In recent years, the possibility to deduct expenses for research and development (R&D) has been interpreted narrowly. As a response, the Income Tax Act chapter 16, section 9 (the R&D-rule) was amended to increase the possibility to deduct R&D of more general character. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the meaning of the R&D-rule to be able to decide if the amendment is an extension of the deductibility and whether this amendment can be considered adequate. According to the R&D-rule, the recipient of the grant needs to conduct R&D activity and there needs to be a sufficient connection between the R&D activity and the company to be allowed deduction. The difficulty in applying the R&D-rule is mainly when the research is conducted outside the company and the aim of the research is not to solve the company’s specific problem.The connection between the R&D-activity and the company needs to be reasonable. This means that only R&D-activity that falls completely outside the company’s activities should be excluded from deductibility. However, even R&D where some connection can be shown has been excluded from deductibility, which makes the application of the R&D-rule complex. The amendment of the R&D-rule means that deduction is now possible where a reasonable interest can be shown with either the principal business or the other business. The assessment if a reasonable interest can be shown between the R&D and the company’s activities, must now take into account all aspects of the company not only the principal activity. In conclusion, the amendment creates an extension of the deductibility. The purpose of the amendment of the R&D-rule was to extend the deductibilityof R&D. The amendment must therefore be considered adequate. The addition of the other business to the wording of the R&D-rule will lead to an actual extension of the deductibility of R&D. / De senaste åren har möjligheten till avdrag för FoU tolkats snävt vilket försvårat för företagen att få avdrag för FoU av allmän karaktär. Svaret på kritiken mot den snäva tolkningen förde med sig en lagändring av IL 16 kap 9 § (FoU-regeln). Uppsatsens syfte är att fastställa innebörden av FoU-regeln för att utreda om lagändringen är en utvidgning i förhållande till den tidigare lydelsen av lagregeln samt bedöma om lagändringen är ändamålsenlig.  Enligt FoU-regeln krävs det att mottagaren av bidraget utgör en FoU verksamhet samt att tillräckligt samband finns mellan FoU:n och företaget för att erhålla avdragsrätt. Svårigheten att bedöma sambandet är då FoU:n utförs av någon extern och syftet med forskningen inte är inriktad på att lösa företagets specifika problem utan forskningen är av mer allmän karaktär. Det måste finnas ett rimligt intresse mellan FoU-verksamheten och företaget, vilket innebä ratt bara sådan FoU som hamnar helt utanför företagets område ska uteslutas från avdragsrätt. I praxis har även dock FoU med visst samband uteslutits varför tillämpningen av FoU-regeln är komplex. Lagändringen av FoU-regeln innebär att avdrag får göras när det finns samband mellan FoU-verksamheten och den huvudsakliga verksamheten eller verksamheten i övrigt. Vid bedömningen ska hänsyn alltså tas till hela verksamheten. Det här innebär en utvidgning av avdragsrätten i förhållande till den tidigare lydelsen, då avdrag endast medgavs när samband fanns med kärnverksamheten. Det huvudsakliga ändamålet med lagändringen är en utvidgad avdragsrätt. Utifrån ordalydelse är det nu tydligt att avdrag får göras även då samband inte finns med den huvudsakliga verksamheten, men samband finns med den övriga verksamheten. Tillägget verksamheten i övrigt innebär således en faktisk utvidgning av avdragsrätten för FoU i förhållande till den tidigare lydelsen av FoUregeln.

Les référentiels de compétences et la formation professionnelle des enseignants sont devenus des sujets qui suscitent beaucoup d’intérêt de la part de plusieurs chercheurs en éducation, dont Paquay (1994), Perrenoud (2001) et Berchoud (2007). La présente étude est une recherche-développement qui se donne pour objectif principal de concevoir et d’élaborer un référentiel de compétences pour les futurs enseignants de français langue étrangère (FLE). Pour y parvenir, notre démarche générale consistait à partir de l’analyse des référentiels de formation des enseignants ainsi que des standards de performance que nous pouvions déjà trouver partout dans le monde. Cette analyse nous a amenée à repérer les points communs et, par la suite, à les synthétiser pour trouver les éléments pertinents qui pourraient nous inspirer pour une première ébauche de notre référentiel. Ainsi, nous avons dressé une liste des domaines de performance nécessaires à la formation des futurs enseignants que nous avons repérés dans les écrits. Pour enrichir cette liste, nous avons mené des consultations auprès de quelques experts en Égypte où le français est enseigné comme deuxième langue étrangère dans les écoles publiques. Et, à l’aide de trois outils de recherche, les entrevues individuelles, le focus-group et le questionnaire, nous avons pu développer et valider des standards de performance pertinents à chacun des domaines identifiés ainsi que des indicateurs pour chaque standard. L’analyse statistique des données recueillies nous a permis d’en faire une description globale, de confirmer des points de convergence de façon significative, et aussi de repérer des éléments sujets à discussion. Ainsi, nous sommes parvenue à élaborer un référentiel qui comprend trois composantes principales : les domaines de performance, les standards et les indicateurs. Ce référentiel contient vingt standards de performance essentiels à la formation des futurs enseignants de FLE. Les standards sont regroupés sous six catégories appelées domaines : compétence linguistique, communication, processus d’enseignement, gestion de classe, évaluation et professionnalité. Le référentiel comprend aussi soixante-trois indicateurs reliés aux standards retenus. Le résultat de notre recherche est donc ce référentiel de compétences destiné aux futurs enseignants de FLE et dont les éléments ont été validés en Égypte. Nous croyons que cet outil servira, d’une part, de cadre de référence pour les professeurs des facultés d’éducation surtout lors du choix de contenu de leurs cours et, d’autre part, comme un guide pour les futurs enseignants qui leur permettra de s’autoévaluer et de se situer par rapport aux différents standards de performance identifiés dans ce référentiel. / Competency frameworks and professional education of teachers have become subjects of great interest among educational researchers (Paquay, 1994 ; Perrenoud, 2001 & Berchoud, 2007). This study is a Research & Development research that has as main objective to design and develop a competency framework for the future teachers of French as foreign language (FFL). To achieve this objective, our general approach was primarily based on the analysis of teacher education competency frameworks and performance standards that existed across the world. This analysis has led to identify the common points and subsequently, find the relevant elements that could inspire us in the development of a first draft of our competency framework. Thus, we have compiled a list containing the key performance domains for the education of the future teachers that we have identified based in our review of literature. To develop this list, we have consulted some experts in Egypt where French is taught as a second foreign language in public schools. By means of three research tools, interviews, focus-group and questionnaire, we have developed and validated the performance standards relevant to each of these domains as well as some indicators for each identified standard. The statistical analysis of data collected have allowed us to make an overall description of this data to confirm points of convergence significantly and also to identify some items subject of discussion. Hence, we could develop our competency framework that includes three main components: performance domains, standards and indicators. This framework consists of twenty performance standards that are essential for the education of future teachers of FFL. These standards are grouped under six categories called domains: language competence, communication, teaching process, classroom management, assessment and professionalism. The framework includes also sixty-three indicators related to the defined standards. Thus, the result of our research is this competency framework designed for the future teachers of FFL that its components have been validated in Egypt. We believe that this tool will be used, on the one hand, as a reference for the professors in faculties of Education helping them in the selection of the course content ; on the other hand, it will be used as guide for the future teachers enabling them to self-assess in reference with the defined performance standards.

La présente recherche porte sur la lecture littéraire dans un contexte d’enseignement primaire et concerne plus précisément les albums jeunesse qui favorisent le développement des habiletés interprétatives. Il s’agit d’une recherche-développement qui comporte trois objectifs. Le premier objectif consiste à développer un outil pour analyser les procédés narratifs des albums jeunesse et y cerner les éléments propices au travail interprétatif. Le second objectif vise à mettre à l’essai l’outil d’analyse afin d’en mesurer la validité et la fidélité, alors que le dernier objectif consiste à élaborer, à l’aide de l’outil développé, un répertoire d’albums jeunesse québécois susceptibles de favoriser le développement des habiletés interprétatives des élèves du primaire. La méthodologie mise en œuvre afin d’atteindre les trois objectifs a d’abord permis d’analyser les besoins, c’est-à-dire, les finalités et les utilisateurs de l’outil d’analyse, puis d’en concevoir et d’en élaborer une première version, de la mettre à l’essai afin d’en évaluer la validité auprès d’experts, avant d’en produire une deuxième version, d’en évaluer la fidélité à l’aide de codeurs et finalement, d’en produire une troisième puis une quatrième version afin d’élaborer un répertoire d’albums jeunesse québécois propices au travail interprétatif. Bien que la mise à l’essai ne permette pas de conclure de façon tout à fait satisfaisante à propos de l’objectivité des indicateurs de l’outil développé, l’analyse des commentaires des experts permet d’affirmer que les indicateurs de l’outil d’analyse présentent un très haut degré de pertinence, ce qui donne à penser que l’outil développé de même que le répertoire de quinze albums jeunesse québécois susceptibles de favoriser le développement des habiletés interprétatives des élèves du primaire élaboré, dans le cadre de cette recherche, peuvent s’avérer de premiers outils utiles et pertinents pour le milieu scolaire. / This research paper examines literary reading in the context of primary education and focuses specifically on picturebooks that foster the development of interpretive skills. It gives an account of research and development in which we pursued three objectives. The first objective was to develop a tool to analyse the narrative processes of picturebooks and identify elements conducive to interpretive work; the second aimed to test the analysis tool in order to measure its reliability and validity; and the final objective was to use the tool we developed to put together a collection of Quebec children’s books that favour the development of interpretive skills in primary students. To achieve these three objectives, we adopted a methodology that enabled us to first analyse the needs, namely the users and purposes of the analysis tool, and then to design and develop an initial version. This version was tested with experts to determine its validity. A second version was then produced and its reliability was evaluated using encoders. Lastly, a third and forth version was produced to assemble a collection of Quebec picturebooks conducive to interpretive work. Although our test did not allow us to draw an altogether satisfactory conclusion about the objectivity of the indicators of our analysis tool, an analysis of comments by the experts confirms that the indicators of our analysis tool are highly relevant, which suggests that the tool we developed and the collection of 15 Quebec picturebooks that favour the development of interpretive skills in primary students we assembled may be important and useful tools within a school environment.

我國傳統產業的發展由早期台灣經濟的中流砥柱，歷經產業變革、環保意識抬頭打壓後，至今被戲稱為「夕陽產業」，主因為產品生命週期進入低毛利成熟期。大部分傳統產業廠家積極尋求多角化轉型以突破困境，但在無法抽離製造代工心態下，積極投入非核心相關領域，無非是落入另一紅海。目前支撐台灣主要經濟命脈產業仍以資訊科技業為主，傳統產業雖非主流，但改變製造心態，堅持投入核心技術研發仍能伺機尋求切入點。 然而，過去強調創新升級轉型的研究不勝枚舉，但鮮少以國內傳統產業模範廠商為個案進行完整詳細地分析，基於此點，本研究針對我國傳統產業廠商「多角化」進行研究，以企業核心資源為基礎，試圖以較為整體性的架構，探討其多角化之相關議題，期能對「傳統產業多角化」，提供一些實務上與學理上的貢獻。 本研究之研究問題有五：（1）傳統產業廠商多角化的動機為何？（2）傳統產業廠商如何進行多角化？（3）傳統產業廠商企業核心資源為何？（4）傳統產業廠商多角化過程中新產品開發流程為何？（5）傳統產業廠商多角化後的新創組織作法為何？ 透過深度訪談個案公司高階經理人，並配合相關次級資料蒐集與整理，進行彙整及分析之後，本研究獲得以下之主要結論：（1）企業核心資源中之個人專長能力的展現為多角化轉型基礎；（2）創新研發過程中，知識資源的累積是技術發展的原動力；（3）順暢的組織內部溝通有助於新產品或新事業的發展；（4）對新產品開發而言，技術資源的彈性運用與高度整合有利於發展新事業；（5）以創新研發為導向之企業與智慧財產權之管理具高度關聯性。 / The domestic conventional industries were the mainstay of Taiwan economics. Because of the transformation of industries and then suffered from the lift of environmental consciousness. It ultimately turned to be the so-called “Sunset Industries”. The root cause was the low margin profit in mature stage of product life cycle. Most of conventional industries firms strove to break through the hardship by diversification. Not to withdraw the ideology from OEM mindset, the conventional industry firms invested in non-core relevant businesses painstakingly. It was just trapped to another red sea. For the moment, the dominant anchor of Taiwan economics was information technologies not the conventional industries. Nevertheless, just switched the manufacturing viewpoint and persevered to the development of core technologies to look for the niche points. Although, the studies in the past focused on innovative upgrading transformation were too numerous and there was scarcely to portray the leading company elaborately in domestic conventional industries. Based on this concept, the thesis paid attention to the study of diversification of domestic conventional industries. Endeavor to apply the comprehensive framework which was founded on the core resources of enterprises and discussed the correlative issues of diversification. Looking forward to the diversification of conventional industries could facilitate the contributions in practical and theoretical domain. The study aimed to investigate the questions: (1) What were the motivations drove the conventional industry firms to diversify? (2) How the conventional industry firms to execute the diversification? (3) What were the core resources of conventional industry firms? (4) What was the procedure of new product development in conventional industry firms during the duration of diversification? (5) What were the practices to construct the new business unit after diversification in conventional industry firms? This study exerted the deep interview methodology of qualitative researches and secondary data analyses to rearrange. The preliminary research findings included: (1) The performance of individual capability in enterprise core resources was the foundation of diversification. (2) During the innovative R&D process, the accumulation of knowledge resource was the motivation of technology of development. (3) The fluent communication in organization was conducive to develop the new products or new businesses. (4) As far as the new product development was concerned, the flexible exertion and high integration of technology resources was favorable for integrating and exploring new businesses. (5) Innovative R&D oriented enterprises were in high connection with management of intellectual property rights.

二十一世紀是知識經濟的時代，傳統製造業所看重的有形資本已不足以維持企業優勢，無形的智慧資本在新型態的企業競爭中所扮演的角色日顯重要。各行各業都有無形資產，種類性質因產業而異，傳統製造業重視營業秘密、商譽，高科技產業的專利則是公司競爭力的核心，而屬於知識高度密集產業的生技產業更需要重視智慧資本的管理。生技產業的結構複雜，價值鏈長、分工專業、產品開發期漫長，在產品成功上市之前的開發時期中，公司資產多屬於無形的智慧資本，無法從傳統的財務報表觀察其真正的企業價值。相較於其他產業，生技公司更必須訴求於正確的無形資產管理方式，方能成功兌現其智慧資本。 本研究先藉由文獻回顧統整台灣生技產業的相關現況、過去相關智慧資本管理研究以及研發管理等議題，歸納出一般性共識與管理原則。接著依循這些重點，訪談三家台灣生技公司的經理人，包括台灣微脂體、中裕新藥與因華生技，深入了解台灣產業經營實務與現況，探討其智慧資本中的人力、組織與關係資本在個案公司內的蓄積方式，從研發管理模式、組織制度設計與智財管理等面向進行綜合比較。 本研究認為研發能量與知識管理在組織制度中的蓄積，是台灣業界經營管理上常見的盲點，台灣生技新藥業者多重視新技術的研發，普遍對智慧資本其他面向的重視程度不高，但對生技產業而言，扣除資金與技術後，公司的長期競爭力往往都是在組織發展的過程中累積而來的，忽視知識管理與組織制度的養成，對於企業長久發展有關鍵性的負面影響。研究中的個案最終都必須往累積組織資本的方向邁進，若不針對組織資本的蓄積設計恰當的管理方法，為研發人才設計合適的制度與生涯發展管道，將研發團隊的知識能量內化為企業自有資產，只期望以短期的數據績效取得資金支持，忽視智慧資本的管理與培養，並非生技產業長久經營之道。建議生技公司除了聘僱專業經理人處理資金與股東的關係外，也要重視研發長與策略長在組織中的地位，大膽給予權利，調整組織的運作模式，設計出能累積公司能量的專案管理流程，才是生技公司創造競爭力之本。 / In the era of knowledge-based economy, the tangible assets highly-valued by traditional manufacturing industry is no more enough solely to maintain industrial competency. Intangible intellectual assets become more and more important in modern commercial competitions. The intangible assets exist and vary according to different industries. Traditional manufacturing industry looks highly upon trade secrets and brand reputation while patent is the core competency to high-tech companies. Biotech industry belongs to a high knowledge-intensive business and should emphasize more on the management of intellectual assets. Biotech industry is characterized of a complicated system, a long value chain, specialized divisions of labor, and a prolonged timeline of product development. The company assets before the successful commercialization of a product are usually intangible intellectual property and a biotech company during this period cannot be accurately evaluated from traditional financial reports. Hence, compared to other business, biotech companies should resort more actively to appropriate intangible intellectual asset management to achieve a successful redemption of its intellectual assets. This thesis will firstly through the literature study depict the current condition of Taiwan biotech industry and important issues on intellectual asset management and R&D management, inducing several principles of management. Further, the study proceeds with the principles induced to examine three new ventures in Taiwan, Taiwan Liposome Company (TLO), TaiMed Biologics, and InnoPharmax. The discussion will elaborate the practice of intellectual asset management of biotech industry in Taiwan, analyzing and comparing the accumulation of human capital, organizational capital, and relationship capital in the three cases. The study proposes that Taiwan biotech companies usually neglect the accumulation and management of R&D capacity and knowledge in the enterprise organization system. The companies in question invest their resources mostly on the development of new technology and less on other intellectual assets. However, in the long run, the competency of a biotech company accumulates while the organization develops, other than the financial capital and technology. The depreciation of knowledge management and organization system will cause fatal influences on the company. The cases in the thesis must eventually develop their own organizational capital. Biotech companies need to devise appropriate management for organizational capital and preferable career paths for researchers and engineers, to internalize the knowledge capacity of the research team into the company assets. It is not beneficial to a biotech company in the long run to expect financial supports with short-termed achievements, instead of the management and cultivation of intellectual assets. It is advised that other than hiring professional manager for investor relations, the biotech company should pay more attention to the function of CRO and CSO in the organization and sufficiently authorize them into full play. It should also focus on the operation of the organization, adjusting and devising program management to accumulate knowledge capacity, to firmly establish the core competency in a biotech company.

在知識經濟時代下，無形資產的對於公司的重要性愈來愈高。有別於在工業時代下的生產重心，著重在大量的土地，機器設備...等有形的資產，在二十一世紀競爭中致勝的關鍵因素卻是那些無實體存在的知識累積，例如：研究發展的能力、員工的素質、顧客關係的維持…等;然而，會計處理對於無形資產卻是停留在歷史的取得成本，而不是現時的市場價值，更甚，有些無形資產根本無法入帳;因此，資本市場如何看待與反應公司的無形資產就是一項有趣的議題。本研究之研究目的是：依據Fama and French (1993)三因子模型，以橫斷面的分析方式，欲控制了系統風險、規模效果和淨值與市價比效果後，進一步分別探討研究發展活動與專利權對於股票報酬之影響，是否擁有投入愈多的研發活動與專利可以在股票市場獲得愈高的報酬？是否研究發展費用與專利權數對於股票報酬有遞延效果的影響？ 樣本期間從民國七十一年到民國九十三年，包含上市與上櫃公司，總共有21717筆觀察值，在研究發展活動方面，本研究採用了當期研究發展費用與依五年資本化後之研究發展費用二種替代變數，專利權方面，採用專利權數與累積專利權數二種代理變數，其實證結果發現： (1)當期研究發展費用溢酬與股票超額報酬呈現顯著的正向相關，將研究發展費用依五年資本化後，資本化後之研究發展費用溢酬仍與股票超額報酬呈現顯著的正向相關。 (2)專利權數之溢酬與股票超額報酬卻是顯著的負相關，累積專利權數之溢酬與股票超額報酬也是呈現顯著的負向關係，可能的原因是：在本研究樣本裡的大部分的專利權數量是非常集中在少部分的公司。 (3)研究發展溢酬對於超額報酬最多有三年的遞延效果，專利權溢酬對於超額報酬至少有五年遞延的效果。 (4)當期研究發展費用溢酬與資本化後之研究發展費用溢酬對於超額報酬有顯著不同的影響，二者比較下，當期研究發展費用溢酬對於股票報酬的影響程度大於資本化後之研究發展費用溢酬。可能的原因是:Fama and French三因子模型某種程度上代表著流量的概念，因此，當期研究發展費用溢酬的效果較為顯著。 (5)在專利權數之溢酬與累積專利權數之溢酬二者之間，對於超額報酬不具有顯著差異性的影響。可能的原因是:大部分的樣本都沒有專利權，因此，專利權數之溢酬與累積專利權數之溢酬沒有太大的差異。 (6)以研究發展與專利來說，二者對於超額報酬具有顯著不同差異的影響。 / Since the change in the global economy in the last decade, from manufacturing and industry-based to knowledge-based, it has created new interest in intellectual capital and increased the demand for measuring and reporting the effect on business and profitability. Nonetheless, accounting conventions based on historical cost often understate their value. Thus, from a practical point of view, how the stock market responses to the innovative activity is an interesting issue. Here, the major objective of this study is, on the basis of the three-factor model in Fama and French (1993), to investigate the relationship between innovation activities in firms and stock returns. That is, the aim in this study is to examine whether the intellectual capital, in particularly focusing on R&D and patents, has impact on stock returns. Does the market provide the premium for the value of the innovation in firms? Do the stocks with more innovation efforts worth the higher market rate of returns? Do R&D and patents have time lag effect on returns? We find that: (1) The return premiums are significantly greater for high-level of R&D than for low-level R&D. The mimicking returns both for the R&D-expense factor and capitalized-R&D factors are significantly positive related to excess stock returns. (2) Contrary to our intuition and expectation, the mimicking returns both for patent count and cumulated patent count are significantly negative associated with excess stock returns. One possible explanation is that the distribution of patented innovation is known to be extremely skewed, implying that a few patents are very valuable and many are worth almost nothing. (3) R&D-related return premiums have 3-year lag effect on excess stock returns at most. As for patent-related return premiums, it shows 5-year lag at least for excess stock returns. (4) R&D expenses have more impact on stock returns than the R&D capitalization. One possible explanation is that the “flow” concept is more suitable than the “stock” concept in the Fama and French (1993) regression of stock returns. (5) There is no difference between patent count and cumulated patent count in explaining stock returns. It is likely that, for a large proportion of the sample, they do not possess any patents. (6) When it comes to compare R&D to patents, we find that there is statistically significant difference between the two in explaining excess stock returns.

This thesis consists of four self-contained essays. The common theme of the essays is the behavior of multi-plant firms. An underlying idea in all four of them is that firms possess intangible assets such as management skills and organizational expertise, technological knowledge, marketing know-how and better access to finance capital or natural resources. These assets are typically specific to the respective firm. Due to market imperfections and failures, firms tend to internalize the advantages of firm-specific assets and exploit them themselves rather than sell or lease them to other firms. For instance, intangible assets are often joint inputs in the sense that knowledge developed by one unit can be transferred to another unit within the same firm at a low cost and without diminishing the amount of knowledge available to the first unit. Furthermore, the assets are typically only partly appropriable by their owner, and the market transactions of the assets are hampered due to information asymmetries between a potential buyer and seller. The literature on multinational firms emphasizes the role of intangible firm-specific assets in creating ownership advantages that, together with location and internalization advantages, explain the pattern of foreign direct investments. The essays in this thesis are based on the view that the ownership advantages created by firm-specific assets are the "raison d'etre" of large multi-plant firms. The existence of such assets is assumed to create multi-plant economies of scale and give incentives to make better use of capacity or overheads to gain advantage in size, economies of interdependent activities, integration and/or diversification. Rather than studying the international aspects of firms with intangible assets, the first three essays empirically explore different aspects of multi-plant firm behavior in domestic markets. This analysis has been made possible by the access to unique plant-level data on the thirty largest multinational manufacturing corporations in Sweden. The sample corporations play an important role in the Swedish economy. For instance, the thirty corporations account for about 70 percent of aggregate industrial R&D in 1999. This should be compared with their share of total manufacturing employment, which was about 30 percent during the period of study. The first essay examines the sources of productivity growth within multi-plant firms and particularly emphasizes the role of external restructuring and ownership changes in explaining why multi-plant firms may sustain higher productivity growth as compared to single-plant firms. The second and the third essay explore the idea that large multi-plant corporations exploit their ownership advantages when acquiring partial- and full-firm assets. The second essay analyzes whether technological intangible assets may explain transfers of productive capacity from acquiring corporations to their target. The third essay explores the idea that multi-plant corporations search for targets matching their firm-specific organizational capabilities when acquiring corporate assets. Uncertainty about the matching outcome explains why some acquisitions end in divestitures. However, the likelihood of a "good" match is expected to increase in the buyer's organizational capabilities. The fourth essay, coauthored with Karolina Ekholm, extends the analysis to encompass the international aspects of multinational firms. In this essay, we develop a theoretical model analyzing the localization decisions of multi-plant firms beyond the national borders. More specifically, we develop a two-country model where firms can choose to separate their innovative activities generating an intangible asset from the production of the final good. In our model, there are two agglomeration forces: knowledge spillovers associated with R&D and backward and forward linkages associated with high-tech production. We analyze how the interplay of these forces affects the localization decisions of the firms. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2003

This Diploma thesis, called "Comparison of patent law in the EU countries", deals with legislation of invention patents and their protection in selected countries such as Germany and the Czech Republic. Within Europe there is an attempt to harmonize the legislation in the field of intellectual property rights in all member countries and to create a unified legal system. A patent is the most important object in protection of industrial property. The secondary objective of this thesis is focused on the identification of the re-sponsible authorities and to determine the financial and time requirements for obtaining a patent. Next major objective is the evaluation of the use of the patent protection within the Czech and German universities, research organizations and private companies and then their transfer of technologies. The practical part contains the analysis of both selected countries from the per-spective of patent law, valid legislation, the responsible institutions and patent statistics for the last ten years. Additional chapter discusses the results of research and development in the university environment at three universities in the Czech Republic and Germany. The analysis is focused in particular on the procedure of obtaining a patent, then also the influence of the local authorities. The comparison of these two countries has revealed some certain similarities, but also striking differences between them. The Czech Republic is currently also slowly dis-covering the benefits of patent protection, but the results can be evaluated only after some time interval.

L’innovation technologique est considérée comme un élément clef dans la constitution des économies, dites du savoir, ou de la connaissance. Ce cadre économique stimule une forte croissance des investissements immatériels dans l’objectif de création de valeur et de construction d’un avantage compétitif défendable sur le long terme. Néanmoins, l’innovation est un processus continu qui requiert un horizon de long terme pour transformer l’ensemble des connaissances, et des efforts de Recherche et Développement (R&D) en un produit ayant de la valeur économique. La dimension temporelle de l’innovation technologique renforce son caractère risqué et augmente l’incertitude quant à sa réussite. De même, les problèmes d’asymétrie d’information créés par le processus d’innovation s’accentuent. Cette thèse s’intéresse à la relation entre le capital-connaissances et la performance financière des entreprises, dans un premier temps, pour se pencher ensuite sur la question de la valeur de marché de l’actif intangible. Pour ce faire, nous élaborons une base de données unique, à partir des brevets européens et proposons de nouvelles mesures qualitatives au capital intangible, basées sur les caractéristiques des brevets. Cette thèse mesure empiriquement la valeur économique du capital-connaissances représenté par sa « matière première », à savoir les dépenses R&D et par son « produit fini » à savoir les brevets. Nous construisons, également un indice composite de la qualité de l’innovation afin de mieux représenter la valeur privée de l’immatériel. Enfin, cette thèse s’intéresse à la question d’écart entre valeur comptable et valeur de marché des entreprises en présence d’investissements immatériels. Pour ce faire, elle contient une étude prévisionnelle et causale de la performance opérationnelle par les dépenses R&D et l’indice composite de qualité. Ce dernier est proposé en tant qu’outil non-financier d’analyse et de prévision de performance. / Technological innovation is considered as a key element in the knowledge-based economies, where the share of intangible assets continues to grow significantly. The development of innovation is enhanced mainly in the purpose of value creation and the obtaining of a competitive advantage. Nevertheless, innovating is a long process where the lag between the investments in Research and Development (R&D) activities, considered as its input, and the obtaining of a valuable output, often estimated by the patent application, is large. The long character is emphasized by the uncertainty and the riskiness of the process which are at the root of important problems of information asymmetry between investors and the insiders. This dissertation studies the impact of intangible investments on the financial performance of companies in Europe. Therefore, we use a unique database of European patents and suggest a set of qualitative measures to innovation, based on the patents’ attributes. Moreover, this thesis estimates the market value of intangibles as measured by the R&D expenses, the patent applications but also the qualitative attributes. In this framework, we construct a composite quality index of innovation in order to better estimate its private economic value. The increasing lag between financial and book values in the presence of R&D investments leads us to undertake a causal study of innovation on the financial performance of companies. We suggest our composite index as non-financial metric to predict the future earnings and examine the effect of R&D on the growth and volatility of future operating incomes.

Submitted by PEDRO MESQUITA (pedrovmesquita@gmail.com) on 2016-01-26T13:59:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação MSc Pedro Mesquita.pdf: 333112 bytes, checksum: 19c620f913bea534bc0c66b9eab0c763 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ÁUREA CORRÊA DA FONSECA CORRÊA DA FONSECA (aurea.fonseca@fgv.br) on 2016-01-27T18:52:08Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação MSc Pedro Mesquita.pdf: 333112 bytes, checksum: 19c620f913bea534bc0c66b9eab0c763 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2016-02-01T11:55:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação MSc Pedro Mesquita.pdf: 333112 bytes, checksum: 19c620f913bea534bc0c66b9eab0c763 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-01T11:56:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação MSc Pedro Mesquita.pdf: 333112 bytes, checksum: 19c620f913bea534bc0c66b9eab0c763 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-07 / Extant literature examined the benefits of relational embeddedness in facilitating collaboration between organizations, as well as the necessity of firms to balance their knowledge generation into exploration and exploitation activities. However, the effects of relational embeddedness in the specific outputs of firm-university collaborations, as well as the elements that affect the exploratory nature of such outcomes remain underexplored. By examining fine grained data of more than 4.000 collaborative research and development projects by a firm and universities, 5.000 patents, and 300.000 scientific publications, it was proposed that relational embeddedness would have a positive effect on resource commitment and on joint scientific publications, but a negative effect on joint patents and exploratory outcomes resulting of such collaborations. Additionally, it was proposed that knowledge similarity would have a negative impact in exploratory endeavors made in such projects. Although some of the propositions were not supported by the data, this study revealed that relational embeddedness increases resource commitment and the production of joint scientific publications in such partnerships. At last, this study presents interesting opportunities for future research. / A literatura existente examinou os benefícios de intensidade da relação como facilitador de colaborações entre organizações, assim como a necessidade de empresas balancearem a geração de conhecimento em ações exploratórias e de aplicação. Todavia, os efeitos da intensidade da relação nos resultados específicos das parcerias entre empresas e universidades, assim como os elementos que afetam a natureza exploratória desses resultados, permanecem subexplorados. Examinando dados detalhados de mais de 4.000 projetos de pesquisa e desenvolvimento em colaboração entre uma empresa e universidades, 5.000 patentes e 300.000 publicações científicas, foi proposto que a intensidade da relação teria um efeito positivo no investimento de recursos e na produção de artigos científicos conjuntos, porém um efeito negativo na geração de patentes conjuntas e nos empreendimentos exploratórios resultantes dessas colaborações. Adicionalmente, foi proposto que semelhança entre conhecimentos teria um efeito negativo nas iniciativas exploratórias realizadas nesses projetos. Apesar de algumas proposições não terem sido confirmadas pelos dados, esse estudo revelou que a intensidade da relação tem efeito positivo no investimento de recursos e na produção de artigos científicos conjuntos nessas parcerias. Por fim, o estudo apresenta oportunidades interessantes para pesquisas futuras.