Cross-border Knowledge Transfer Research Articles

International Integration and Coordination in MNEs

The focus theme “International integration and coordination in MNEs—Implications for international management” is introduced and the motivation for this focus issue theme is outlined. The premise of the theme is the notion that the nature of organizational response to heightened global dynamism has changed. It is argued that the managerial mechanisms or “tools” necessary to accomplish coordination tasks have changed accordingly. The manuscripts included in this focused issue capture this perspective building conceptual and empirical contributions. These include cross-border knowledge transfer, global strategy implementation, IT integration as enabler of MNE-supplier responsiveness, intra-firm architectural network configuration, regional integration perspectives from Latin America and integration and coordination in the global factory.

Knowledge Transfer between Multinational Corporations’ Headquarters and Their Subsidiaries: Influences on and Implications for New Product Outcomes

A multinational corporation's (MNC's) competitive advantage depends increasingly on control over intangible resources, such as knowledge and relational capital. Although prior research has suggested that cross-border knowledge transfer in MNCs is critical to their new product outcomes, the conditions under which such knowledge transfer can serve to induce positive outcomes remain unclear. This study builds on resource-based theory to suggest that knowledge and MNC network strength are the two critical firm resources individually and collectively influencing new product outcomes. Because MNCs are subject to the pressures on various environmental changes, the authors rely on the contingency theory to examine when knowledge transfer works in differential global market and technological turbulence. The results of a survey of MNC headquarters show that the impacts of cross-border knowledge transfer on new product outcomes are not always positive, depending on the levels of network strength and environmental turbulence.

Stickiness and the adaptation of organizational practices in cross-border knowledge transfers

The reuse of organizational practices in multiple locations is a fundamental way in which MNCs leverage knowledge to seek competitive advantage. Scholars approaching the issue of adaptation from both a market and an institutional perspective argue that, in order to achieve fit with the local environment, some degree of adaptation is advisable, and the need for adaptation increases as the institutional distance between source and recipient locations increases. However, arguments to date have examined the effect of adaptation primarily on a subsidiary's long-term performance. A necessary precursor is to understand the effect of adaptation on the transfer process itself, as transfer difficulty, or stickiness, may preclude the reuse of an organizational practice in the first place. In this paper, we explore how the adaptation of organizational practices affects the stickiness of cross-border transfers. We use structural equation modeling to analyze data from 122 internal transfers of best practice. Contrary to expectation, we find that adaptation significantly increases, rather than decreases, the stickiness of cross-border knowledge transfer.

Management learning and knowledge transfer in transforming societies: approaches, issues and future directions

The purpose of this article is to explore the topics of management learning and cross-border knowledge transfer as they contribute to understanding the development of post-socialist management as a human resource. At the heart of work in this field have been assumptions about the nature of the socio-economic changes taking place in the former Soviet region. We argue that structuralist theories of knowledge transfer and management learning tend to reflect and reinforce the 'economic transition' model, while ethnographic and comparative institutionalist views confirm the complexity and ambiguity inherent in the conception of post-socialism as societal transformation. The conceptual ideas and empirical findings developed in the contributions to this special issue are then related to these debates and the article concludes by proposing possible directions for further research working within the societal transformation framework.