This thesis addresses the question of the dynamics of foreign industrial R&D centres.Just as Ronstadt (1978), Asakawa (2001) and Asakawa & Som (2008) did before us, we notice thatthe mission and the position of the R&D centres in their internal innovation network are changing over time. We have identified four different phases in these dynamics: 1/ the setting up of the centre, 2/ the double phase during which the centre builds up its own identity, thanks to its integration into its internal innovation network and the creation of its external innovation network, 3/ its maturity.One of the key questions was then to understand how the centre was able to rise from its first phase, during which it did not have its own identity, to its maturity phase, where it has its own speciality and is recognized as one of the key elements of its internal innovation network. In order to answer this question, we have identified the types of relationships between the centre, its internal innovation network and its local environment during each phase of its dynamics. We used the academic literature on clusters which tried to determine the types of relationships other than geographical proximity that make the exchanges of knowledge and know-how, as well as the creation of confidence between organisms possible. To answer this question, it introduces a concept which is not widely used in the academic literature on the globalisation of the R&D: the concept of proximities (Boschma 2005). Weused six types of proximities in order to understand the dynamics of the foreign R&D centres: the geographical proximity, the formal and informal institutional proximities, the organisational, cultural and social proximities. The results of our study show that each phase of the evolution of the foreign R&D centre can be characterised by an architecture of proximities between the centre, its internal innovation network and its local environment.Our results come from several empirical observations: 1/ we have built and organized a focus groupon the globalisation of R&D during two years. This focus group was made of several industrial R&Dmanagers, 2/ we have studies the Indian foreign R&D centres of four multinational companies: ABB,AkzoNobel, Procter & Gamble and Siemens, 3/ we have used several short case studies gatheredduring informal interviews and professional meetings on the globalisation of R&D. This empirical work has been realized in the framework of a public-private partnership between our laboratory and the European Association for Industrial Research Management (EIRMA).
