IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pil/wpaper/1.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Technology transfer within MNEs: An investigation of inter-subsidiary competition and cooperation

Author

Listed:
  • Dan Li

    (Indiana University, EUA)

  • Manuel Portugal Ferreira

    (Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Portugal)

  • Fernando Serra

    (UNISUL Business School, Brasil)

Abstract

Much theory and research that seeks to explain why and how technology transfers occur within multinational enterprises (MNEs) actually addresses the question of how these transfers occur among cooperative subsidiaries, and relies on the assumption of inter-subsidiary cooperation. However, subsidiaries do not always cooperate. We suggest that the success of technology transfer among subsidiaries depends on the extent to which the relationships among an MNE's subsidiaries (i.e. inter-subsidiary) are competitive or cooperative. Inter-subsidiary cooperation is determined by the MNE's international strategy, organizational structure, and the social relationships among subsidiaries. Both hierarchical and social relational factors drive the potential for inter-subsidiary multimarket competition that originates from the overlap on the subsidiaries' products, technologies, and market portfolios.

Suggested Citation

  • Dan Li & Manuel Portugal Ferreira & Fernando Serra, 2007. "Technology transfer within MNEs: An investigation of inter-subsidiary competition and cooperation," Working Papers 1, globADVANTAGE, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.
    • Handle: RePEc:pil:wpaper:1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://globadvantage.ipleiria.pt/files/2007/11/working-paper-1_globadvantage.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julian Birkinshaw, 1996. "How Multinational Subsidiary Mandates are Gained and Lost," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 27(3), pages 467-495, September.
    2. Bruce Kogut & Udo Zander, 1992. "Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(3), pages 383-397, August.
    3. David J. Teece, 2008. "Firm organization, industrial structure, and technological innovation," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: The Transfer And Licensing Of Know-How And Intellectual Property Understanding the Multinational Enterprise in the Modern World, chapter 11, pages 265-296, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Michael D Lord & Annette L Ranft, 2000. "Organizational Learning About New International Markets: Exploring the Internal Transfer of Local Market Knowledge," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 31(4), pages 573-589, December.
    5. Anil K. Gupta & Vijay Govindarajan, 2000. "Knowledge flows within multinational corporations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 473-496, April.
    6. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 1977. "The Internationalization Process of the Firm—A Model of Knowledge Development and Increasing Foreign Market Commitments," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 8(1), pages 23-32, March.
    7. Robert Grosse, 1996. "International Technology Transfer in Services," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 27(4), pages 781-800, December.
    8. Ingemar Dierickx & Karel Cool, 1989. "Asset Stock Accumulation and Sustainability of Competitive Advantage," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(12), pages 1504-1511, December.
    9. Robert M. Grant, 1996. "Prospering in Dynamically-Competitive Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(4), pages 375-387, August.
    10. Robert E. Hoskisson & Michael A. Hitt, 1988. "Strategic control systems and relative r&d investment in large multiproduct firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(6), pages 605-621, November.
    11. Ingemar Dierickx & Karel Cool, 1989. "Asset Stock Accumulation and the Sustainability of Competitive Advantage: Reply," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(12), pages 1514-1514, December.
    12. Hans Mjoen & Stephen Tallman, 1997. "Control and Performance in International Joint Ventures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(3), pages 257-274, June.
    13. John H Dunning, 1998. "Location and the Multinational Enterprise: A Neglected Factor?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 29(1), pages 45-66, March.
    14. Jean‐Francois Hennart, 1988. "A transaction costs theory of equity joint ventures," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(4), pages 361-374, July.
    15. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    16. Ivo Zander & Örjan Sölvell, 2000. "Cross-Border Innovation in the Multinational Corporation," International Studies of Management & Organization, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(2), pages 44-67, June.
    17. Birkinshaw, Julian & Ridderstråle, Jonas, 1999. "Fighting the corporate immune system: a process study of subsidiary initiatives in multinational corporations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 149-180, April.
    18. Charles W. L. Hill & Michael A. Hitt & Robert E. Hoskisson, 1992. "Cooperative Versus Competitive Structures in Related and Unrelated Diversified Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(4), pages 501-521, November.
    19. Bruce Kogut & Udo Zander, 1993. "Knowledge of the Firm and the Evolutionary Theory of the Multinational Corporation," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 24(4), pages 625-645, December.
    20. Aneel Karnani & Birger Wernerfelt, 1985. "Multiple point competition," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 87-96, January.
    21. Giorgio Barba Navaretti & David G. Tarr, 2017. "International Knowledge Flows and Economic Performance: A Review of the Evidence," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Trade Policies for Development and Transition, chapter 6, pages 129-143, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    22. Kathleen R. Conner & C. K. Prahalad, 1996. "A Resource-Based Theory of the Firm: Knowledge Versus Opportunism," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(5), pages 477-501, October.
    23. Fauli-Oller, Ramon & Giralt, Magdalena, 1995. "Competition and Cooperation within a Multidivisional Firm," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 77-99, March.
    24. Cantwell, John & Janne, Odile, 1999. "Technological globalisation and innovative centres: the role of corporate technological leadership and locational hierarchy1," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2-3), pages 119-144, March.
    25. Mary Tripsas, 1997. "Unraveling The Process Of Creative Destruction: Complementary Assets And Incumbent Survival In The Typesetter Industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(S1), pages 119-142, July.
    26. Julian Birkinshaw, 1997. "Entrepreneurship In Multinational Corporations: The Characteristics Of Subsidiary Initiatives," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 207-229, March.
    27. Sumantra Ghoshal & Christopher A Bartlett, 1988. "Creation, Adoption and Diffusion of Innovations by Subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 19(3), pages 365-388, September.
    28. Cantwell, John, 1995. "The Globalisation of Technology: What Remains of the Product Cycle Model?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 19(1), pages 155-174, February.
    29. Peter J. Lane & Jane E. Salk & Marjorie A. Lyles, 2001. "Absorptive capacity, learning, and performance in international joint ventures," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(12), pages 1139-1161, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Manuel Portugal Ferreira & Fernando A. Ribeiro Serra & Carlos Duarte & Tânia Marques, 2010. "Competitividade Nacional, Conhecimento e Investimento estrangeiro," Working Papers 62, globADVANTAGE, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rabbiosi, Larissa & Santangelo, Grazia D., 2013. "Parent company benefits from reverse knowledge transfer: The role of the liability of newness in MNEs," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 160-170.
    2. Anoop Madhok & Anupama Phene, 2001. "The Co-evolutional Advantage: Strategic Management Theory and the Eclectic Paradigm," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 243-256.
    3. Luo, Yadong & Bu, Juan, 2018. "Contextualizing international strategy by emerging market firms: A composition-based approach," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 337-355.
    4. Lunnan, Randi & Meyer, Klaus & Mudambi, Ram & Yang, Qin, 2023. "The impact of knowledge and financial resource flows for MNE strategy: A typology of subsidiary roles," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(6).
    5. Lívia Lopes Barakat & Torben Pedersen & Marcio Amaral-Baptista & Sherban Leornardo Cretoiu & Paulo Bento, 2022. "Too Much of Two Good Things: Explicating the Limited Complementarity Between Drivers of MNC Headquarters’ Absorptive Capacity," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 393-426, June.
    6. Thomas Hutzschenreuter & Ingo Kleindienst & Christina Guenther & Martin Hammes, 2016. "Speed of Internationalization of New Business Units: The Impact of Direct and Indirect Learning," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 849-878, December.
    7. Ricardo Rodrigues & Carlos Sampaio & Paulo Duarte & José Manuel Hernández-Mogollón, 2022. "Cross-Border Innovation: Assessing Concepts, Contexts, and Content," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, November.
    8. Singh, Jasjit, 2008. "Distributed R&D, cross-regional knowledge integration and quality of innovative output," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 77-96, February.
    9. Jan-Erik Vahlne & Jan Johanson, 2017. "From internationalization to evolution: The Uppsala model at 40 years," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(9), pages 1087-1102, December.
    10. Michailova, Snejina & Mustaffa, Zaidah, 2012. "Subsidiary knowledge flows in multinational corporations: Research accomplishments, gaps, and opportunities," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 383-396.
    11. Sergey Filippov & Geert Duysters, 2011. "Competence-building in foreign subsidiaries: The case of new EU member states," Journal of East European Management Studies, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 16(4), pages 286-314.
    12. Li, Zhengyu, 2016. "Essays on knowledge sourcing and technological capability : A knowledge structure perspective," Other publications TiSEM b8ff31fc-c57b-4bc3-b5a4-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    13. Dellestrand, Henrik & Kappen, Philip, 2011. "Headquarters Allocation of Resources to Innovation Transfer Projects within the Multinational Enterprise," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 263-277.
    14. Rabbiosi, Larissa, 2011. "Subsidiary roles and reverse knowledge transfer: An investigation of the effects of coordination mechanisms," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 97-113, June.
    15. McGuinness, Martina & Demirbag, Mehmet & Bandara, Sasanka, 2013. "Towards a multi-perspective model of reverse knowledge transfer in multinational enterprises: A case study of Coats plc," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 179-195.
    16. Leiponen, Aija, 2003. "The Choice of Organizational Form for Collaborative Innovation," Working Papers 127230, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    17. Sears, Joshua B., 2018. "Post-acquisition integrative versus independent innovation: A story of dueling success factors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1688-1699.
    18. Manuel Aníbal Silva Portugal Vasconcelos Ferreira & Nuno Rosa Reis & Fernando A. Ribeiro Serra & Benny Kramer Costa, 2014. "Understanding the Footprint of the RBV in International Business Studies: the Last Twenty Years of Research," Brazilian Business Review, Fucape Business School, vol. 11(4), pages 53-83, August.
    19. Sathyajit R. Gubbi & B. Elango, 2016. "Resource Deepening Vs. Resource Extension: Impact on Asset-Seeking Acquisition Performance," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 353-384, June.
    20. Leiponen, Aija, 2003. "Organizational Knowledge and Innovation in Business Services," Working Papers 127228, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    technology transfer; subsidiaries; competition and cooperation; international strategy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M1 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pil:wpaper:1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Nuno Reis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deiplpt.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.