Scope and scale of technology challenge and MNE subsidiary knowledge sourcing in host countries

Michael Murphree, Bui Petersen, Peter Warrian and Ray Gosine

Technovation, 2022, vol. 116, issue C

Abstract: Research emphasizes the role that industry characteristics and knowledge bases play in MNE subsidiaries' knowledge sourcing decisions. This article extends the knowledge sourcing literature by examining how technology challenges themselves help determine both the geographic location—local or distant—and the actor from which the knowledge will be sourced. Using a study of MNE subsidiaries' knowledge sourcing in a peripheral region without a preexisting industry-specific knowledge cluster, we find that MNE subsidiaries’ decisions on where and from whom to source knowledge vary in accordance with the geographic scope and complexity scale of the technology challenges being faced. In peripheral regions, MNE subsidiaries tend to source knowledge from established parties (i.e., the subsidiaries of other MNEs or their headquarters) for localized small-scale technology challenges and for global and large-scale ones. In contrast, localized large-scale technology challenges and global small-scale technology challenges result in more knowledge sourcing from host region actors or from within the subsidiary. This understanding helps clarify the forces behind MNE knowledge sourcing decisions and how multiple sourcing approaches may be simultaneously deployed.

Keywords: MNE Subsidiaries; Knowledge sourcing; Technology challenge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166497222000323
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:techno:v:116:y:2022:i:c:s0166497222000323

DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2022.102485

Access Statistics for this article

Technovation is currently edited by Jonathan Linton

More articles in Technovation from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().