A geography of corporate knowledge flows across world regions: evidence from patent citations of top R&D-investing firm

This exploratory study looks at the structural and geographical patterns of corporate knowledge flows from a regional perspective. The methodological approach combines the centrality indicators developed in the social network analysis (SNA) and complementary tools from the graphs theory to assess the betweenness centrality of regions (or poles)  their ability to control knowledge flows within a network or to impact its cohesiveness  and the relative contribution of individual firms (or layers) to the centrality of regions. The combination of the two approaches brings relevant insights on the way large R&D-driven firms organise their knowledge sourcing and generation across world regions.