Using firm-level longitudinal data in Japan, this paper asks why many firms can achieve high productivity growth without any R&D investments. The effects of international R&D spillovers are much stronger than those of intranational spillovers. Even firms in developed countries like Japan have benefit from international R&D spillovers.
Link
http://econpapers.repec.org/scripts/redir.pl?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rieti.go.jp%2Fjp%2Fpublications%2Fdp%2F06e001.pdf;h=repec:eti:dpaper:06001