The challenge of Chinese state‐affiliated multinationals in benefiting from foreign subsidiary knowledge transfer: A criticism of light‐touch integration

Acknowledging the sharp growth of Chinese state‐affiliated multinationals and their strategic asset‐seeking investments abroad, this study investigates the effects of headquarters' home‐country political ties on the multinational‐wide benefits gained from subsidiary knowledge transfer in Chinese multinationals. It also looks at how these effects are mediated by organizational distance and social integration between headquarters and subsidiary. Based on a survey of 177 subsidiaries of 99 Chinese multinationals, we find that headquarters' political ties trigger organizational distance and hinder social integration between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries and these, in turn, hamper the potential benefits that Chinese multinationals derive from subsidiary knowledge transfer. This study identifies new challenges related to political ties and light‐touch integration in gaining benefits from subsidiary knowledge transfer.     

The Impact of Innovativeness and Development Time on New Product Performance for Small Firms

Timing is becoming a new source of competitive advantage. The business press extols the benefits of faster product development. This paper examines whether competitive advantage can be gained by reducing development time across all types of new products or whether this advantage is restricted to certain types of new products. It proposes that product innovativeness moderates the relationship between development time and initial market performance. A survey of 110 small manufacturing firms in computer related industries supports the hypothesis. The survey findings indicate that a firm must guard against over- or under-development of the new product since product innovativeness was found to influence the impact of development time on market performance. The implications for managers are: beware of bringing a new product that is too much, too early or too little, too late.     

The Economic Development Role of Regional Logistics Hubs: A Cross‐Country Study of Interorganizational Governance Models

As global competition intensifies, the geographic fragmentation of supply chain activities is creating a concentration of trade at regional freight gateways or hubs. This has significant implications for the economic prosperity of the specific gateway regions. The study explores the deliberate governance efforts of regional economic development agencies and the communities they support in their attempts to exploit location‐specific logistics assets to deliver economic productivity gains. Drawing on the new institutional economics’ body of literature, the research explores prevalent governance models which represent the proactive attempts by these agencies to transform regional logistics capability into cohesive hub strategies. By adopting exploratory cluster‐mapping procedures, web content analysis, and Delphi panels, study findings suggest a typology of multijurisdiction, and multiagency governance models representing the collaborative efforts between public sector and government agencies, academic institutions, and private sector organizations within selected European and U.S. logistics hubs. Each governance type is defined in accordance to specific economic organization and proficiency characteristics.     

The influence of in‐store personnel on online store value: An analogical transfer perspective

In today’s multichannel retail environment, consumers’ experiences in one channel influence their perceptions of another channel. Specifically, consumer evaluations of a firm’s online store have been found to be influenced by consumer interactions with the firm’s in‐store personnel. This paper is among the first to address this assumption and test it empirically. Drawing upon the analogical transfer paradigm, we propose hypotheses and accordingly model in‐store personnel’s competence and friendliness as determinants of online store usefulness, online store enjoyment, and online store value. Using consumer data collected from two Dutch multichannel retailers, we test this model with partial least squares modeling. The results provide clear support for the model and confirm that consumers may use characteristics of in‐store personnel as analogies when evaluating a firm’s online store. Implications for research and retail managers are discussed.     

The commercialization of academic outputs in the administrative sciences: A multiple‐case study in a university‐based business school

Technology transfer, and its focus on research commercialization, is gaining popularity in all academic fields as a way to better demonstrate universities' external impacts. We conducted a multiple case‐study of three commercialization projects in Organizational Development, Information Technology, and Marketing, which took place in a university business school. We explored to what extent the technology transfer model of commercializing academic outputs could apply in business schools. We also examined its potential value compared to other ways of sharing academic expertise. Although the technology transfer approach appears to work, the three projects exhibited crucial characteristics that markedly differ from traditional technology transfer. Compared to other forms of knowledge uses, what makes research commercialization so attractive is that it is readily observable and traceable. However, it raises some fundamental questions about knowledge production and its use. Copyright © 2015 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.