IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/stratm/v40y2019i2p203-229.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The ethnic migrant inventor effect: Codification and recombination of knowledge across borders

Author

Listed:
  • Prithwiraj Choudhury
  • Do Yoon Kim

Abstract

Research Summary Ethnic migrant inventors may differ from locals in terms of the knowledge they bring to host firms. Using a unique dataset of Chinese and Indian herbal patents filed in the United States, we find that an increase in the supply of first‐generation ethnic migrant inventors increases the rate of codification of herbal knowledge at U.S. assignees by 4.5%. Our identification comes from an exogenous shock to the quota of H1B visas and from a list of entities exempted from the shock. We also find that ethnic migrant inventors are more likely to engage in reuse of knowledge previously locked within the cultural context of their home regions, whereas knowledge recombination is more likely to be pursued by teams comprising inventors from other ethnic backgrounds. Managerial Summary Managers and policy makers around the world face a vigorous debate on whether to hire skilled migrants or hire locals. We argue that if western firms stop hiring ethnic migrants, innovation at these firms would suffer in two ways: knowledge transfer and knowledge recombination would both be impeded. We argue and show that skilled ethnic migrants bring to their employers, unique knowledge from the cultural context of their host country. Also, local inventors engage in “knowledge recombination” by combining their existing knowledge to knowledge transferred by migrants. Our empirical results relate to the patenting of Chinese and Indian herbal formulations at western pharmaceutical firms before and after an immigration shock related to the admittance of skilled migrants from these two countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Prithwiraj Choudhury & Do Yoon Kim, 2019. "The ethnic migrant inventor effect: Codification and recombination of knowledge across borders," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 203-229, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:40:y:2019:i:2:p:203-229
    DOI: 10.1002/smj.2977
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2977
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/smj.2977?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Valentina Di Iasio & Ernest Miguelez, 2022. "The ties that bind and transform: knowledge remittances, relatedness and the direction of technical change [Brain drain or brain bank? The impact of skilled emigration on poor-country innovation]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 423-448.
    2. Alba Marino & Francesco Quatraro, 2023. "Leveraging global recombinant capabilities for green technologies: the role of ethnic diversity in MNEs’ dynamics," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1413-1445, August.
    3. Bahar, Dany & Choudhury, Prithwiraj & Rapoport, Hillel, 2020. "Migrant inventors and the technological advantage of nations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(9).
    4. Cristelli, Gabriele & Lissoni, Francesco, 2020. "Free movement of inventors: open-border policy and innovation in Switzerland," MPRA Paper 120099, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jan 2024.
    5. Ernest Miguelez & Andrea Morrison, 2023. "Migrant inventors as agents of technological change," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 669-692, April.
    6. Büttner, Benjamin & Firat, Murat & Raiteri, Emilio, 2022. "Patents and knowledge diffusion," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    7. Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury & Cirrus Foroughi & Barbara Larson, 2021. "Work‐from‐anywhere: The productivity effects of geographic flexibility," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(4), pages 655-683, April.
    8. Olof Ejermo & Katrin Hussinger & Basheer Kalash & Torben Schubert, 2022. "Innovation in Malmö after the Öresund Bridge," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 5-20, January.
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7ell01j45s8loqtvgom5ci9i3h is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Choudhury, Prithwiraj & Ganguli, Ina & Gaulé, Patrick, 2023. "Top Talent, Elite Colleges, and Migration: Evidence from the Indian Institutes of Technology," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    11. Miguelez, Ernest & Noumedem Temgoua, Claudia, 2020. "Inventor migration and knowledge flows: A two-way communication channel?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(9).
    12. Castellani, Davide & Perri, Alessandra & Scalera, Vittoria G., 2022. "Knowledge integration in multinational enterprises: The role of inventors crossing national and organizational boundaries," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(3).
    13. Nicoletta Corrocher & Simone Maria Grabner & Andrea Morrison, 2024. "Green Technological Diversification: The Role of International Linkages in Leaders, Followers and Catching-Up Countries," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2404, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Feb 2024.
    14. Ana Cuadros & Antonio Navas & Jordi Paniagua, 2022. "Moving ideas across borders: Foreign inventors, patents and FDI," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(12), pages 3652-3678, December.
    15. Shayegheh Ashourizadeh & Jizhen Li & Kent Adsbøll Wickstrøm, 2022. "Immigrants` Entrepreneurial Networks and Export: A Comparative Study," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 1291-1318, September.
    16. C. Annique Un & Chhomran Ou & Silvy Un Lafayette, 2022. "From the liability to the advantage of refugeeness," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(4), pages 530-561, December.
    17. Tang Wang & Vikas A. Aggarwal & Brian Wu, 2020. "Capability interactions and adaptation to demand‐side change," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(9), pages 1595-1627, September.
    18. Shayegheh Ashourizadeh & Jizhen Li & Kent Adsbøll Wickstrøm, 0. "Immigrants` Entrepreneurial Networks and Export: A Comparative Study," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-28.
    19. Omezzine, Fakher & Bodas Freitas, Isabel Maria, 2022. "New market creation through exaptation: The role of the founding team's prior professional experience," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(5).
    20. Sarath Balachandran & Exequiel Hernandez, 2021. "Mi Casa Es Tu Casa: Immigrant Entrepreneurs as Pathways to Foreign Venture Capital Investments," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(11), pages 2047-2083, November.
    21. Prithwiraj Choudhury & Kirk Doran & Astrid Marinoni & Chungeun Yoon, 2022. "Loss of Peers and Individual Worker Performance: Evidence from H-1B Visa Denials," CESifo Working Paper Series 10152, CESifo.
    22. Laursen, Keld & Leten, Bart & Nguyen, Ngoc Han & Vancauteren, Mark, 2020. "Mounting corporate innovation performance: The effects of high-skilled migrant hires and integration capacity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(9).
    23. Marino, Alba & Mudambi, Ram & Perri, Alessandra & Scalera, Vittoria G., 2020. "Ties that bind: Ethnic inventors in multinational enterprises’ knowledge integration and exploitation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(9).
    24. Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury & Tarun Khanna & Victoria Sevcenko, 2023. "Firm-Induced Migration Paths and Strategic Human-Capital Outcomes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(1), pages 419-445, January.
    25. Milan Miric & Nan Jia & Kenneth G. Huang, 2023. "Using supervised machine learning for large‐scale classification in management research: The case for identifying artificial intelligence patents," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 491-519, February.

    More about this item

    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:bla:stratm:v:40:y:2019:i:2:p:203-229. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/0143-2095 .

    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.