This research looks at how the strategic positioning of world R&D centers influences knowledge retention, creative output, and global competitive edge in traditional manufacturing sectors. Understanding how the institutional environment of every center influences how companies handle knowledge protection and innovation management takes front stage. Methodology: Using public records, corporate documents, and academic literature as secondary data, a qualitative comparative case study on Levi Strauss & Co. was undertaken. To find trends in knowledge protection and invention management across three different institutional settings, thematic coding was used. Key Results: Strong technological clusters with strong intellectual property laws drive major innovation but also raise the possibility of knowledge leakage, hence official legal tools like patents and contracts are vital. These conditions also help the company to capture returns and stimulate regulatory-driven innovation. By contrast, centers located in poor IP regimes concentrate on process invention and operational effectiveness. Companies depend on internal organizational safeguards including tight supply chain coordination and restricted knowledge transfers to help to limit knowledge exposure given the limited efficacy of official legal protection. Finally: Sustained competitive advantage results from the dynamic capacity to manage a dispersed R&D network rather than from particular, site-specific assets. Companies have to create a coordinated worldwide presence that matches the purpose of every center with its local institutional characteristics, therefore balancing knowledge generation, distribution, and appropriation by means of formal and informal protection techniques.