The geographical sources of competitiveness of multinational enterprises: an econometric analysis

This paper presents empirical evidence to assess the extent to which multinational corporations are deriving an increasing share of their competitive advantages from abroad. The evidence is analyzed in the context of the Porter diamond, incorporating both firm, industry and national level variables. A particularly interesting aspect of the results is the extent to which multinationals are increasingly sourcing abroad assets which are knowledge-intensive and appear similar, rather than complementary to their existing activities.