跨国企业本地化与非市场策略——兼论中国供应链本质

随着跨国企业全球本地化将全球生产网络和全球社会网络延伸拓展到更具挑战的非市场环境之中,中国供应链概念越来越清晰并受到了世人所关注。本文采用结构主义分析方法,运用全球生产网络理论和非市场策略理论,在剖析跨国企业全球生产网络构成基础上,总结了跨国企业全球本地化的非市场化影响因素、低成本制造——选择核心服务伙伴——完善供应链演进路径及其政治、公众及社会责任等非市场策略机理,提出了跨国企业市场—非市场策略模型,为中国供应链整合提供了一个崭新的实践视角。     

网络嵌入性与技术创新间关系实证研究

文献表明,有关网络嵌入性作用的研究得出了不同的、甚至截然相反的结论,本文对这一现象进行揭示,建立了网络嵌入性———跨组织学习———两类技术创新之间的关系模型。运用实证研究方法,发现了网络嵌入性、跨组织学习以及技术创新等变量之间的内在联系。研究结果表明嵌入性通过跨组织学习对技术创新结果的确有显著影响;现有研究结论的不尽统一,是因为没有对技术创新等变量进行分类而形成,本文用分类研究的方法,将涉及的变量细分为关系嵌入性、结构嵌入性、渐进性技术创新与突破性技术创新等,实证研究后发现,不同的网络嵌入性特征具有不同作用途径并会产生不同的结果。     

创业成长中双重网络嵌入的演化规律研究——以正泰集团和温氏集团为例

新企业在创建、存活和成长过程中,需要通过嵌入社会关系网络获得资源支持,嵌入产业网络获得产业链分工协作收益。创业网络是社会网络和产业网络的有机统一体,创业成长过程同时也是对社会网络与产业网络双重嵌入的过程。基于创业网络中信任关系从情感性信任到认知性信任再到复合信任的演进,新创企业的双重网络嵌入性关系演化呈现出以下规律性:一是由社会网络嵌入向社会网络和产业网络双重嵌入演化;二是由"交易性嵌入"方式向"关系性嵌入"方式演化;三是由双重网络分离式嵌入向叠加式嵌入演化。新创企业双重网络嵌入演化对创业成长有促进作用,但同时也会形成"创业网络经营成本",政府需要对此加以重视。     

企业外部知识网络能力的结构测量——基于结构洞理论的研究

以开放式创新模式下企业外部知识网络建设面临的挑战为基点,引入结构洞理论,基于对外部知识网络中结构洞的规划、占据、利用、剖析和拓展,识别企业外部知识网络能力的结构体系和内部作用机理;利用实证研究确定了涵盖网络构想能力、网络建构能力、网络利用能力、网络解构能力和网络重构能力等5个维度,共12个子维度和37个题项的企业外部知识网络能力测量量表。在此基础上,提出了"一纵一横"的企业外部知识网络能力的提升路径,即从战略层面到战术操作再回归到战略的纵向动态循环,以及从知识结点到知识链再到利益的横向持续推进。本研究从结构洞理论的视角揭示了企业外部知识网络能力的多维度构成和内部演化机理,研究结果弥补了现有研究中知识网络能力和一般网络能力之间、外部知识网络和内部知识网络之间模糊不清的不足,并能够为后续研究提供理论支撑和实证基础。     

产业网络双重嵌入对企业创新的影响——基于新型技术追赶的中介效应

本文选取2003～2021年沪深A股上市企业作为研究对象，实证检验产业网络双重嵌入对企业创新的影响，并探讨新型技术追赶在其中的中介效应。结果发现：产业网络双重嵌入可以显著推动企业创新能力提升；随着嵌入程度加深，产业网络双重嵌入对企业创新速度的提升作用逐渐弱化。影响路径分析得出，产业网络双重嵌入可借助新型技术追赶提升企业创新能力。异质性分析结果显示，产业网络双重嵌入对企业创新能力与速度的影响因企业发展规模不同存在差异。据此，提出政策为基，推动产业网络嵌入标准化；缩短周期，驱动企业创新发展加速化；精准发力，助力创新发展分层化的政策建议，为企业创新驱动战略实践提供理论鉴照。     

真命题还是伪命题:企业社会责任检验的新思路

"企业社会责任在实践中是不是一个伪命题"是一个对社会责任理论研究和实践发展具有重要影响的基础性问题,但长期以来理论界对此却鲜有系统的研究。本文在梳理与反思已有研究成果的基础上,基于企业个体层次构建了三个维度(动力维度、能力维度、结果维度)、六大要素(追求最大限度地增进社会福利、关系优化、影响管理、保持透明、富有道德、制度安排)、三种视角(企业视角、社会视角、利益相关方视角)的企业社会责任检验综合模型,并运用该模型对企业社会责任命题进行了全方位检验。结果显示,企业社会责任在实践中完全可能成为一个有价值的真命题,但需要具备六个方面的条件:由企业界转向企业个体、现代公司的组织模式、领导层心智模式的转换、理性的责权边界共识、合意的外部制度供给和适宜的社会主流氛围。     

网络嵌入影响企业创新绩效的概念模型与实证分析

本文有效整合社会网络、知识获取和创新绩效三个方面的理论研究,以知识获取为中间变量,构建网络嵌入影响企业创新绩效的概念模型,探究关系型嵌入和结构型嵌入影响企业外部知识获取并进而影响创新绩效的微观机理,并通过长三角地区270家本土企业的问卷调查与结构方程模型分析,结果发现:企业通过对组织网络的关系型嵌入和结构型嵌入能够有效提高外部知识的获取效应,从而对企业的创新绩效存在显著的推动作用。在此基础上,本研究试图为本土企业如何通过网络嵌入提高知识获取能力以及创新绩效提供理论指导和对策建议。     

网络、资源与竞争优势:一个企业社会学视角下的观点

资源一直是企业获取竞争优势的主要战略因素。本文以“传统资源”为研究起点，刻画了企业行为的社会嵌入性特征，并通过引入“网络资源”这一概念揭示出一个更加全面、以企业网络及其关系资本为背景的资源分析框架，完善地拓展了传统的资源基础论观点。     

外部社会资本对新创企业绩效的影响研究--知识获取的中介作用

基于企业知识理论的观点认为知识资源已成为企业最为重要的战略性资源。外部社会资本作为新创企业社会关系网络在创业活动中的嵌入,是企业知识获取的重要手段。该文以社会资本理论为基础,通过对湖北省内116家新创企业的有效问卷调查及结构方程分析,研究表明,新创企业外部社会资本的结构维度、关系维度、认知维度对知识获取、新创企业绩效有显著影响,知识获取在新创企业外部社会资本与新创企业绩效的关系中起到部分中介作用。因此新创企业应加强外部社会资本构建和管理能力,促进知识获取,从而实现企业绩效的提升。     

合作创新网络结构特征对企业创新绩效的影响研究——以新能源汽车产业为例

本文在合作创新和社会网络理论基础上,以创新网络的结构特征为视角,将节点度、中介中心度和结构洞作为3个维度,提出了创新网络的结构特征对企业经济、社会和生态绩效影响的假设,并对新能源汽车企业的168份调查问卷结果运用多元回归分析进行验证。结果显示：合作创新网络的节点度对企业经济和社会创新绩效有一定的正向促进作用;中介中心度对企业经济创新绩效有正向影响;结构洞对企业经济和生态创新绩效有正向促进作用。实证结果对企业、中介机构和政府在发展新能源产业方面都有一定的启发意义。     

Solution business models: Transformation along four continua

Using a business model perspective, we identify four continua that are of specific relevance for industrial firms transforming toward solution business models: customer embeddedness, offering integratedness, operational adaptiveness, and organizational networkedness. Using these continua, we explore the opportunities and challenges related to solution business model development in two different business logics that are of particular importance in an industrial context: ‘installed-base’ (IB) and ‘input-to-process’ (I2P). The paper draws on eight independent research projects, spanning an eleven-year period, involving a total of 52 multinational enterprises. The findings show that the nature and importance of the continua differ between the I2P and IB business logics. IB firms can almost naturally transition toward solutions, usually through increasing customer embeddedness and offering integratedness, and then by addressing issues around the other continua. For I2P firms, the changes needed are less transitional. Rather, they have to completely change their mental models and address the development needs on all continua simultaneously.     

The impact of trust and local learning on the innovative performance of MNE subsidiaries in China

We investigate innovative performance of subsidiaries in multinational enterprises (MNEs) in China from an external local embeddedness perspective. We draw from prior research on subsidiary embeddedness and use social exchange theory (SET) to develop hypotheses relating to how trust with local partners and learning from local partners will impact innovative performance of MNE subsidiaries in China. Given the nature of the Chinese context, we argue that innovative performance will be positively influenced by trusting relationships with local external partners regardless of the location of the subsidiary in China. On the other hand, we argue that the role that learning from local partners plays on subsidiary innovative performance is location-specific, being dependent on the degree to which the location supports an innovative, knowledge economy. In addition, we hypothesize a location-specific interaction effect between trust and local learning. Using data from a survey of 306 MNE subsidiary managers in three tier-1 locations in China (Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou) we find strong support for our hypotheses, and identify the strongest interaction effect between trust and local learning in Beijing.     

Blind date? Intermediaries as matchmakers on the way to start-up—industry coopetition

This article explores intermediaries as a missing link in initiating coopetition between established industry firms and start-ups. Research establishes that partner search and compatibility are critical success factors from the very beginning of coopetition. As many relationships fail owing to the absence of partner fit, knowledge on facing the challenge at this early stage is highly relevant. By applying a network perspective, we propose that intermediaries can bridge partners and hence overcome this initial hurdle. Based on a case study of an intermediary high-tech incubator, we examine the triad of start-ups, incubator, and established industry firms. Findings show how the involvement of an intermediary can facilitate the initiation of coopetition. The key contribution is an inductive model illustrating the interaction of the dimensions of incubator-initiated start-up–industry coopetition. We highlight an incubator's quality filter function evolving from bridging matchmaker and initial broker and demonstrate the added value to the initial partner search and compatibility. We enrich coopetition with network theory and provide implications on how incubators can provide an important foundation for establishing coopetition between start-ups and industry firms.     

The strategic impact of external networks: subsidiary performance and competence development in the multinational corporation

This paper explores the importance of relational embeddedness in external networks as a strategic resource for performance and competence development in multinational corporations (MNCs). Two different types of relational embeddedness at the subsidiary level—business embeddedness and technical embeddedness—are proposed to have an influence on the subsidiary's market performance as well as its importance for competence development in the MNC. Using data on 97 Swedish MNC subsidiaries, five hypotheses are tested in a LISREL model analysis. The results suggest that technical embeddedness has a positive impact on both the subsidiary expected performance and its role in the development of products and production processes in the MNC. Indirectly, through external technical embeddedness, external business embeddedness also influences the sister units' product and process development and subsidiary market performance. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reverse knowledge transfer and subsidiary power

Rather than looking at the more typical inter-company level adopted in most B2B marketing, this study investigates how a subsidiary gains power within the context of the multinational corporation. Building on network theory and dependence theory, two approaches well-known in the B2B marketing literature, this study aims to test empirically the impact of reverse knowledge transfer, knowledge transfer from a subsidiary to headquarters, on subsidiary influence and autonomy. The survey-based data from 183 subsidiaries located in the UK suggests that reverse knowledge transfer significantly enhances the relative influence of the subsidiary within the broader multinational corporation. Moreover, we find that this association is (a) stronger when the level of internal embeddedness is high and (b) weaker when the level of external embeddedness is high. Finally, our results indicate that a higher level of subsidiary autonomy only occurs in conjunction with internally embedded reverse knowledge transfer.     

Start-ups and networks: Interactive perspectives and a research agenda

This article introduces Industrial Marketing Management's special issue on start-ups and networks. To begin with, we stress the relevance of understanding the context wherein entrepreneurship unfolds – a context filled with social, technical and economic connections to which the start-up needs to relate. We also present and confront three network perspectives which bring different insights to the interplay between start-ups and networks: Social Network (SN) theory, the Industrial Marketing & Purchasing (IMP) view, and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Next, we introduce the 12 papers of this special issue and place them on a continuum covering a start-up's process of network embedding and including the three periods of establishment, consolidation and stabilization. We conclude with a research agenda suggesting five avenues for further research: (1) tracing start-ups' process of network embedding, (2) mapping the connections between the different networks affecting a start-up, (3) grasping the negative effects of networks on start-ups, (4) making longitudinal case studies on start-ups and networks more comparable via common analytical tools, and (5) investigating how policy influences the complex interplay between start-ups and networks.     

经济组织的社会嵌入与社会形塑——企业社会嵌入及其对企业范式形成的自组织机制

本文在述评社会嵌入理论的基础上,针对社会嵌入泛化和企业失范的问题,对企业社会嵌入的对象、方式、作用和意义,做了初步的设想和阐释。提出并论证了如下基本观点:企业的社会嵌入是客观存在和理性行为的统一;企业嵌入的是有自发形塑作用的具象社会和关键利益相关者网络;通过部落营销、内部化和吸纳社会规范,可以实现双方的互嵌和为社会形塑提供条件;企业嵌入后,社会会对企业产生自发的形塑作用,以外取和内化等机制和形式,来应对组织悖论和社会不确定性、使员工个体行为转化为企业的整体秩序,进而形成内外部关系和谐有序的企业范式。     

论跨国公司模式对我国企业海外拓展的引领作用

概括了跨国公司的运作机理,即企业远离总部,在海外建立生产基地和研发、采购、营销等职能部门。企业基于不同区域的比较优势,将总部、生产基地、职能部门等价值链各环节在不同国家、不同地区进行空间布局,以图最终实现总体利润最大化。指出了当前我国企业以跨国公司模式海外拓展的可行方式,如:布局海外研发机构;设立地区总部或投资性公司;打造全球供应链网络;建设海外工业园等。最后提出了以跨国公司模式推进我国企业海外拓展的政策建议,包括抓好健全法律体系、加强政策创新与企业培育、加大金融支持力度、建立企业海外风险防控体系等。     

How does local partners network embeddedness affect international joint venture survival in different subnational contexts?

Do local partners' network attributes affect the survival of high-tech international joint ventures (IJV)? How does the effect of network attributes vary in different subnational institutional environments? While the classic economic explanation for IJV formation and subsequent performance draws from the resource-based view (RBV), we add the relational dimension to explain that IJV survival may be affected by local partners’ relation-specific assets within the local network. We test the effect of the local partners’ network attributes as calculated by UCINET (centrality, network status, and structural hole position) on IJV survival. We additionally assert that this relationship is moderated by subnational institutional heterogeneity. Using our sample of 125 IJV dyadic pairs of US multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in high-tech industries and their local partners in China, we find partial support for our claims.     

Parenting advantage in the MNC: An embeddedness perspective on the value added by headquarters

What determines the value an MNC's headquarters adds to its own affiliates? In this paper, we shed light on this question by linking the embeddedness view of the multinational corporation to the literature on parenting advantage. We test our hypotheses on an original dataset of 124 manufacturing subsidiaries located in Europe. Our results indicate that the external embeddedness of the MNC is an antecedent to headquarters' value creation. We find that headquarters' investments into their own relationships with the subsidiaries' contexts are positively related to the value added by headquarters. Furthermore, this relationship is stronger when the subsidiary itself is strongly embedded. We discuss implications for the MNC literature, embeddedness research, and the literature on parenting and headquarters' roles. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.