Introduction Pierre-Yves Donze and Shigehiro Nishimura Part 1: The International Patent System 1. Foreign Patenting in Germany, 1877-1932 Harald Degner and Jochen Streb 2. Why did Multinationals Patent in Spain? Several Historical Inquires J. Patricio Saiz and David Pretel 3. The Adoption of American Patent Management in Japan: The Case of General Electric Shigehiro Nishimura Part 2: The Role of Cartels 4. European Cartels and Technology Transfer: The Experience of the Rayon Industry, 1920 to 1940 Valerio Cerretano 5. Big Business, Inter-Firm Cooperation and National Governments: The International Aluminium Cartel, 1886-1939 Marco Bertilorenzi 6. The Swiss Watch Cartel and the Control of Technology Flows toward Rival Nations, 1930-1960 Pierre-Yves Donze Part 3: Learning from Foreign Firms 7. Technological Transfers in Argentina's Early Industrialization: Agents and Paths, 1900-1930 Maria Ines Barbero 8. American "Soft" Technologies and French Big Business after World War II: Alstom and GE Pierre Lamard 9. Foreign Technologies and Domestic Capital: The Rise of Independent Automobile Makers in China, 1990s-2000s Zejian Li Part 4: Engineers as Intermediaries 10. The Allied Forces and the Spread of German Industrial Technology in Post-War Japan Yuki Nakajima 11. The Introduction of American Mass Production Technology to Japan during the Occupation: The Case of Penicillin Julia Yongue 12. Agents of Change: Bell System Employees and Quality Assurance Knowledge Transfer in Postwar Japan, 1945-1955 Stephen B. Adams and Paul J. Miranti Afterword: Technology transfer and competitive advantage of regions Takafumi Kurosawa