Foreign direct investment motivations and knowledge acquisition from MNEs in overseas subsidiaries

Abstract

Despite studies exploring factors affecting knowledge acquisition from multinational enterprises in subsidiaries, what accounts for a successful acquisition is unresolved. We argue that such disparity may stem from inattention to investment motivations of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in foreign markets and to the fact that learning patterns of subsidiaries can be influenced by foreign firms' market‐seeking or efficiency‐seeking behaviors. We find that absorptive capacity in learning organizations and daily interactions with knowledge possessors are essential to learning from parent firms. In addition, active support from parent firms is particularly crucial for subsidiaries seeking to improve operational efficiency of MNEs. We also suggest that potential absorptive capacity plays a catalyst role in initiating knowledge acquisition, particularly in cases where MNEs have market‐seeking motivations. Copyright © 2014 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Knowledge spillovers through inward FDI in emerging markets: an empirical examination in the supermarket industry

“…The dependent variable is Knowledge Spillovers and it was measured by an average of a four-item scale based on Likert-type responses to the question, adapted from Park and Choi (2014a), 'to what extent your company acquired knowledge about (1) new service development, (2) customer relationship management, (3) store operation skills, and (4) overall managerial know-how from MNE subsidiaries in the same industry?' (1 = very little and 5 = a great extent).…”

Individual and organizational learning from inter‐firm knowledge sharing: A framework integrating inter‐firm and intra‐firm knowledge sharing and learning

“…The finding is imperative, as it extends and brings together the literature, which focuses on either inter-firm knowledge sharing (see Chung et al, 2015;Mason et al, 2012;Ranucci & Souder, 2015) or intra-firm knowledge sharing (see Dyer & Nobeoka, 2000;Park & Choi, 2014;Tang & Naumann, 2016;Usman & Hameed, 2017). The finding is imperative, as it extends and brings together the literature, which focuses on either inter-firm knowledge sharing (see Chung et al, 2015;Mason et al, 2012;Ranucci & Souder, 2015) or intra-firm knowledge sharing (see Dyer & Nobeoka, 2000;Park & Choi, 2014;Tang & Naumann, 2016;Usman & Hameed, 2017).…”

Guest Editorial: The Evolution of International Business Theories: Internalization vs. Externalization

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