International Connectedness Research Articles

When does international knowledge connectivity of global cities attract R&D investments? The role of concentrated ownership through organizational pipelines

We argue that the degree of concentrated ownership of international knowledge connections of a city in the hands of a small number of MNEs reduces the potential for knowledge spillovers and has a negative influence on the attractiveness of a city for new R&D investments. Ownership concentration in international knowledge connections reduces the positive influence of two complementary characteristics of international knowledge connectivity: the international connectedness (“depth”) and the geographical diversity (“breadth”) of the cities' international knowledge networks. Our analysis of the location decisions for 3235 new cross-border R&D investments made by 1599 firms distributed across 71 global cities (2003–2016) provides support for these hypotheses.

An industry’s international connectedness and knowledge-sourcing behavior: a study of the Korean case

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of an industry’s connectedness to foreign countries on knowledge sourcing.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examine the research model through probit regression techniques to the 472,303-patent data across 16 industries derived from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.FindingsThe results suggest that international connectedness increases the accessibility of foreign knowledge and helps the accumulation of technological capability. Thus, this paper provides a better understanding that international connectedness can be critical for exploiting knowledge dispersed worldwide and influencing intra- and interindustry knowledge-sourcing behavior in the home country.Originality/valueWhile prior studies have mainly paid attention to the relationship between parents and subsidiaries in foreign countries for international knowledge sourcing, the authors attempt to analyze international and local knowledge sourcing with a broader set of knowledge sourcing channels at an aggregate level. By considering an industry’s export intensity and inward foreign direct investment, this study reveals specifically how the extent of an industry’s international connectedness influences knowledge sourcing from both abroad and locally.

International Connectedness, Governmental Interventions, and Firm Adaptation to Exogenous Shocks

International Connectedness, Governmental Interventions, and Firm Adaptation to Exogenous Shocks

European stock market volatility connectedness: The role of country and sector membership

The literature suggests that the country in which a company is listed, i.e., its country membership, is the main determinant of its price volatility co-movements in the global stock market but, at the same time, this body of literature also recognizes the relevance of industry sector membership for understanding risk transmission. Drawing on recent advances in time series analysis, we are able to define an extensive network structure for 645 ‘large-cap’ companies from 35 European countries, and to decompose the total market volatility connectedness into its respective country and sector membership contributions. Using the firm level as our unit of analysis, we find that traditional (more aggregate) approaches, which rely on market indices to study international connectedness, present an incomplete (and, biased) picture of risk transmission between international stock markets. We show that, in general, a company’s country membership is indeed a more significant determinant than that of its sector membership; however, from a risk management perspective, there are significant heterogeneities at the company level that need to be duly considered and quantified so as to better anticipate crucial dependencies in certain countries or sectors in periods of market distress, such as that resulting from the current conflict in Ukraine and the economic sanctions being imposed. We summarize the connectedness of individual companies in a network that international risk managers and investors can use to assess global financial market dependencies and to inform their risk management practices.

Technodiplomatic processes of territorialization: negotiating Chinese sovereignty through infrastructure in semi-colonial Tianjin, 1901–08

ABSTRACT This article analyses processes of territorialization related to the planning of tram lines in early 20th-century Tianjin, one of China’s semi-colonial treaty ports and home to eight foreign extraterritorialities. We use the concept of technodiplomacy to foreground how infrastructure planning and the anticipated implications on territorialization operated as a portal through which actors of different states negotiated sovereignty within a constellation of asymmetrical geopolitical relations. The technodiplomatic lens focuses on the design process of the infrastructure as a diplomatic endeavour, arguing that this stage reveals contentious, asymmetrical geopolitical interests and deliberations, which are ultimately hidden behind the depoliticized rhetoric of the final plan. More specifically, the hypothesis is that the infrastructure project allowed the Belgian tram company to negotiate sovereignty diplomatically within the semi-colonial context, avoiding direct conflict with Chinese authorities and other imperial powers present in the city. In tracing the geopolitical motives inscribed in the design of the tram, we argue that the negotiated tensions between national sovereignty–international connectedness and national competition–international cooperation are key to a historical–spatial specific understanding of dynamic processes of de- and reterritorialization. In deconstructing domestic–foreign and territory–network polarities, this article attempts to overcome John Agnew’s territorial trap, while grounding semi-colonialism firmly in space.

Analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons towards a more effective response to public health emergencies

BackgroundThe pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a timely reminder of the nature and impact of Public Health Emergencies of International Concern. As of 12 January 2022, there were over 314 million cases and over 5.5 million deaths notified since the start of the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic takes variable shapes and forms, in terms of cases and deaths, in different regions and countries of the world. The objective of this study is to analyse the variable expression of COVID-19 pandemic so that lessons can be learned towards an effective public health emergency response.MethodsWe conducted a mixed-methods study to understand the heterogeneity of cases and deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Correlation analysis and scatter plot were employed for the quantitative data. We used Spearman’s correlation analysis to determine relationship strength between cases and deaths and socio-economic and health systems. We organized qualitative information from the literature and conducted a thematic analysis to recognize patterns of cases and deaths and explain the findings from the quantitative data.ResultsWe have found that regions and countries with high human development index have higher cases and deaths per million population due to COVID-19. This is due to international connectedness and mobility of their population related to trade and tourism, and their vulnerability related to older populations and higher rates of non-communicable diseases. We have also identified that the burden of the pandemic is also variable among high- and middle-income countries due to differences in the governance of the pandemic, fragmentation of health systems, and socio-economic inequities.ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that every country remains vulnerable to public health emergencies. The aspiration towards a healthier and safer society requires that countries develop and implement a coherent and context-specific national strategy, improve governance of public health emergencies, build the capacity of their (public) health systems, minimize fragmentation, and tackle upstream structural issues, including socio-economic inequities. This is possible through a primary health care approach, which ensures provision of universal and equitable promotive, preventive and curative services, through whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches.

Generating tacit knowledge across borders: international collaboration and design innovation in Norway

ABSTRACT We analyse the international dispersion of inventor networks engaged in design innovation, by studying a dataset of design patents linked to Norway. Specifically, we examine the extent to which the international dispersion of design innovation is sustained by firms´ organisation-based pipelines, innovation capabilities and star designers’ personal linkages. We find that, in traditional design sectors, greater orchestration and innovative capabilities help firms source knowledge globally, while star designers tend to work independently or collaborate locally. Design innovation activities in high-tech sectors show higher international connectedness, largely driven by star designers’ personal connections. Surprisingly, firms with lower innovative capability tend to be connected to inventor networks that are more internationally dispersed. While increasing attention is being given to the value added by design, little is known about international design innovation networks. Our paper opens potential avenues for research on the distribution and orchestration of design innovation across borders.

“Splendid Isolation”: The reproduction of music industry inequalities in Spotify’s recommendation system

In this article, we argue that offline inequalities, such as core–periphery relations of the music industry, are reproduced by streaming platforms. First, we offer an overview of the reproduction of inequalities and core–periphery dynamics in the music industry. Then we illustrate this through a small-scale network analysis case study of Hungarian metal bands’ connections on Spotify. We show that the primary determinant of a given band’s international connectedness in Spotify’s algorithmic ecosystem is their international label connections. Bands on international labels have more reciprocal international connections and are more likely to be recommended based on actual genre similarity. However, bands signed with local labels or self-published tend to have domestic connections and to be paired with other artists by Spotify’s recommendation system according to their country of origin.

International connectedness and local disconnectedness: MNE strategy, city-regions and disruption.

Much of the rising international connectedness of city-regions has developed from MNEs replacing local connections with (superior) international ones. This often creates local disconnectedness that energizes the current populist backlash against MNE activities. We develop approaches to new IB theory, addressing the interdependencies of MNEs and city-regions that we propose as a crucial avenue for future research. We contrast two generic MNE strategies. The first is the traditional one: the ‘global orchestration’ of resources and markets. We argue that it exacerbates local disconnectedness. The second, that we call ‘local spawning,’ involves engaging with the local entrepreneurial eco-system to create and renew local connectedness, diffusing populist responses. Some MNEs are better able to implement a local spawning strategy, due to industry factors like innovation clock-speed, and firm characteristics like organizational path dependency. Finally, we distinguish between disconnection, which is an outcome of MNE strategy, and global disruptions, like the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which are primarily stochastic events. Addressing disconnections requires MNEs to re-orient their strategies while dealing with disruptions requires undertaking risk mitigation. We present empirical evidence from city-regions around the world to illustrate our theory.

International connectivity in the generation of information and communication technology (ICT) in Spain

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the characteristics of knowledge creation in a key technology field, i.e. information and communication technology (ICT), to determine whether it is driven by domestic firms and inventors, or whether the traction is provided by international connections to global innovation networks. The authors argue that the geographical pattern of international connectivity is characterized by local concentration and strong connections to foreign multinational enterprises, for which a large number of inventors in Spain work.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis was done using data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office database, covering almost 40 years, ranging from 1976 to 2014. The authors used patents in the ICT sector connected to either inventors or organizations located in Spain. The authors analyzed collaboration by the location of both inventors and assignees, and the connections established across borders. Second, the authors assessed the level of concentration and dispersion that characterizes these relationships.FindingsFirst, the growth of the ICT sector in Spain is strongly driven by linkages with foreign companies, in particular those located in the USA. Second, the interaction of local and international clusters of knowledge generation is a key driver of the ICT sector, which is far from being global. Third, there is a geographic concentration of national/international knowledge sources, which is mediated by the technological strategies of internationalized firms. Therefore, the new information age seems to be highly dependent on the collaboration between individuals and companies through focal local points, and on the prevalence of co-developed international inventions.Research limitations/implicationsUnderstanding the patterns of ICT-related knowledge creation and its geographical footprint is crucial to foster competitiveness in the digital age. The transition from a paradigm based on tangible assets to one where competitive advantage stems mainly from intangibles, has significant implications for both policy and practice. International collaboration presents opportunities to enhance competitiveness at various levels, be that organizations, regions or countries. To seize these opportunities, it is key to enhance the endogenous capabilities and absorptive capacity of the local players. While patent data captures the output of a national innovation system only partially, it is still a suitable indicator to capture international connectedness. More qualitative-oriented techniques, however, may allow for a better assessment of tacit knowledge flows.Originality/valueThe creation of knowledge in high-tech industries is a key aspect of competitiveness, and it is increasingly supported by collaboration that spans across borders. However, knowledge creation adopts different patterns, depending on the unique characteristics of the country. The authors analyze the case of Spain, a developed economy with pockets of innovation but also significant areas that can be considered “peripheral,” both economically and industrially, when compared to much of Western Europe. This study’s analysis captures the combination of concentration and dispersion in the process of knowledge generation that characterizes the ICT sector in intermediate countries.

Creating connections: expanding horizons for professional services

ABSTRACTThrough personal opinion, experience, and where appropriate wider evidence the piece explores the personal and professional benefits of creating connections, especially in professional service roles; the current dearth of international connectedness for professional service staff; and a possible model for encouraging greater creation and utilisation of connections for professional service staff in UKHE. The piece makes the case that creating connections, especially those that go beyond professional service staffs’ immediate areas of knowledge and experience, are vital not just for surviving the current HE climate but also for finding a way to thrive within it.

Sexually transmitted hepatitis C virus infections: current trends, and recent advances in understanding the spread in men who have sex with men.

IntroductionHepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health threat. Although the recent availability of highly effective directly acting antivirals created optimism towards HCV elimination, there is ongoing transmission of HCV in men who have sex with men (MSM). We here report current epidemiological trends and synthesise evidence on behavioural, network, cellular and molecular host factors associated with sexual transmission of HCV, in particular the role of HIV‐1 co‐infection. We discuss prevention opportunities focusing on the potential of HCV treatment.MethodsWe searched MEDLINE, fact sheets from health professional bodies and conference abstracts using appropriate keywords to identify and select relevant reports.Results and discussionRecent studies strongly suggest that HCV is transmitted via sexual contact in HIV‐positive MSM and more recently in HIV‐negative MSM eligible for or on pre‐exposure prophylaxis. The reinfection risk following clearance is about 10 times the risk of primary infection. International connectedness of MSM transmission networks might contribute to ongoing reinfection. Some of these networks might overlap with networks of people who inject drugs. Although, the precise mechanisms facilitating sexual transmission remain unclear, damage to the mucosal barrier in the rectum could increase susceptibility. Mucosal dendritic cell subsets could increase HCV susceptibility by retaining HCV and transmitting the virus to other cells, allowing egress into blood and liver. Early identification of new HCV infections is important to prevent onward transmission, but early diagnosis of acute HCV infection and prompt treatment is hampered by the slow rate of HCV antibody seroconversion, which in rare cases may take more than a year. Novel tests such as testing for HCV core antigen might facilitate early diagnosis.ConclusionsHigh‐risk sexual behaviour, network characteristics, co‐infection with sexually transmitted infections like HIV‐1 and other concomitant bacterial and viral sexually transmitted infections are important factors that lead to HCV spread. Targeted and combined prevention efforts including effective behavioural interventions and scale‐up of HCV testing and treatment are required to halt HCV transmission in MSM.

Dynamic Connectedness of International Crude Oil Prices: The Diebold–Yilmaz Approach

Connectedness is the key to modern risk measurement and management. This study investigates the international connectedness of crude oil prices and explores its time-varying characteristics based on a connectedness measurement framework using daily international crude oil prices. The international connectedness of crude oil prices is investigated from three perspectives: total connectedness, total directional connectedness, and pairwise directional connectedness. We find that the total connectedness of crude oil prices is 67.3%. We also find that the crude oil prices of Tapes, Daqing, Dubai and Minas are highly affected by Brent and WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil prices. Furthermore, WTI and Brent are the price makers of international crude oil prices, while Tapes, Daqing, Dubai and Minas are price takers. From the perspective of pairwise directional connectedness, we find that the degree of pairwise directional connectedness between Brent and WTI are high. Finally, the structure of international crude oil markets stays the same even after market shocks. The main contributions of this study are identification of dynamic connectedness and presentation of the network connectedness of international crude oil prices.

How Industry’s International Connectedness Influence Firms’ Knowledge Sourcing?

We investigate the impact of the relative openness of an industry on knowledge sourcing. While prior studies have mainly paid attention to relationship between parents and subsidiaries in foreign countries for international knowledge sourcing, we attempt to analyze international and local knowledge sourcing with a wider set of knowledge sourcing channels in an aggregate level. By considering export-intensity and inward FDI in an industry, we examine that how international connectedness through the relative openness of an industry can influence knowledge sourcing from abroad and knowledge sourcing locally. Our results suggest that the relative openness and international connectedness can bring more accessibility to foreign knowledge and help accumulation of technological capability. Therefore, they can be critical for exploiting knowledge dispersed over the world and influence intra- and inter-industry knowledge sourcing behavior in the home country.

Spanish National Oncological Research Center (CNIO): a bibliometric portrait.

Madrid's CNIO (Spanish National Oncological Research Center) ranks among the three first institutions in the world, specifically dedicated to cancer research. CNIO research mainly focuses on three aspects: use of stem cells to fix problematic cancer damage, searches for genes that cause cancer disease, and use of drug design to manage oncological disorders. The main goal of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the 'translation' of basic discoveries generated at this cancer research center, into new interventions aimed at preventing and treating various types of cancer, with bibliometric criteria. A corpus of published articles and citations received by CNIO between 1998 and 2016 has been retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database. Bibliometric indicators considered here are: citation practices, use of journals on the basis of their impact factors, scientific literature citing CNIO publications, and international connectedness of CNIO researchers. A total of 3510 articles were published by CNIO between 1998 and 2016, 23% of which in journals with impact factors between 10 and 15 and above 15. Along the same period, the institution received 135,769 citations published in more than 5800 journals, where the most important citing journals were the Plos One with 3.6% of all the citing articles, Oncotarget with 1.8%, and Scientific Reports with 1.2%. The highest number of citations was 18,005 in 2007; in terms of average citation rate, the first ranked CNIO research program was in the area of experimental therapeutics (77.79%), followed by molecular oncology (68.1%). This position was provided by the active growth in citation to the articles whose themes are related to the problems of the consequences of the design of preclinical drug candidates and the study of oncological disorders. From this study on a number of bibliometric characteristics of the Spanish National Oncological Research Center (CNIO), we conclude that the publication activity (since 2006 its scientific production has increased in about 83%), the number of high-quality journals used per year, the high influence, and impact of the journals and organizations citing the institution, consolidate its image as a top-notch oncological research center.

India Higher Education Internationalization:Problems and Possibilities

The Guest Editorial by Lavakare concerning international students makes some important points that I would like to emphasize. India without any question needs clear guidelines and policies – and action – concerning international education, the role of international students in the country, and more broadly, its role in the increasing important and competitive global world of higher education. Indeed, India’s role as an ‘intellectual power’ and its future success in science and technology depends in significant part on the excellence and international connectedness of its higher education sector, and as Lavakare has pointed out, India lags far behind its direct competitors, such as China, as well as the top academic systems in the world.

A US-Japan Foreign Policy Alliance for Myanmar

Rarely before has such a large and potentially consequential country tried to reform itself politically and economically as Myanmar is now attempting, following an extended period of extreme isolation and amid unprecedented international and digital connectedness that exists today. This is a challenge not only for Myanmar, but also for the United States and Japan as they try to facilitate this transformation in productive ways, in a coordinated fashion, and consistent with their own foreign policy and commercial interests. A pertinent question, therefore, is whether or not Washington and Tokyo are inclined and prepared to address Myanmar's transition as an alliance issue, and if they are, then what is an efficient and effective way to go about this task.The answer is mixed, for despite their pursuit of many common interests, the policy priorities and policy making environments in the United States and Japan differ significantly. In simple terms, the United States has a “democracy first” agenda in Myanmar that sometimes limits its options, while Japan takes a more flexible approach in order to maximize engagement and business opportunity. Still, President Obama and Prime Minister Abe provided a mandate in April 2014 to strengthen alliance cooperation in Southeast Asia (and in Myanmar in particular), and the two countries have complementary strengths and local networks that can be leveraged more effectively for the benefit of all.Despite US concerns about stalled political liberalization and human rights abuses in Myanmar, Washington should take a longer-term horizon for evaluating reforms and consider enhancing its leverage with Myanmar through more effective policy coordination with Japan (which is a major player in the country), rather than the maintenance or reapplication of sanctions.

Historical changes in the determinants of the composition of innovative activity in MNC subunits

The amount and the nature of the innovative activity of multinational corporation (MNC) subunits have changed over time. Historically, subunits innovated mainly to adapt for local conditions products or processes developed in the home country of the MNC parent company. Thus, subunit creative activity in new fields little explored earlier by their parent was driven mainly by their own local system of innovation. However, MNC subunits evolved over successive decades, increasingly gaining a more internationally integrated creative role. Hence, the availability of a wider array of knowledge through the international connectedness of firms in the relevant industry in the country in which the subunit is located, has gained in importance. Within this context, the role of the parent company in subunit creative activity has also become more important, since combining core company knowledge with new discoveries requires a closer integration of subunit creative activities with those of the MNC group. We provide evidence on these historical changes by analyzing a panel data set of innovative activities conducted abroad by 244 among the world’s largest industrial firms, in 2276 foreign subunits, from 1940 to 1995.

Post-mortem examination of the international financial network

As the recent crisis has forcefully suggested, understanding financial-market interconnectedness is of a paramount importance to explain systemic risk, stability and economic dynamics. In this paper, we address these issues along two related perspectives. First, we explore the statistical properties of the International Financial Network (IFN), defined as a weighted-directed graph where nodes are countries and links represent debtor–creditor relationships in equities and short/long-run debt. We investigate whether the 2008 financial crisis has resulted in a significant change in the topological properties of the IFN. Our findings suggest that the crisis caused not only a reduction in the amount of securities traded, but also induced changes in the topology of the network and in the time evolution of its statistical properties. This has happened, however, without changing the disassortative, core-periphery structure of the IFN architecture. Second, we perform an econometric study to examine the ability of network-based measures to explain cross-country differences in crisis intensity. We investigate whether the conclusion of previous studies showing that international connectedness is not a relevant predictor of crisis intensity may be reversed, once one explicitly accounts for the position of each country within the IFN. We show that higher interconnectedness reduces the severity of the crisis, as it allows adverse shocks to dissipate quicker. However, being central in the network may make countries that are not members of a rich club more vulnerable in times of crisis. Finally, we find strong evidence of nonlinear effects, once the high degree of heterogeneity that characterizes the IFN is taken into account.

International Registry of Counsellor Education Programs: CACREP's Contribution to the Development of Counseling as a Global Profession

The world is flat are words made famous by Thomas Friedman (2005) in his extraordinary book by the same title. Friedman used the word flat to mean connected. Billions of people across the globe are connected because of advances in technology, travel, and the lowering of trade and political barriers. It is an exciting new world with important implications for how people live and interact with one another. What are the challenges of this connectedness for the counseling profession in the United States? In this article, I discuss some of the challenges of international connectedness and how the counseling profession has responded to these challenges. I also trace the history of the development of the International Registry for Counsellor Education Programs (IRCEP). IRCEP is an international registry created by the Council for Accreditation of and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) in response to numerous inquiries and requests for a quality assurance process for counselor education programs operating outside of the United States. The following discusses the challenges encountered by U.S. counselors and counseling organizations as they engage in the promotion of the profession globally. Challenges in the United States is more developed as a profession than it is in many other parts of the world. Over the past century, counseling in the United States has moved from being an ill-defined profession, difficult to distinguish from other helping professions, to being one with a defined and distinguishable identity. has developed the essential criteria of a profession including associations, codes of ethics and standards of practice, accreditation agencies to provide oversight of counselor education, and licensure and certification of practitioners (Gale & Austen, 2003). The profession has moved beyond defining itself in terms of who we are not or who we are like to a definition based on shared values, skills, education, and contributions to society. To promote the continued development of a clear identity, in 2005, the American Association (ACA), in collaboration with the American Association of State Boards, established the work group 20/20: A Vision for the Future of Counseling. This work group involved all 30 counseling organizations, including all ACA divisions and regions. Members of the 20/20 work group developed principles for unifying and strengthening the profession. The principles developed by the 20/20 Workgroup have been endorsed by 29 of the 30 counseling organizations (ACA, 201 I; Kaplan & Gladding, 2011). At the 2010 ACA Conference, delegates of the 20/20 work group agreed on the following definition of counseling: Counseling is a relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals (20/20: A Vision for the Future of Counseling, 2010, para. 2). The 20/20 definition is representative of the efforts of U.S. counseling organizations to come to a common definition of counseling, but how do (or does) the concept of identity and the 20/20 definition transcend international boundaries? Despite great efforts toward inclusivity and strides in multicultural education within the profession in the last 50 years, counseling in the United States remains a culturally encapsulated discipline. Every word in the 20/20 work group definition is culturally bound. For example, whose definition is used for professional relationship? What constitutes a family? How is mental health or wellness defined? These questions do not mean that the definition should be discarded but rather that there is the need to examine such definitions for their relevance within other cultural contexts. Specifically, it requires that the definition be deconstructed in the context of the culture in which counseling services are provided. …