The Role of Intergovernmental Organizations in Cross-border Knowledge Transfer and Innovation

Abstract

Nonmarket organizations play a supportive role in knowledge transfer and innovation domestically, but national differences between them can create barriers to cross-border knowledge transfer. Internationally oriented nonmarket organizations-ones that develop international ties and partnerships-may generate commonalities among participants and promote a set of similar rules, expectations, and norms across different countries and thus may be effective in supporting cross-border knowledge transfer and innovation. We focus on one such kind of organization, the intergovernmental organization (IGO), as a country's connectedness to learning-oriented IGOs may have a positive influence on national innovation. Using an illustrative caselet on one IGO, the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, and an empirical analysis spanning 83 countries from 1996 to 2006, we find that the extent of connectedness to the learning-oriented IGO network enables national innovation. But countries differ in the extent to which they can leverage external knowledge for innovation because of the variation in relationships among local constituencies.Organizational scholars have long argued that nonmarket organizations, such as regulatory agencies, business associations, schools, cooperatives, and government-supported institutions, can play an important, supportive role in knowledge contexts. These organizations can facilitate regulatory support for knowledge transfer and generate reliable channels for collective learning (Lynn,

Jurisdiction shopping and foreign location choice: The role of market and nonmarket experience in the European solar energy industry

“…In this stream of research, particular attention has been paid to the role of formal institutions, and notably to government policies enacted to control or constrain business conduct, including the regulation of property rights, trade, labor practices, taxation, and pollution, among others (Blomström, Kokko, & Mucchielli, 2003;Blonigen, 2005;Li & Zhou, 2017;Maggioni, Santangelo, & Koymen-Ozer, 2019). Policy conditions have been found to affect a number of factors central to international business, including firms' global strategies (Bonardi, 2004), knowledge flows from multinational enterprises (Jandhyala & Phene, 2015), the sequence of firms' international expansion (Delios & Henisz, 2003b), and firm location choices (Henisz, 2000;Maggioni et al, 2019).…”

Reducing uncertainty in follow‐up foreign direct investment: Imitation by family firms

“…Nonmarket organizations could also support developing social capital and facilitate more effective learning both within and across host countries, and thereby reduce uncertainty in FDI growth decisions. This would benefit not only the focal firms but also national innovativeness in general (Jandhyala & Phene, 2015).…”

Linking knowledge to action: the role of boundary spanners in translating ecology

“…Because boundary spanners work within porous boundaries, their positions can become unstable, and they are often pulled in different directions by different stakeholders (Parker and Crona ). For example, strong boundary‐spanner connectedness to science production enables innovation, but it can exert a gravitational pull away from the more difficult and less honored role of stakeholder interaction (Liu and Stuart ; Jandhyala and Phene ).…”