IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/worbus/v52y2017i1p17-27.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global outsourcing, explorative innovation and firm financial performance: A knowledge-exchange based perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Verwaal, Ernst

Abstract

Global outsourcing can be an effective strategy to reduce costs and gain access to worldwide knowledge, however, research reports conflicting results regarding its performance effects. Building on knowledge and relational capital literatures, I submit that firms experience higher cognitive and normative barriers in knowledge exchange in global outsourcing, and this causes explorative innovation to negatively mediate the relationship between global outsourcing and firm financial performance. However, this negative mediation effect can be positively moderated by building relational capital with foreign suppliers. I test the theory using data from 223 manufacturing firms in the Netherlands, and find support for the hypotheses.

Suggested Citation

  • Verwaal, Ernst, 2017. "Global outsourcing, explorative innovation and firm financial performance: A knowledge-exchange based perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 17-27.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:52:y:2017:i:1:p:17-27
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jwb.2016.10.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951616301341
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jwb.2016.10.004?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arie Y Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2009. "Why are companies offshoring innovation? The emerging global race for talent," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(8), pages 1406-1406, October.
    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. Mol, Michael J. & van Tulder, Rob J.M. & Beije, Paul R., 2005. "Antecedents and performance consequences of international outsourcing," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 599-617, October.
    4. Kedia, Ben L. & Mukherjee, Debmalya, 2009. "Understanding offshoring: A research framework based on disintegration, location and externalization advantages," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 250-261, July.
    5. Arie Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2008. "Why are companies offshoring innovation ?the emerging global race for talent," Working Papers CEB 08-009, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. Justin J. P. Jansen & Frans A. J. Van Den Bosch & Henk W. Volberda, 2006. "Exploratory Innovation, Exploitative Innovation, and Performance: Effects of Organizational Antecedents and Environmental Moderators," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(11), pages 1661-1674, November.
    7. Sendil K. Ethiraj & Daniel Levinthal, 2004. "Modularity and Innovation in Complex Systems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(2), pages 159-173, February.
    8. 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.
    9. Bunyaratavej, Kraiwinee & Hahn, Eugene D. & Doh, Jonathan P., 2007. "International offshoring of services: A parity study," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 7-21, March.
    10. L Felipe Monteiro, 2015. "Selective attention and the initiation of the global knowledge-sourcing process in multinational corporations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 46(5), pages 505-527, June.
    11. Brush, Candida G. & Vanderwerf, Pieter A., 1992. "A comparison of methods and sources for obtaining estimates of new venture performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 157-170, March.
    12. Armstrong, J. Scott & Overton, Terry S., 1977. "Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys," MPRA Paper 81694, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Charles Dhanaraj & Marjorie A Lyles & H Kevin Steensma & Laszlo Tihanyi, 2004. "Managing tacit and explicit knowledge transfer in IJVs: the role of relational embeddedness and the impact on performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(5), pages 428-442, September.
    14. Gautam Ahuja & Curba Morris Lampert, 2001. "Entrepreneurship in the large corporation: a longitudinal study of how established firms create breakthrough inventions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 521-543, June.
    15. Lhuillery, Stéphane & Pfister, Etienne, 2009. "R&D cooperation and failures in innovation projects: Empirical evidence from French CIS data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 45-57, February.
    16. Chang, Kuo-Hsiung & Gotcher, Donald F., 2007. "Safeguarding investments and creation of transaction value in asymmetric international subcontracting relationships: The role of relationship learning and relational capital," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 477-488, December.
    17. Hashi, Iraj & Stojčić, Nebojša, 2013. "The impact of innovation activities on firm performance using a multi-stage model: Evidence from the Community Innovation Survey 4," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 353-366.
    18. Bruce Kogut & Udo Zander, 1996. "What Firms Do? Coordination, Identity, and Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(5), pages 502-518, October.
    19. Jensen, Peter D. Ørberg, 2012. "A passage to India: A dual case study of activities, processes and resources in offshore outsourcing of advanced services," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 311-326.
    20. Runjuan Liu & Dorothee J Feils & Barry Scholnick, 2011. "Why are different services outsourced to different countries?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(4), pages 558-571, May.
    21. Iulia Siedschlag & Xiaoheng Zhang, 2015. "Internationalisation of firms and their innovation and productivity," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 183-203, April.
    22. Gunday, Gurhan & Ulusoy, Gunduz & Kilic, Kemal & Alpkan, Lutfihak, 2011. "Effects of innovation types on firm performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(2), pages 662-676, October.
    23. Carliss Y. Baldwin, 2008. "Where do transactions come from? Modularity, transactions, and the boundaries of firms," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 17(1), pages 155-195, February.
    24. Dante Di Gregorio & Martina Musteen & Douglas E Thomas, 2009. "Offshore outsourcing as a source of international competitiveness for SMEs," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(6), pages 969-988, August.
    25. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    26. Kshetri, Nir, 2007. "Institutional factors affecting offshore business process and information technology outsourcing," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 38-56, March.
    27. Peter Moran, 2005. "Structural vs. relational embeddedness: social capital and managerial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(12), pages 1129-1151, December.
    28. Jean-François Hennart, 2009. "Down with MNE-centric theories! Market entry and expansion as the bundling of MNE and local assets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(9), pages 1432-1454, December.
    29. Hans Loof & Almas Heshmati, 2006. "On the relationship between innovation and performance: A sensitivity analysis," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4-5), pages 317-344.
    30. Amrit Tiwana, 2008. "Does technological modularity substitute for control? A study of alliance performance in software outsourcing," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(7), pages 769-780, July.
    31. Luis R Gómez-Mejia & Leslie E Palich, 1997. "Cultural Diversity and the Performance of Multinational Firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 28(2), pages 309-335, June.
    32. Ernst Verwaal & Bas Donkers, 2002. "Firm Size and Export Intensity: Solving an Empirical Puzzle," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(3), pages 603-613, September.
    33. Lampel, Joseph & Bhalla, Ajay, 2011. "Living with offshoring: The impact of offshoring on the evolution of organizational configurations," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 346-358, July.
    34. Luiz F. Mesquita & Jaideep Anand & Thomas H. Brush, 2008. "Comparing the resource‐based and relational views: knowledge transfer and spillover in vertical alliances," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(9), pages 913-941, September.
    35. Buckley, Peter J., 2011. "The theory of international business pre-Hymer," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 61-73, January.
    36. Anders Fransson & Lars Håkanson & Peter W Liesch, 2011. "The underdetermined knowledge-based theory of the MNC," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(3), pages 427-435, April.
    37. Bunyaratavej, Kraiwinee & Hahn, Eugene D. & Doh, Jonathan P., 2008. "Multinational investment and host country development: Location efficiencies for services offshoring," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 227-242, March.
    38. Sea‐Jin Chang & Philip M. Rosenzweig, 2001. "The choice of entry mode in sequential foreign direct investment," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(8), pages 747-776, August.
    39. Arie Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2009. "Why are companies offshoring innovation the emerging global race for talent (Journal of International Business Studies (2009) 40 (901-925) DOI:10.1057/jibs.2008.92)," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/205625, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    40. Miozzo, Marcela & Grimshaw, Damian, 2005. "Modularity and innovation in knowledge-intensive business services: IT outsourcing in Germany and the UK," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1419-1439, November.
    41. Prashant Kale & Harbir Singh & Howard Perlmutter, 2000. "Learning and protection of proprietary assets in strategic alliances: building relational capital," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 217-237, March.
    42. Richard Arena & Nathalie Lazaric & Edward Lorenz, 2006. "Trust, Codification and Epistemic Communities," Post-Print halshs-00483655, HAL.
    43. Peter J. Buckley & Roger Strange, 2011. "The Governance of the Multinational Enterprise: Insights from Internalization Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 460-470, March.
    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. Zhao, Yue & Parente, Ronaldo & Song, Mohan & Wenger, Lucas, 2020. "Host country institutional diversity and MNE performance persistence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Li, Lei & Li, Dan & Goerzen, Anthony & Shi, Weilei (Stone), 2018. "What and how do SMEs gain by going international? A longitudinal investigation of financial and intellectual resource growth," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 817-834.
    3. Poudeh, Hossein Dehghani & Cheshmberah, Mohsen & Torabi, Hassan & Karimi Gavareshki, Mohammad Hossein & Hosnavi, Reza, 2019. "Determining and prioritizing the factors influencing the outsourcing of Complex Product Systems R&D projects employing ANP and grey-DEMATEL method (case study: Aviation Industries Organization, Iran)," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 57-68.
    4. Mukherjee, Debmalya & Lahiri, Somnath & Ash, Steven R. & Gaur, Ajai S., 2019. "Search motives, local embeddedness, and knowledge outcomes in offshoring," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 365-375.
    5. Zhou, William Chongyang & Yan, Daying & Sun, Sunny Li, 2022. "Climbing the Ladder: Inward Sourcing as an Upgrading Capability in Global Value Chains," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(3).
    6. Zahoor, Nadia & Khan, Zaheer & Shenkar, Oded, 2023. "International vertical alliances within the international business field: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(1).
    7. Zahoor, Nadia & Khan, Zaheer & Wu, Jie & Tarba, Shlomo Y. & Donbesuur, Francis & Khan, Huda, 2023. "Vertical alliances and innovation: A systematic review of the literature and a future research agenda," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    8. Yanmin Guan & Na Wang, 2023. "Automatic modelling of networked innovation outsourcing-oriented talent competency in the era of artificial intelligence," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 14(1), pages 408-414, February.
    9. HERCIU Mihaela & OGREAN Claudia, 2018. "Business Sustainable Competitiveness – A Synergistic, Long-Run Approach Of A Company’S Resources And Results," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 13(3), pages 26-44, December.
    10. Scuotto, Veronica & Garcia-Perez, Alexeis & Nespoli, Chiara & Messeni Petruzzelli, Antonio, 2020. "A repositioning organizational knowledge dynamics by functional upgrading and downgrading strategy in global value chain," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(4).
    11. Marfri Gambal & Aleksandre Asatiani & Julia Kotlarsky, 2022. "Strategic Innovation Through Outsourcing: A Theoretical Review," Papers 2206.00982, arXiv.org.
    12. Chen, Stephen & Lin, Nidthida, 2019. "The effect of inter- and intra-organizational distances on success of offshored outsourced innovation: A configurational approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 519-529.

    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. Niccolò Pisani & Joan Enric Ricart, 2016. "Offshoring of Services: A Review of the Literature and Organizing Framework," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 385-424, June.
    2. Schmeisser, Bjoern, 2013. "A Systematic Review of Literature on Offshoring of Value Chain Activities," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 390-406.
    3. Gooris, Julien & Peeters, Carine, 2014. "Home–Host Country Distance in Offshore Governance Choices," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 73-86.
    4. Asimakopoulos, Grigorios & Revilla, Antonio & Rodríguez, Alicia, 2023. "International R&D sourcing, innovation and firm age: The advantage of ‘born-international sourcers’," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    5. Julien Gooris & Carine Peeters, 2012. "Home-Host Country Distance and Governance Choices in Service Offshoring," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2012-007, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. Martinez-Noya, Andrea & Narula, Rajneesh, 2018. "What more can we learn from R&D alliances? : A review and research agenda," MERIT Working Papers 2018-022, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    7. Baier, Elisabeth & Rammer, Christian & Schubert, Torben, 2015. "The Impact of Captive Innovation Offshoring on the Effectiveness of Organizational Adaptation," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 150-165.
    8. Niccolò Pisani & Joan Enric Ricart, 2018. "Offshoring Innovation to Emerging Countries: The Effects of IP Protection and Cultural Differences on Firms’ Decision to Augment Versus Exploit Home-Base-Knowledge," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 58(6), pages 871-909, December.
    9. Molintas, Dominique Trual, 2010. "Globalisation impact on Danish SME: Offshore Outsourcing & local competitiveness," MPRA Paper 96529, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Martinez-Noya, Andrea & Garcia-Canal, Esteban & Guillen, Mauro F., 2012. "International R&D service outsourcing by technology-intensive firms: Whether and where?," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 18-37.
    11. Rodgers, Peter & Khan, Zaheer & Tarba, Shlomo & Nurgabdeshov, Assylbek & Ahammad, Mohammad F., 2019. "Exploring the determinants of location choice decisions of offshored R&D projects," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 472-483.
    12. Lorena D’Agostino, 2015. "The neglected effects of R&D captive offshoring in emerging countries on the creation of knowledge at home," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 42(1), pages 61-91, March.
    13. Nidthida Lin, 2020. "Designing Global Sourcing Strategy for Cost Savings and Innovation: A Configurational Approach," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(5), pages 723-753, October.
    14. Clampit, Jack & Kedia, Ben & Fabian, Frances & Gaffney, Nolan, 2015. "Offshoring satisfaction: The role of partnership credibility and cultural complementarity," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 79-93.
    15. Khan, Zaheer & Lew, Yong Kyu & Marinova, Svetla, 2019. "Exploitative and exploratory innovations in emerging economies: The role of realized absorptive capacity and learning intent," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 499-512.
    16. Julien Gooris, 2013. "The impact of host-country environment and home-host country distance on the configuration of international service activities," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/209404, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    17. Yadong Luo & Huan Zhang & Juan Bu, 2019. "Developed country MNEs investing in developing economies: Progress and prospect," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(4), pages 633-667, June.
    18. Klaus E. Meyer & Chengguang Li & Andreas P. J. Schotter, 0. "Managing the MNE subsidiary: Advancing a multi-level and dynamic research agenda," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-39.
    19. Alex Eapen & Rekha Krishnan, 2019. "Transferring Tacit Know-How: Do Opportunism Safeguards Matter for Firm Boundary Decisions?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 715-734, July.
    20. Martin Falk, 2012. "Determinants of Greenfield Investment in Knowledge Intensive Business Services," FIW Research Reports series IV-002, FIW.

    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:eee:worbus:v:52:y:2017:i:1:p:17-27. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620401/description#description .

    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.