Learning by giving-and-taking: Two-way knowledge transfer between core and periphery

Abstract

This study aims to identify which factors and multifaceted relationships may influence the tendency for the newly created innovative knowledge of foreign subsidiaries in Korea, as the periphery, to be transferred to headquarters or peer subsidiaries in developed countries at the core. Based on survey data from 279 foreign subsidiaries in Korea, our empirical results reveal that the positive effect of knowledge from the headquarters at the core on the innovation performance of the focal subsidiary at the periphery is positively moderated when the subsidiary’s entry objective is knowledge seeking (i.e., research and development). Our findings indicate that when the status of subsidiaries rises throughout the network, knowledge transfer from the periphery to the core becomes more active.