This volume provides an understanding of firms' R&D and innovation strategies and their economy-wide consequences. It is based on the premise that differences in firm-level returns, as well as economy-wide outcomes, may be linked to the heterogeneous ways in which firms organize and undertake R&D and innovation activities. It emphasizes innovation strategies of innovating firms, and reflects that innovation efforts do not represent a uniform type of expenditure. Organized into three parts the volume moves from the micro to the macro-level. This structure highlights the notion that R&D and innovation and growth are two interdependent perspectives. The first of these is micro-oriented and focuses on innovation processes of firms, where R&D activities and other innovation efforts give rise to consequences such as a strengthening of resource bases, growth of sales and employment, patents, new products, increasing productivity and profits, and improved chances of survival. The second perspective comprises economy-wide effects in the form of overall technological change, growth in total factor productivity, and structural change processes, where certain sectors may benefit from new inputs from other sectors while others experience declining markets and reduced output. The book brings together contributions and perspectives from both economics and business scholars, and will appeal to academics, researchers, and students interested in R&D and innovation strategies, international business, business strategy, and the economics of technological change.

Ake E.Andersson has always been intellectually on the move. He has selected his own track through the academic system and has formed a school of thought which has brought him international recognition. The cornerstones of his scientific interest are welfare analysis, regional economic dynamics and human capital theory. For his excellent achievements on dynamic analysis in the field of regional economics and regional planning he received the Japanese Honda Prize in 1995. This book provides a sample of the broad ranging research of Ake E.Andersson. Here some of his friends and colleagues have contributed to give various examples from the growing research field "Knowledge and Networks in a Dynamic Economy" in which he has been a great inspiration and in which he has contributed as part of his prodigious output.