The external knowledge sourcing process in multinational corporations

Research summary: We study the processes through which multinational corporations (MNCs) identify and make use of external sources of knowledge. Based on a seven‐year longitudinal study of one MNC's overseas scouting unit, we show how a simple one‐directional “channelling” process gradually gave way to three higher value‐added processes, labelled “translating,” “matchmaking,” and “transforming.” Building on these insights, we develop an integrative framework, defining the conditions under which each of the four processes is likely to transpire, and showing how the stock of social capital held by the scouting unit allows it to perform increasingly high value‐added activities over time. Implications for the MNC, external knowledge sourcing, and boundary‐spanning literatures are discussed. Managerial summary: Over the years, many multinational corporations (MNCs) have created overseas “scouting” units to tap into new ideas and opportunities in leading‐edge markets, but with mixed outcomes. In this study, we describe the development of a European telecom firm's scouting unit in Silicon Valley during the 2000s, focusing on the specific approaches used by the scouting managers to build effective connections between Silicon Valley start‐ups and the firm's business units back in Europe. We identify four distinct approaches for different types of opportunities, and we observe a clear sequencing of effort over time as the scouting managers built the necessary capabilities and credibility. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Knowledge flows within multinational corporations

Pursuing a nodal (i.e., subsidiary) level of analysis, this paper advances and tests an overarching theoretical framework pertaining to intracorporate knowledge transfers within multinational corporations (MNCs). We predicted that (i) knowledge outflows from a subsidiary would be positively associated with value of the subsidiary’s knowledge stock, its motivational disposition to share knowledge, and the richness of transmission channels; and (ii) knowledge inflows into a subsidiary would be positively associated with richness of transmission channels, motivational disposition to acquire knowledge, and the capacity to absorb the incoming knowledge. These predictions were tested empirically with data from 374 subsidiaries within 75 MNCs headquartered in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Except for our predictions regarding the impact of source unit's motivational disposition on knowledge outflows, the data provide either full or partial support to all of the other elements of our theoretical framework. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Different knowledge,different benefits: toward a productivity perspective on knowledge sharing in organizations

We develop a differentiated productivity model of knowledge sharing in organizations proposing that different types of knowledge have different benefits for task units. In a study of 182 sales teams in a management consulting company, we find that sharing codified knowledge in the form of electronic documents saved time during the task, but did not improve work quality or signal competence to clients. In contrast, sharing personal advice improved work quality and signaled competence, but did not save time. Beyond the content of the knowledge, process costs in the form of document rework and lack of advisor effort negatively affected task outcomes. These findings dispute the claim that different types of knowledge are substitutes for each other, and provide a micro‐foundation for understanding why and how a firm's knowledge capabilities translate into performance of knowledge work. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

产业集群中创新行为主体知识共享策略的演化博弈分析

产业集群的创新过程是集群中的创新行为主体在政府政策引导与支持下,通过彼此深度合作,实现知识创造的过程,也是知识在整个产业集群中的转移、共享、吸收与利用的过程。创新行为主体间的知识共享是集群创新的关键。分析了产业集群中创新行为主体知识共享的内涵,运用演化博弈理论,构建产业集群中企业、高校与科研机构、政府在知识共享策略中的复制动态博弈模型,分析了企业、高校与科研机构在政府监管条件下采取知识共享策略的动态演化过程,并对博弈结果进行分析。     

When using knowledge can hurt performance: the value of organizational capabilities in a management consulting company

This paper explores the possibility that utilizing the firm's knowledge resources to complete important tasks can backfire and undermine competitive performance. Drawing on organizational capabilities and knowledge‐sharing research, we develop a situated performance view that holds that the value of obtaining and using knowledge within a firm depends on the task situation. Using a data set of 182 sales proposals for client work in a management consulting company, we show that sales teams that had varying needs to learn and differentiate themselves from competitors derived different levels of value from obtaining and using electronic documents and advice from colleagues. Highly experienced teams were more likely than inexperienced teams to lose the sales bids if they utilized such knowledge. Teams that had a high need to differentiate themselves from competitors also had a lower chance of winning if they utilized electronic documents. There were situations, however, where teams performed better if they utilized the firm's knowledge resources. These results suggest that competitive performance depends not on how much firms know but on how they use what they know. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Centers of excellence in multinational corporations

This paper seeks to understand the conditions under which ‘centers of excellence’ emerge in foreign subsidiaries of multinational firms. We define a center of excellence as an organizational unit that embodies a set of capabilities that has been explicitly recognized by the firm as an important source of value creation, with the intention that these capabilities be leveraged by and/or disseminated to other parts of the firm. Drawing on overlapping research in international business and strategic management, we argue that the formation of centers of excellence is shaped by conditions in the subsidiary's local environment as well as by various aspects of the subsidiary's relationship with other parts of the multinational firm. Based on a survey of 99 foreign units in Canada, our results highlight the fundamental role played by parent firm investment as well as the role of internal and external organizations in the development of subsidiary capabilities. Performance implications of the center of excellence phenomenon are also explored. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How knowledge affects radical innovation: Knowledge base,market knowledge acquisition,and internal knowledge sharing

This paper examines how existing knowledge base (i.e., knowledge breadth and depth) interacts with knowledge integration mechanisms (i.e., external market knowledge acquisition and internal knowledge sharing) to affect radical innovation. Survey data from high technology companies in China demonstrate that the effects of knowledge breadth and depth are contingent on market knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing in opposite ways. In particular, a firm with a broad knowledge base is more likely to achieve radical innovation in the presence of internal knowledge sharing rather than market knowledge acquisition. In contrast, a firm with a deep knowledge base is more capable of developing radical innovation through market knowledge acquisition rather than internal knowledge sharing. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

知识转移在工程项目管理中应用的研究

在工程项目这个复杂的动态过程中，人们不断地获取和创造知识，并将其运用。从知识转移的概念及内涵出发，分析了在工程项目中进行知识转移的必要性，利用一般知识转移的SECI模型分析工程项目管理中的知识转移类型、层次及其具体体现，以工程项目寿命期为主线分析知识转移的过程，并简要说明知识转移效果评价的方法。认为在工程项目管理中应用知识转移可以提高项目成员、参与企业、项目自身及同类项目的知识储备和项目管理水平。     

Financial performance and survival of multinational corporations in China

This study investigates the impact of entry timing, mode of entry, market focus, and location advantages on the financial performance and survival of multinational corporations (MNCs) in China. Three major results were found. First, MNCs that entered China in an earlier year had a higher level of profit than those that entered in a later year. Second, equity joint ventures (EJVs) had a higher profit level than cooperative operations or wholly foreign‐owned subsidiaries. Third, MNCs that utilized well the location advantages in China had a higher profit. We also found that EJVs were more likely to survive compared to cooperative operations, while wholly owned subsidiaries did not differ from EJVs. The findings are based on a 2‐year study of about 1000 MNC operations in China. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multilevel perspective on knowledge transfer: evidence from the Chinese automotive industry

We adopt a multilevel perspective to study the transfer of collective and individual knowledge. By making a clear theoretical distinction between collective and individual attributes in concepts such as knowledge, teaching approach, and absorptive capacity, this study extends the knowledge transfer literature and provides fresh insights into the ways in which collective and individual knowledge are transferred. Based on a survey of the capability transfer activities of 161 engineering units of multinationals in the Chinese automotive industry, we empirically validate the distinction between individual and collective teaching activities and absorptive capacity. More importantly, we find that the largely underexplored collective‐level mechanisms, such as collective teaching and collective absorptive capacity, are more effective in transferring both collective knowledge and individual knowledge in comparison to their individual‐based counterparts. Our findings also have important implications for management of multinationals and international joint ventures, particularly in emerging economies. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

创新团队公平感知与知识共享行为关系研究——以成员信任为中介变量

创新团队组织形式的蓬勃发展使得团队成员的绩效激励方式成为众多管理者的研究课题。团队中掌握独特隐性知识的成员往往不愿意共享自身的有利于团队的创新知识,从而给团队的发展带来困难。如何针对这类员工做出有利于团队整体绩效提升的激励活动,是创新团队管理者和所有创新团队工作模式研究者的共同目标。通过数据模型的回归,得出如下结论:创新团队的成员公平感知与成员知识共享行为正向相关,成员对互动公平的感知对知识共享行为的影响最为显著。验证了创新团队成员信任在成员公平感知与知识共享行为之间的中介效用。     

Top management team incentive heterogeneity,strategic investment behavior,and performance: A contingency theory of incentive alignment

Research summary : We develop and test a contingency theory of the influence of top management team (TMT) performance‐contingent incentives on manager–shareholder interest alignment. Our results support our theory by showing that although TMTs engage in significantly higher levels of acquisition investment when their average incentive levels increase, investors' responses to those large investments are generally negative. More importantly, however, we further find that within‐TMT incentive heterogeneity conditions that effect, such that investors evaluate TMTs' large acquisition investments more positively as the variance in those top managers' incentive values increases. Thus, within‐TMT incentive heterogeneity appears to increase manager–shareholder interest alignment, in the context of large acquisition investments. Managerial summary : We find that as the average value of TMTs' incentives increase, relative to their total pay, they invest more in acquisitions and investors' respond negatively to the announcement of those deals. However, we further show that investors respond more positively to acquisitions announced by TMTs whose members' incentive values vary (some TMT members hold higher incentives and others hold lower). Results imply that when TMT members hold differing incentives levels, they approach investments from divergent perspectives, scrutinize those investments more heavily, and make better decisions, relative to TMTs with similar incentives. They also suggest that boards seeking tighter manager–shareholder interest alignment may benefit from introducing variance into TMT members' incentive structures, as doing so appears to create divergent preferences that can improve team decision making. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of personal and cultural factors on knowledge sharing in China

Knowledge sharing has been the focus of research for more than a decade and it is widely recognized that it can contribute to the success of an organisation. However, in comparison with other countries, relatively little work on this topic has been done in the Chinese context. Knowledge sharing is particularly interesting to study in the Chinese context at the individual level, given the unique social and cultural characteristics of this environment. In this paper, we develop a theoretical model to explain how personal factors would affect people’s intention to share their knowledge. The Theory of Reasoned Action and Social Exchange Theory are used in this paper, as are the time dimension of national culture, face, and guanxi. A survey methodology is used to test the model. Face and guanxi orientation both exert a significant effect on the intention to share knowledge. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

Transfer in context: replication and adaptation in knowledge transfer relationships

This paper explores the role of replication and adaptation in knowledge transfer relationships. I develop a model of knowledge transfer in which firms replicate because knowledge is ambiguous and adapt because knowledge depends on context. In the model, firms replicate more when knowledge is discrete and adapt more when they understand the interactions between different areas of knowledge. Replication and adaptation lead to successful knowledge transfer, which leads to improved performance of the receiving unit. The predictions are tested using a survey of cross‐border knowledge transfer relationships among firms in the telecommunications industry. The results are largely consistent with the model and point to potential areas for future research, such as the drivers of replication, the depreciation rate of knowledge, and the role of understanding in organizational knowledge. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

建筑企业如何开展知识管理

章结合建筑企业的特点，论述了建筑企业实施知识管理的重要意义，从知识共享，知识积累和虚拟企业三个方面分别提出了建筑企业开展知识管理的思路与措施。     

Ambiguity and the process of knowledge transfer in strategic alliances

This research examines the role played by the ‘causally ambiguous’ nature of knowledge in the process of knowledge transfer between strategic alliance partners. Based on a cross‐sectional sample of 147 multinationals and a structural equation methodology, this study empirically investigates the simultaneous effects of knowledge ambiguity and its antecedents—tacitness, asset specificity, prior experience, complexity, partner protectiveness, cultural distance, and organizational distance—on technological knowledge transfer. In contrast to past research that generally assumed a direct relation between these explanatory variables and transfer outcomes, this study’s findings highlight the critical role played by knowledge ambiguity as a full mediator of tacitness, prior experience, complexity, cultural distance, and organizational distance on knowledge transfer. These significant effects are further found to be moderated by the firm’s level of collaborative know‐how, its learning capacity, and the duration of the alliance. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Innovation in multinational corporations: control and communication patterns in international R&D operations

This paper addresses issues of global innovation in multinational corporations by examining the patterns of communication and control in international R&D operations. Using a sample of 110 international R&D units from 15 multinational corporations, we identify three types of R&D unit role (local adaptor, international adaptor, international creator). We show that: (1) each type of R&D unit is managed primarily through a different mode of control; (2) local and international adaptors both focus their communication on their internal corporate network; and (3) international creators have strong internally and externally oriented networks of relationships. The implications for the management of global innovation are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

柏克德（Bechtel）——安全管理与知识管理造就全美行业翘楚

介绍了全球著名的美国第一大建筑承包商——柏克德（Bechtel）公司的总体情况,分析了该公司的国际和国内市场的经营业绩、业务范围、主营业务。重点从安全管理、知识管理两大核心竞争力剖析了柏克德公司实现可持续发展的源动力。通过比较研究,总结了柏克德公司对我国建筑企业的借鉴意义,并为我国建筑企业学习柏克德公司的先进经验提出了具体举措。     

Building firm-specific advantages in multinational corporations: the role of subsidiary initiative

This paper investigates how subsidiary companies are able to contribute to the firm-specific advantages of the multinational corporation (MNC). Specifically we examine the determinants of the contributory role of the subsidiary and subsidiary initiative. The study reveals the following significant relationships: (a) internal subsidiary resources in combination with initiative have a strong positive impact on the subsidiary's contributory role; (b) subsidiary initiative is strongly associated with the leadership and entrepreneurial culture in the subsidiary; and (c) contributory role is strongly associated with subsidiary autonomy and a low level of local competition. We discuss the implications of these findings and some of the theoretical issues associated with subsidiary initiative. Our provisional conclusion is that MNC subsidiaries can not only contribute to firm-specific advantage creation, they can also drive the process. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.