This research note probes the notion that the emergence of the ‘modern’ multinational corporation (MNC) has resulted in an increasingly rapid diffusion of technological capabilities across units of the multinational network. It draws upon a database containing the complete U.S. patenting history of 24 Swedish multinationals over the 1946-2008 period, which allows us to trace both the emergence and subsequent diffusion of technological capabilities as they have occurred and evolved throughout the post-war period. The findings reveal no significant change in diffusion patterns, suggesting that certain aspects of the ways in which the MNC uses and manages its technological capabilities have not changed dramatically over the past decades.