Based on a sample of 4,572 foreign patents, this article analyzes the sectoral and geographic sources of innovation in the international Food and Beverage industry at the four-digit level. Upstream industries are important contributors of innovation, especially for commodity-type industries....

We explore whether current innovation has an enduring effect on future innovative activity in large, global food and beverage (F&B) companies. We analyze a sample of 16,698 patents granted in the United States over the period 1977 to 1994 to 103 F&B firms selected from the world's largest F&B...