Using Multi-hub Structures for international R&D Organizational Inertia and the Challenges of Implementation

Paola Criscuolo () and Rajneesh Narula

No 05-13, DRUID Working Papers from DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies

Abstract: Over the last decade or so, multinational enterprises (MNEs) have shifted from centralised hub structures to multi-hub structures. While these new structures provide greater potential for crossfertilization of technologies and access to location-specific competences, promoting effective knowledge transfer within an MNE – especially in their R&D activities - presents significant managerial challenges. Using evidence collected on the R&D activities of MNEs in the pharmaceutical sector, this paper analyses the challenges associated with complexities of promoting and integrating knowledge flows in the face of inter-unit geographical, organizational and technological distance. MNEs are faced with organizational inertia that hinders efficient lateral communication and inter-unit knowledge transfer, and the evidence suggests that while socialization mechanisms help overcoming some of these bottlenecks, there remain a number of obstacles in optimising knowledge flows in physically and technologically dispersed R&D facilities

Keywords: Multinational enterprises; R&D; Geographical distance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D85 F23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ino and nep-tid
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Using multi-hub structures for international R&D: Organisational inertia and the challenges of implementation (2007)
Working Paper: Using multi-hub structures for international R&D: Organizational inertia and the challenges of implementation (2005)
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