Adaptation, bridging and firm upgrading: How non-market institutions and MNCs facilitate knowledge recombination in emerging markets

Rafael A Corredoira and Gerald A McDermott
Additional contact information
Rafael A Corredoira: Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, USA
Gerald A McDermott: 1] Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA[2] IAE Business School, Universidad Austral, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Journal of International Business Studies, 2014, vol. 45, issue 6, 699-722

Abstract: How do multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries and local institutions help or hinder emerging market suppliers to upgrade their capabilities? Drawing on insights from economic sociology and comparative capitalism, we posit that in these contexts of scarce resources and inferior technologies upgrading depends on the ways in which organizational and institutional networks enable firms to integrate imported advanced knowledge with local applied knowledge. Using a combination of field work and unique survey data of Argentine auto parts suppliers, we show that process upgrading improves significantly when suppliers have ties to seemingly resource-weak non-market institutions that improve access to a variety of experiential knowledge. These institutions act as knowledge bridges, helping local firms tap into diverse applied knowledge embedded in isolated industrial districts and adapt frontier advanced practices to their local conditions. Moreover, suppliers appear to benefit from ties to MNC subsidiaries only when they simultaneously collaborate with certain non-market institutions that help them recombine experiential knowledge with the standards gained from the subsidiaries.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (59)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/journal/v45/n6/pdf/jibs201419a.pdf Link to full text PDF (application/pdf)
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/journal/v45/n6/full/jibs201419a.html Link to full text HTML (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:pal:jintbs:v:45:y:2014:i:6:p:699-722

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... nt/journal/41267/PS2

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Business Studies is currently edited by John Cantwell

More articles in Journal of International Business Studies from Palgrave Macmillan, Academy of International Business
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().