Search results

The purpose of this study is to test a model for cross-border technological acquisitions (CBTAs) focusing on the level of ownership acquired in the target firm and the acquiring firm's post-acquisition innovation performance (PAIP), with the degree of integration as a mediator, based on the dynamic capability perspective of the resource-based view. This study further concludes the role of the country-of-origin effect (COE) (when emerging economies' acquiring firms purchase technological resources from developed economies' target firms) on the success of the acquiring firms in CBTAs.

Data on CBTAs initiated by 542 acquiring firms was quantified from four high technology industries from 1995 to 2015 for the empirical investigation of the research hypotheses. Hierarchical fixed year effect negative binomial regression technique was used to analyze the proposed model for the success of CBTAs.

The analysis of the CBTAs confirmed that acquiring firms who opt for a higher level of acquired ownership strategy increase the degree of integration of the target firm's technological resource stock. The level of acquired ownership improves the PAIP of the acquiring firms; however, the degree of integration positively accelerates the relationship between the acquired ownership and the PAIP. Considering the COE, acquiring firms that initiated CBTAs from emerging economies to purchase technological resources from developed economies' targets have firm-specific technological capability holes to execute the integration, which negatively impacts the emerging economies acquiring firm's PAIP.

This study contributes to the CBTAs literature by exploring the enabling role of the degree of integration between the level of acquired ownership and the PAIP of the acquiring firms. Further, this study put forward empirics on the COE of the acquiring firms for their integrative capability to integrate the target firm's resource stock and subsequent innovation performance.

In response to calls for the extension of job design research for the strategic team particularly in high-velocity environment, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating roles of job design in the relationships between project team viewed as human capital resources and new product development (NPD) performance in the short and long run. Based on survey data from 117 NPD project teams in high-technology multinational companies (MNCs) in Thailand, this research finds that job design (i.e. autonomous, task identity and feedback) moderates the effects of human capital resources on NPD project success. In addition, job design works in concert with human capital resources to affect managing NPD project-to-project in the long run. Designing jobs by providing autonomy, identity and feedbacks could trigger the stronger contribution not only for fostering knowledge creation in the NPD project team, but also encouraging intrinsic motivation to commit extra effort to achieve NPD goals. This research contributes to the job design literature of how job design works for NPD project team to achieve short-and long-run NPD performance. Implications for these results are discussed.

Based on survey data from 117 NPD projects in high-technology MNCs in Thailand, this research uses hierarchical regression to do analyses.

This research finds that job design (i.e. autonomous, task identity and feedback) moderates the effects of human capital resources on the short-run project performance. In addition, job design works in concert with human capital resources to affect managing project-to-project in the long run.

This research contributes to the job design literature of how job design works for NPD project team to achieve short-and long-run NPD performance.

Investigating the moderating roles of job design in the relationship between human capital resources and NPD performance in the short and long run.

Frugal innovation is a term that has been used to describe the low-cost products and services, as well as the systems and processes adopted by organizations to develop them. The purpose of this paper is to examine the experience of multi-national companies (MNCs) in India as they adopt the philosophy of frugal innovation to develop products that are high in technology but low in terms of cost to meet the requirements of the market conditions in India, and similar low-income economies.

The case study methodology was adopted to understand the experiences of the Indian subsidiaries of two MNCs, Bosch India and 3M India. Data were acquired through interviews with key decision makers, documents, and publicly available information.

The two MNCs have increased research and development (R&D) in India and adopted the philosophy of frugal innovation which combines high technology with low costs. Based on the analysis, some propositions are presented indicating that MNCs will shift R&D to India if there are market opportunities; they will adopt the philosophy of frugal innovation to produce high technology products that are lost cost and low cost over product lifetime and will also expand to new-to-the-world innovation and finally contribute to global innovation.

The study is based on only two case studies and a large sample study may be required before the findings can be generalized.

Other MNCs can learn from Bosch India and 3M India in terms of adopting frugal innovation practices to be successful in low-income economies.

The field of frugal innovation is quite new and largely based on anecdotal accounts of successful low-cost innovation. This paper provides a more detailed account of the experiences of two well-known organizations to present propositions that may be used to conduct a large sample study.

The economic boom and liberalization make China a new focus of international investments by multinational corporations (MNCs). How to enter this huge market and what entry mode should be taken, remain inconclusive. This paper is a study of the entry modes of MNCs into China from socioeconomic perspectives. It provides a theoretical discussion and also an empirical investigation of MNCs’ entry modes in the Chinese particular institutional and business environments. It examines the impact of sociocultural differences, the technology intensity of investment projects and regional factors on MNCs’ entry mode choice.

The purpose of this research is to find out the influence of the roles of Research and Development (R&D) laboratories of Multinational Corporations (MNCs); and of employee‐related characteristics on future career preferences of knowledge professionals in these laboratories. Career preferences include managerial, technical, project‐based and entrepreneurial paths.

This study draws on a large scale study of 921 professionals employed in 70 R&D units of MNC subsidiaries operating in Greece. Four ordered probit regression models were run with employee career preferences forming the dependent variables.

Two R&D laboratory roles (Support Laboratory and Locally Independent Laboratory); and age and education of the employee stand out as predictors of career preferences of examined professionals.

Notwithstanding that this is a study that took place in a country with an advancing economy, it is seemingly the first that incorporates the roles of R&D laboratories as potential predictors of career paths. Moreover, the idiosyncrasies of the Greek national context are provided as possible explanations that justify why some hypotheses based on prior literature were not supported.

MNC knowledge professionals employed in R&D units are a special group of employees whose career paths may be different from those of other groups. Thus, MNC management should tailor‐make career preferences for them.

This research is one of the few empirical studies providing evidence on career paths of employees in MNC R&D units; and suggests possible predictors that have not been put forward hitherto.

Building on the dynamic resource-based view, this paper suggests that increasing market dynamism and continued resource evolution contribute to the development of temporary competitive advantages utilized in the internationalization of high-technology firms. All competitive advantages needed for internationalization can first be seen as temporary by nature, and it is the outcome of managerial selection and competition, conditioned by the determinants of market dynamism and resource evolution that some resources and advantages may become sustainable. Using a case study approach, this paper suggests that sustainable competitive advantages for internationalization emerge from the temporary advantages through a life cycle as the effects of market dynamism and resource evolution decrease, or their determinants lose relevance in the international markets. The paper aims to contribute to the theoretical discussion concerning the nature and consequences of managing temporary competitive advantages and the internationalization processes.

This paper investigates the determinants of the capital structure of large corporations headquartered in the United States and Korea. We consider five explanatory variables: profit, company size, non‐debt tax shields, growth, and business‐risk, along with several industry indicator variables as independent variables and examine, for each country, the relationship to market value based leverage ratio. With our rigid criteria for inclusion in the study, we study the top thirteen companies (by size) in each of seven industries. The majority of our findings indicate that we can generalize to Korea what has been found for Japanese companies/industries relative to the U.S.

Innovation is an increasingly distributed process, involving networks of geographically dispersed players with a variety of possible, and dynamic, value chain configurations (Fraser, Minshall, & Probert, 2005). ‘Open innovation’ is one term that has emerged to describe ‘[…] the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively’ (Chesbrough, Vanhaverbeke, & West, 2006). This is contrasted with the ‘closed’ model of innovation where firms typically generate their own ideas which they then develop, produce, market, distribute and support.

The purpose of this study is to explore knowledge absorptive capacity (ACAP) (both potential and realized) and new product development (NPD) in bipolar entrepreneurial small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

In response to recent calls for research on knowledge ACAP and NPD in entrepreneurial SMEs, particularly in different contexts, this research aims to answer a specific question: What are the characteristics of ACAP (both potential and realized) and the salient issues concerning working complementarily between both types of ACAP to foster NPD in bipolar entrepreneurial SMEs (in this case, three new low-tech and three established high-tech cases)? The authors conduct case study research based on cross-case and within case analyses to answer the question.

The findings show that, in the established high-tech cases, realized ACAP plays an outsized role in developing new products and prior-related knowledge acts as a precondition for capturing useful knowledge from external sources (potential ACAP). On the contrary, in the new low-tech cases, potential ACAP is the key driver of NPD, so external knowledge from network ties becomes a crucial source of acquiring new knowledge, along with entrepreneurs’ level of skill at applying useful knowledge (realized ACAP) to achieve NPD.

On the basis of the bipolar entrepreneurial SMEs (i.e. established high-tech and new low-tech ventures), the characteristics of entrepreneurial SMEs (i.e. firm’s age, size and level of technology) affect the different roles of realized and potential ACAP in driving NPD successes. Realized ACAP plays a critical role for NPD in established high-tech SMEs, whereas potential ACAP is the main driver of NPD in new low-tech SMEs. This research has some limitations that future research should conduct quantitative research in other industries’ context as well as in other countries.

For new ventures, they should be aware that to strengthen their network ties with customers and suppliers can be an important tool for not only overcoming their limitations of existing knowledge but also acquiring tacit knowledge from the external sources. For established high-tech ventures, they should focus not only on the short-term NPD (the achievement of current NPD) but also the long-term NPD (e.g. series of new products and new strategic alliances) that can help avoid a not-invented-here syndrome situation.

The government should customize the policy to suit each targeted SME. Policymakers should play a crucial role of a linking pin among key external sources (e.g. R&D national and international institutions, SME banks and marketing agents) in different stages of the business cycle.

This research contributes to the literature of knowledge ACAP in SMEs to the understanding of the distinction roles of potential and realized ACAP as a mechanism in the different natures of entrepreneurial SMEs.

Drawing on the six-dimensional framework of the Anholt-GfK Nation Brands Index (NBI), the purpose of this paper takes a government-to-business (G2B) perspective of international marketing by shedding light on how governments (as sellers) can harness their nations’ brand image to attract businesses (as buyers) to invest in the country.

Using Korea as context, this study interviewed Korea-based foreign multinational companies (MNCs) to elucidate how nation brand had influenced their FDI decisions to establish R&D centres in Korea. Purposive sampling identified 36 MNCs from diverse countries and industries that had set up R&D centres within the last decade. Individual in-depth interviews probed the MNCs’ views of Korea’s nation brand in regards to their FDI decisions. Recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed for common themes.

Five key thematic attributes of Korea’s nation brand emerged: rigid labour market, pro-FDI government, Chaebols’ dominance, strong nationalism and rapid industrialisation. These attributes relate to NBI’s dimensions of people, governance, investment/immigration, culture/heritage and exports, respectively. The dimensions impacted Korea’s nation brand differently.

This study contributes to nation branding research by applying the Anholt-GfK NBI to empirically investigate nation brand’s influence on attracting business investments at a macro-G2B level. The findings are particularly useful in guiding government policy-makers and trade organisations on running nation-brand promotions and marketing campaigns for FDIs. The findings will also benefit foreign businesses who are considering injecting capital investments into a country.