IPR-Beachheads. Babcock & Wilcox's Business and Innovation Strategies in Spain

UAM Working Papers in Economic History, nº 01/2015, ISSN: 1885-6888

31 Pages Posted: 12 Dec 2019 Last revised: 28 Jun 2021

See all articles by Patricio Sáiz

Patricio Sáiz

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Date Written: 2015

Abstract

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, American corporations began their multinational expansion to Europe through direct investments in the most-developed economies. Being increasingly aware of scientific and technological knowledge business value, they also began to develop early IPR international protection strategies in order to defend their intangible assets abroad. Before World War II, many of these multinationals had also reached lagging peripheral countries, resulting in a complex European network of subsidiaries and affiliates that has been scarcely studied. This paper delves into the Babcock & Wilcox entrepreneurial conglomerate – one of the most interesting case studies of early multinational expansion – to analyze how it arrived and developed in Spain, what its business and innovation strategies in that market were, and the role of patent management in that process. Our findings reveal that corporate interests in patent capture, control, and administration not only shifted research and innovation handling within firms but also led to quick learning on how to successfully use IPRs as business, legal, and organizational tools for international expansion.

Keywords: Babcock & Wilcox, Patents, Foreign Direct Investment, Spain

JEL Classification: F23, N84, O32, O33, O34

Suggested Citation

Sáiz, Patricio, IPR-Beachheads. Babcock & Wilcox's Business and Innovation Strategies in Spain (2015). UAM Working Papers in Economic History, nº 01/2015, ISSN: 1885-6888, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3495939 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3495939

Patricio Sáiz (Contact Author)

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid ( email )

Campus Cantoblanco
Madrid, Madrid 28049
Spain

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
16
Abstract Views
344
PlumX Metrics