The Knowledge Based View and Global Strategy: Past Impact and Future Potential

Abstract

The centrality of knowledge to the global arena has allowed scholars in this area to play a leading role in developing the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm. Although the KBV has developed as a view rather than a self-standing theory of the multinational enterprise (MNE), it provides a rationale for the MNE that is independent of opportunism and has led to penetrating insights into the processes through which knowledge is generated and applied. We propose that broadening the KBV to take account of the social constructionist approach to knowledge and the multilevel nature of knowledge processes, can permit better synthesis of our fragmented understanding of cross-border knowledge processes and build a more serviceable knowledge-based theory of global strategy. Specifically, we urge research in three directions the exploration of a KBV of economic organization in a global context rather than a KBV of the MNE alone, which would encompass macro institutions as well as individuals; focus on the foundational construct of knowledge that would integrate human and machine learning in the global arena; and the creation of a comprehensive framework of knowledge types and knowledge processes relevant to management knowledge across space.