direct
Investment in the United States. Strategic Management Journal 21(12): 1175–1193.

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