Operational Autonomy Research Articles

It's OK to Ask for Help: Destigmatizing Mentoring for Junior Surgeons.

It's OK to Ask for Help: Destigmatizing Mentoring for Junior Surgeons.

Soft Power, Hard News: How Journalists at State-Funded Transnational Media Legitimize Their Work

How do journalists working for different state-funded international news organizations legitimize their relationship to the governments which support them? In what circumstances might such journalists resist the diplomatic strategies of their funding states? We address these questions through a comparative study of journalists working for international news organizations funded by the Chinese, US, UK and Qatari governments. Using 52 interviews with journalists covering humanitarian issues, we explain how they minimized tensions between their diplomatic role and dominant norms of journalistic autonomy by drawing on three – broadly shared – legitimizing narratives, involving different kinds of boundary-work. In the first ‘exclusionary’ narrative, journalists differentiated their ‘truthful’ news reporting from the ‘false’ state ‘propaganda’ of a common Other, the Russian-funded network, RT. In the second ‘fuzzifying’ narrative, journalists deployed the ambiguous notion of ‘soft power’ as an ambivalent ‘boundary concept’, to defuse conflicts between journalistic and diplomatic agendas. In the final ‘inversion’ narrative, journalists argued that, paradoxically, their dependence on funding states gave them greater ‘operational autonomy’. Even when journalists did resist their funding states, this was hidden or partial, and prompted less by journalists’ concerns about the political effects of their work, than by serious threats to their personal cultural capital.

Formally Alive yet Practically Complex: An Exploration of Academics’ Perceptions of Their Autonomy as Researchers

Over the last two to three decades, many universities around the world have seen an increase in both organizational autonomy and performance-based accountability. While these developments have attracted considerable attention, relatively little remains known about how, within this transformed governance context, academics’ themselves practice their autonomy as researchers. Focusing on the case of one highly research-intensive university situated in Australia, this paper explores how academics from various disciplines understand and experience their practical autonomy in their own research in both its strategic and operational dimensions. Drawing on analyses of semi-structured interviews with 18 experienced academics, we find that academics’ practical autonomy is only loosely coupled to the autonomy they formally have. We further find that the practical realization of autonomy is closely associated with having adequate levels of resources such as funding (strategic autonomy) and time (operational autonomy), with the former being more important for scientists, while the latter was more important for those in the humanities and social sciences. Increasing levels of bureaucratization (humanities and social sciences) and the increasingly narrow thematic focus and strategic orientation of the major funding schemes (sciences and social sciences) were perceived as constraining these academics’ practical autonomy.

Advances in intelligent and autonomous navigation systems for small UAS

A significant growth in Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operations has been observed over the past decade, largely driven by the emergence of new commercial opportunities and use-cases. This has posed new technological and regulatory challenges in order to address the complex safety, efficiency and sustainability requirements associated with UAS operations in an increasingly congested airspace. The growing need for trusted autonomy in UAS operations imposes demanding performance requirements on Navigation and Guidance Systems (NGS), both in terms of accuracy, integrity, continuity and availability. In most current NGS implementations, system autonomy is tightly constrained within a specified set of operational and environmental conditions through a large number of explicit rules. Recent breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based methods and the emergence of highly-parallelized processor boards with low form-factor has led to the opportunity to employ Machine Learning (ML) techniques to enhance navigation system performance, particularly for small UAS (sUAS), which account for the majority of current and future unmanned aircraft use-cases. sUAS navigation systems typically employ diverse low Size, Weight, Power and Cost (SWaP-C) sensors such as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, MEMS-IMUs, magnetometers, cameras and Lidars for localization, obstacle detection and avoidance. This paper presents a comprehensive review of conventional sUAS navigation systems, including aspects such as system architecture, sensing modalities and data-fusion algorithms. Additionally, performance monitoring and augmentation strategies are critically reviewed and assessed against current and future UAS Traffic Management (UTM) requirements. The primary focus is on the identification of key gaps in the literature where the use of AI-based methods can potentially enhance navigation performance. A critical review of AI-based methods and their application to sUAS navigation is conducted, along with an assessment of the performance benefits they provide over conventional navigation systems. Reviewed methods include but are not restricted to Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) such as Convolutional and Recurrent Neural Networks (CNN and RNN), Support Vector Machines (SVM) and ensemble techniques. The key challenges associated with adapting these methods to address sUAS operational objectives are clearly identified. The review also covers the assurance of predictable, deterministic system behaviour which is a key requirement to support system certification. The review and analysis will inform the reader of the applicability of various AI/ML methods to sUAS navigation and autonomous system integrity monitoring, and its likely role in the ongoing UTM evolution.

PROBLEMS OF THE FORMATION OF THE CONCEPTUAL APPARATUS IN THE FIELD OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The study of the problems of the formation of the conceptual ap para tus in the field of legal support of artificial intelligence to develop effective le gal solutions in order to regulate new digital technologies. The work is based on a set of general scientific and special legal methods, including analysis, description, ge ne ra li zation, com parative law. The formation of legal definitions of artificial intelligence and related concepts (ro bot, cyber-physical system, etc.) requires the identification of the main legal fe atures of artificial intelligence. The following key characteristics of artificial in tel li gence are identified: optional hardware implementation; the ability of the system to analyze the environment; autonomy in operation; the ability to accumulate experience, its assessment and implementation of the task of self-learning; the pre sence of "intelligence", described through the categories of "rationality", "rationality" or simply the ability to "think like a person" or "act like a person" in all or in narrowly defined circumstances. Future legal regimes of artificial intelligence should take into account the possibility of weak artificial intelligence as a kind of complex thing and strong artificial intelligence that will "require" new legal solutions. The formation of legal definitions in the field of artificial intelligence must meet the requirements of universality, system city and ethics, and also allow, based on the selected properties, to establish systemic hierarchical relationships between concepts used in the field of artificial intelligence. The study develops the theoretical and practice-oriented provisions of in for mation law in matters of legal support for artificial intelligence, and also creates the basis for the formation of legislation in this area. The work can be used in further research activities on the legal regulation of the development, functioning and use of artificial intelligence systems.

Evaluation of Residents on the Operation and Use of Housing Services in Public Support Private Rental Apartment (Formerly New stay)

This study was intended to compare and analyze the preliminary certification plan and actual operation status through interviews with public-funded private rental housing service provider, and to analyze residents’ assessment of residential services based on the survey results. This is used for research purposes to derive service items that are relevant to the characteristics of the complex and to derive direction of operation of residential services with sustainability as security. The analysis results showed differences in the operational status, unlike the preliminary certification plan, depending on the characteristics of the complex and the method of operation of the state-run service, and it was determined that the housing service that meets the characteristics of the complex should be provided to improve the residents’ use and satisfaction, and that the continuous service operation and activation should be achieved by establishing a smooth communication system among the service operation concerned entities. In addition, it is necessary to ensure autonomy in service planning and operation by improving the provision of services to meet the needs of residential service users rather than obligatory items, and to conduct an overall review of the certification system assessment so that residential services can be operated on a local basis.

Artificial intelligence, machine learning and process automation: existing knowledge frontier and way forward for mining sector

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are the two fields of computer science dealing with the innovative idea of inducing smartness and intelligence in machines and automating complex tasks and operations through modern learning algorithms. While the rest of the operational fields have been diligent in developing new technologies, the mining industry has been lacking when it comes to applying these innovative methodologies to achieve operation autonomy with intelligence. However, this trend is beginning to change with a few researchers adopting the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve the existing technologies. This study was an attempt to review and analyze all the recent automation related work in every sector of the mining industry including mineral prospecting and exploration, mine planning, equipment selection, underground and surface equipment operation, drilling and blasting, mineral processing, etc., for establishing the existing frontiers of technological advancement. Shortcomings and challenges were identified within the current research work. Recommendations were provided to progress the existing technology by implementing deep learning, machine learning, and artificial intelligence for smart and intelligence-based evolution in the mining sector. With all of this innovative development and implementation of smart automation systems, the foundation for the mine of the future could be built, thus creating efficient, effective, and safer machines with sustainable mining operations.

Safety and autonomy: A contradiction forever?

Much of current research on designing safe organizations centers around the question of how to best manage concurrent demands for stability and flexibility in the face of external and internal uncertainties. Classic approaches to safety management have favored centralized decision-making in organizations which promises stability through hierarchical control and adherence to predefined procedures. Newer research has stressed the need for decentralized decision-making to enable flexibility through fast local adaptations and improvisation in unprecedented situations, thereby confronting the apparent contradiction between safety and autonomy. Especially research on high-reliability organizations (HROs) has aimed to resolve this contradiction by identifying mechanisms for bridging centralization and decentralization through what has been termed loose coupling. However, the contradiction still lives on in many debates in safety research, for instance concerning safety rules, safety leadership, and safety culture. Using these research domains as examples, it is argued in this paper that by distinguishing between process and personal safety and between operational and higher-order autonomy the relationship between safety and autonomy can be better understood and eventually better managed. Moreover, uncertainty is assumed to be a crucial moderating influence in this relationship. Based on this framework, propositions are developed to guide future research towards reconciling safety and autonomy in safety management.

Residents’ method for gaining operative autonomy

IntroductionThe goal of this study was to explore the resident construct for their perceived successful method of actions that lead to OR autonomy during residency and the strategies they employed. MethodsWe conducted focus group interviews with residents from the General Surgery (GS) and Obstetrics & Gynecology (OBGYN) departments at a single academic institution across all clinical postgraduate years (PGY) using convenience sampling. Audio recordings of each interview were transcribed, analyzed and emergent themes were identified using a framework method. ResultsA total of 38 residents participated. A 3-stage resident method to gain operative autonomy emerged. This progresses from building rapport, developing mutual entrustment, and finally to obtaining autonomy. We identified 4 common strategies used by residents to construct this method: smart communication, attention to attending preferences, helpful allies and visible attributes. ConclusionOur findings provide insight into resident strategies to achieve progressive autonomy in the OR helping programs improve resident’s learning efficiency.

Reframing the National Art Museum: the Trajectory and Controversy towards the Operational Autonomy: the Case of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

본 연구는 전지구화의 일면인 신자유주의적 경제논리와 맞물리며 예술기관의 자율성 확보라는 과제에 대응해왔던 국립현대미술관(이하 국현)의 사례를 다룬다. 국현은 개관 이후 정부의 개발주도형 국가체제와 관료주의적 논리로 인해 그 운영 자율성이 제한된 상태로 운영되어왔다. 1997년의 IMF 금융위기 이후, 국현은 신자유주의적 패러다임의 세계적 확산과 동시에 정부 부문의 구조조정 차원에서 시도된 책임운영기관화와 특수법인화의 대상기관으로 지정되면서 그 운영적 자생력을 평가받게 된다. 논문에서는 두 정책 사업이 어떠한 문화사회적 배경 하에 추진되었는지를 살펴본다. 나아가 이 사업의 시행 또는 철회 여부와는 별개로 국립예술기관의 운영 자율성을 보장한다는 취지에서 시행하고자 했던 책임운영기관화와 특수법인화가 국현의 이해주체들 간의 어떠한 충돌을 야기했는지 논의해본다. 연구 결과, 신자유주의 담론에 입각한 조직개편은 국현으로 하여금 차별적 맥락의 ‘공공성’을 동시적으로 충족시켜야 하는 운영적 딜레마를 야기할 수 있다. 또한 정부의 개입을 최소화하여 경쟁 원리에 따른 성과중심 체제를 정착시킨다는 본래의 취지와는 달리, 위 제도들의 실질적 운영 주체가 여전히 국가(정부)이며 그 영향력이 영속적인 형태로 유지될 수 있음을 조명했다.This study focuses on the case of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (hereafter MMCA) that has faced the issue of securing autonomy as an art institution in association with the neoliberal logic of economy as part of globalization. The MMCA was opened with limited operational autonomy due to the government’s development-driven national system and bureaucratic perspective. Since being selected as an institution subject to a range of restructuring consequent to the IMF crisis in 1997, the MMCA is being assessed for its operational autonomy since then. This paper examines the socio-cultural background of the implementation of the Korean type of ‘Executive Agency’ and ‘Non-Departmental Public Body’. Furthermore, regardless of the result of either implementation or withdrawal after the projects, this paper explains how these administrative reforms lead the conflicts between stakeholders, which would promote the MMCA’s autonomy. As a result, the institutional restructuring process based on the neoliberal perspective might result in the operational dilemma that must simultaneously fulfil the publicness in a different context. Moreover, unlike the original intent to establish a performance-based system based on the principle of competition while minimizing government intervention, this study illuminates that the influence of the nation(or government) as the actual agent of the projects may become permanent. It implies that since the establishment and development project of MMCA has initialized the concept of statism based on legal authority, the operational autonomy of the MMCA which is premised on the reinforcement of expertise and publicness cannot be prioritized over the direction and control of the government.

Incorporating Cleft Lip Simulation Into a "Bootcamp-Style" Curriculum.

The traditions of surgical education have changed little over the years. However, the increasing focus on patient safety and duty hour restrictions mandates that residents start developing complex skill sets earlier to ensure they graduate with procedural competency. Surgical training is poised to exploit high-fidelity simulation technology to mitigate these pressures. By revisiting principles of adult learning theory, the authors created a "bootcamp-style" cleft lip curriculum that sought to (1) maximize educational impact and (2) pilot a high-fidelity procedural trainer permitting resident operative autonomy as part of that curriculum. Trainees participated in small group educational sessions comprised of a standard cleft didactic lecture, augmented by instructional video. Participants immediately processed knowledge from the lecture/video by "operating" on the simulator, allowing opportunities for questions and self-reflection, completing the learning cycle. A self-assessment survey was taken before and after each component of the session, including a self-confidence survey to conclude the session. Anthropometric measures of lip/nasal symmetry were assessed. Sixteen trainees participated in the program. Little increase in self-assessed knowledge/skill was seen after the lecture, but significant increases in most aspects of cleft lip repair were seen after simulation. The greatest increase in self-assessment was seen for the program as a whole, with significant differences across all aspects of the self-assessment. Higher levels of training were associated with both higher self-assessment scores and better lip symmetry. Regardless of level of training, all participants strongly agreed that simulation helped them actively engage in learning and should be a required aspect of training, whereas 94% (n = 15) thought simulation was much more effective than standard preparation alone. This pilot curriculum illustrates a mechanism to incorporate lessons from adult learning theory into plastic surgery training using a high-fidelity simulator for deliberate practice of cleft lip repair. Further evaluation is warranted to determine whether this didactic model can accelerate the acquisition of the complex skill set required for cleft lip repair and other surgical procedures.

Senior resident versus fellow participation during complex cancer operations.

330 Background: Teaching hospitals that train both general surgery residents and fellows in complex general surgical oncology have become more common. Despite ACGME dictums, attending surgeons may favor either residents or fellows assisting on operations of greater complexity, depending upon a variety of factors, including local surgical culture. This study investigates whether participation of a senior resident versus a fellow impacts outcomes of complex cancer surgery. Methods: Patients who underwent esophagectomy, or gastrectomy with assistance from either a senior resident (PGY-4 or 5) or a fellow (PGY-6 to 8) were identified from the American College of Surgeon’s National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (2007-2012). Analyses were performed separately for each operation. Propensity-scores were created for the odds of undergoing the operation assisted by a fellow. Patients were matched based on propensity score, and outcomes were compared after matching. Results: In total, 1,160 esophagectomies and 2,432 gastrectomies were identified. Senior resident participation was reported in 60.2% and 86.6%, respectively. Resident involvement was associated with non-white race (17.0% vs. 13.8%; p < 0.001), and lower rates of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (6.4% vs. 11.7%; p < 0.001). After matching, rates major complication rates were slightly higher for patients who underwent esophagectomies involving a resident compared to fellow (38.1% vs. 31.8%; p = 0.0447). However, major complications rates were similar for gastrectomy (21.2% vs. 22.1%; p = 0.775). In addition, operative time was shorter for gastrectomy (212 vs. 232 min; p = 0.009) involving a resident compared to a fellow, but comparable for patients who underwent esophagectomy (327 vs. 337 min; p = 0.310). Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that senior resident participation in complex cancer operations does not negatively impact operative time or outcomes, compared to involvement of a surgical oncology fellow. Although confounding by operative autonomy may exist, these findings indicate that senior residents should be given the same opportunities as fellows to participate in these potentially more challenging operations.

Trainee Operative Autonomy in Plastic Surgery.

Appropriate, progressive trainee autonomy is critical for training competent plastic surgeons who are adequately prepared to enter independent practice. Evaluation and reporting of meaningful operative autonomy among trainees in plastic surgery are understudied. Parallel survey instruments were developed using the Zwisch metric for progressive operative autonomy and distributed electronically to trainees and faculties in all accredited training programs. Trainees were queried about their operative autonomy in 17 core plastic surgery procedures, associated approach to logging cases, and perceived readiness to enter practice. Faculties provided assessment of their final-year trainees using the same metrics. Trainees in 28 programs and faculties in 35 programs participated. Final-year trainees reported the most operative independence with breast tissue expander reconstruction and carpal tunnel release and the least with facelift and rhinoplasty. A mean of 40% of final-year trainees reached supervision only autonomy in the procedures queried; none achieved this with rhinoplasty. Faculties identified the highest final-year trainee operative autonomy with botulinum toxin injection and burn excision and grafting; the least trainee independence was reported with rhinoplasty, cleft lip repair, and facelift. Faculty perception of final-year trainee autonomy was higher than that of trainees for 82% of procedures queried. Although plastic surgery trainees endorse gradual operative autonomy overall, a majority of final-year trainees do not perceive supervision only independence in the majority of core procedures queried. Faculties perceive higher trainee operative autonomy than trainees for most procedures. Discordant approaches to case logging were identified both among trainees and between trainees and faculties. Standardization may improve both progression and assessment of operative autonomy in plastic surgery training.

Aplicación de sistemas de refrigeración solar en zonas marginadas, organizaciones de bajos recursos y poblaciones desprotegidas

The refrigeration systems are of great importance in the daily life of the human being, due to the fact that it is necessary to have cold storage systems for different processes and perishable products preservation. The generated electric power as an alternative source has been used for refrigeration systems involved in sustainable development programs. The aims of this research were to characterize a cooling system powered by solar panels and that pretend to improve the quality of life. Refrigerating machines that use alternative sources of energy contribute to sustainable development, however, those that do not use it have a greater environmental impact. The solar refrigerator prototype has a quantitative-qualitative approach in deductive processes based on interpretation and data collection. This was carried out using own materials for the refrigerators construction that allow obtaining a compact configuration, presenting, pressure-volume operation curves and autonomy of the system with maintenance similar to conventional refrigeration systems. The refrigeration system is intended to be used in marginalized areas, low-income organizations and in support unprotected populations.

Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Approach for Residential Microgrid Energy Scheduling

Residential microgrid is widely considered as a new paradigm of the home energy management system. The complexity of Microgrid Energy Scheduling (MES) is increasing with the integration of Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Renewable Generations (RGs). Moreover, it is challenging to determine optimal scheduling strategies to guarantee the efficiency of the microgrid market and to balance all market participants’ benefits. In this paper, a Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL) approach for residential MES is proposed to promote the autonomy and fairness of microgrid market operation. First, a multi-agent based residential microgrid model including Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) and RGs is constructed and an auction-based microgrid market is built. Then, distinguish from Single-Agent Reinforcement Learning (SARL), MARL can achieve distributed autonomous learning for each agent and realize the equilibrium of all agents’ benefits, therefore, we formulate an equilibrium-based MARL framework according to each participant’ market orientation. Finally, to guarantee the fairness and privacy of the MARL process, we proposed an improved optimal Equilibrium Selection-MARL (ES-MARL) algorithm based on two mechanisms, private negotiation and maximum average reward. Simulation results demonstrate the overall performance and efficiency of proposed MARL are superior to that of SARL. Besides, it is verified that the improved ES-MARL can get higher average profit to balance all agents.

Benefits and Limits of Autonomous Systems in Public Security

The replacement of traditional deterministic machines by autonomous, self-organizing systems in the realm of security technologies represents a new challenge. Operative and strategic autonomy must be made more distinct, while moral autonomy should remain a human responsibility. Depending on the type of mechanical learning, the systems gain a black box character that impedes the tracing of the authorship of the systems’ actions. The proposed method of monitoring system decisions (Digital Charta Art. 5, DSGVO Art. 22) must deal with complex networks of responsibility. For this reason, a new legal framework and new political terms of negotiation must be developed.

Corporate Investigations: Beyond Notions of Public–Private Relations

Based on qualitative research primarily carried out in the Netherlands, this article describes corporate investigations within the private sector in terms of investigators’ operational autonomy, which, in only a minority of cases, involves contact or cooperation with governmental law enforcement agencies. It is argued that, given this de facto public–private separation, theoretical concepts within the literature that take the nation-state as the imagined historical origin and/or continuing partner of corporate security—concepts such as privatization, responsibilization, or multilateralization—fail to capture the autonomy of corporate investigations. Furthermore, such concepts are politically distracting and potentially dangerous for public policy, since they imply that corporate security is effectively surveilled and supervised by the state within a framework of public–private cooperation. Nothing could be further from the truth; indeed the limited liaisons that do occur are initiated by the private sector.

Alignment of Personality Is Associated With Increased Intraoperative Entrustment.

To determine the association between intraoperative entrustment and personality alignment. For surgical residents, achieving operative autonomy has become increasingly difficult. The impact of faculty-resident operative interactions in accomplishing this goal is not well understood. We hypothesized that if operative dyads (faculty and resident) had personality alignment or congruency, then resident entrustment in the operating room would increase. We completed a retrospective analysis of 63 operations performed from September 2015 to August 2016. Operations were scored using OpTrust, a validated tool that assesses progressive entrustment of responsibility to surgical residents in the operating room. All dyads were classified as having congruent or incongruent personality alignment as measured by promotion or prevention orientation using the regulatory focus questionnaire. The association between personality congruence and OpTrust scores was identified using multivariable linear regression. A total of 35 congruent dyads and 28 incongruent dyads were identified. Congruent dyads had a higher percentage of "very difficult" cases (33.3 vs. 7.4%, P = 0.017), female residents (37.1 vs. 14.3%, P = 0.042) and faculty with fewer years of experience (10.4 vs. 14.8%, P = 0.028) than incongruent dyads. In addition to post-graduate year level, dyad congruency was independently associated with a 0.88 increase (95% CI [0.27-1.49], P = 0.006) in OpTrust scores (overall range 2-8), after adjusting for case difficulty, faculty experience, and post-graduate year. Congruent operative dyads are associated with increased operative entrustment as demonstrated by increased OpTrust scores. Developing awareness and strategies for addressing incongruence in personality in the operative dyad is needed.

Do End-of-Rotation Evaluations Adequately Assess Readiness to Operate?

Medical educators have developed no standard way to assess the operative performance of surgical residents. Most residency programs use end-of-rotation (EOR) evaluations for this purpose. Recently, some programs have implemented workplace-based "microassessment" tools that faculty use to immediately rate observed operative performance. The authors sought to determine (1) the degree to which EOR evaluations correspond to workplace-based microassessments and (2) which factors most influence EOR evaluations and directly observed workplace-based performance ratings and how the influence of those factors differs for each assessment method. In 2017, the authors retrospectively analyzed EOR evaluations and immediate postoperative assessment ratings of surgical trainees from a university-based training program from the 2015-2016 academic year. A Bayesian multivariate mixed model was constructed to predict operative performance ratings for each type of assessment. Ratings of operative performance from EOR evaluations vs workplace-based microassessment ratings had a Pearson correlation of 0.55. Postgraduate year (PGY) of training was the most important predictor of operative performance ratings on EOR evaluations: Model estimates ranged from 0.62 to 1.75 and increased with PGY. For workplace-based assessment, operative autonomy rating was the most important predictor of operative performance (coefficient = 0.74). EOR evaluations are perhaps most useful in assessing the ability of a resident to become a surgeon compared with other trainees in the same PGY of training. Workplace-based microassessments may be better for assessing a trainee's ability to perform specific procedures autonomously, thus perhaps providing more insight into a trainee's true readiness for operative independence.

Subsidiary autonomy and knowledge transfer

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the effect of subsidiary autonomy on knowledge transfers during captive offshoring to emerging markets.Design/methodology/approachFive longitudinal cases of captive R&D and manufacturing offshoring to emerging markets.FindingsThe propositions entail the dual effect of operational subsidiary autonomy on primary knowledge transfer and reverse knowledge transfer. For newly established subsidiaries, operational subsidiary autonomy has a mainly negative effect on primary knowledge transfer and a mainly positive effect on reverse knowledge transfer and local collaboration activities increase this effect. Strategic subsidiary autonomy is mainly negative for primary and reverse knowledge transfer.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations concerning the applied exploratory case study approach suggest that further research should test the identified relationships using surveys, after the initial pilot study.Practical implicationsA gradual increase of operational subsidiary autonomy as the subsidiary capability level increases is beneficial to ensure primary knowledge transfer. Allowing subsidiaries to collaborate locally within the confines of their mandates benefits reverse knowledge transfer.Originality/valueThis paper extends the secondary knowledge transfer concept to include knowledge flows with local collaboration partners, not only other subsidiaries and clarifies the distinction between operational and strategic autonomy concerning local collaboration. A subsidiary asserts operational autonomy when its collaboration with local partners relates to its existing mandate. A subsidiary asserts strategic autonomy when it collaborates with local partners beyond this mandate.