This book is positioned at the interface of research in economic geography and strategic
management combining topics like intangible assets (IAs) Open Innovation strategies of
multinational enterprises (MNEs) and Regional Innovation Systems (RIS). A micro-approach to
analyzing the innovation behavior of nine MNEs in two advanced European economies Germany and
the UK was applied which has revealed key channels through which IAs are enhanced in the
innovation processes of multinationals and has described their spatial roots and impact.
Moreover the study presents a novel matrix of the regional embeddedness of MNEs and
systematically classifies the case study firms. Finally it shows that geographical proximity
to RIS is important for Open Innovation and enables MNEs to strengthen their absorptive
capacity.
