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The purpose of the paper is to examine the coevolutionary dynamics between multistage overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&A) integration and knowledge network reconfiguration and the impact of this coevolution on industrial technology innovation.

This paper builds a coevolution analysis framework in stages and constructs structural equation models for empirical tests using the Chinese technology-sourcing overseas M&A events that occurred from 2001 to 2012.

Overseas M&A integration and knowledge network reconfiguration are in a coevolutionary relationship, driving industrial technology innovation. The acquirer adopts initial integration degree that matches the resource relatedness between the acquiring and acquired parties, promoting initial industrial technology innovation through initial knowledge network reconfiguration. Initial knowledge network reconfiguration will feed back to the M&A integration decision in the mid-to-late stage through increasing knowledge similarity and narrowing network position difference. The higher the improvement of mid-to-late integration degree, the more it can drive mid-to-late industrial technology innovation through mid-to-late knowledge network reconfiguration.

Future research can accurately classify overseas M&A integration stages through case tracking and explore other network attributes.

Practical guidelines are provided for managers on how to implement a multistage overseas M&A integration strategy, optimize knowledge network reconfiguration and promote industrial technology innovation. Significant practical implications are presented, especially in academia, society and quality of life.

Different from the previous research considering M&A integration as a single-stage decision, this paper emphasizes the dynamics of the M&A integration process and explores the coevolution mechanism of multistage overseas M&A integration and knowledge network reconfiguration.

The goal is to examine the relationship between business process improvement initiatives (BPII), information systems (ISs) integration, and customer focus.

The data for the study were collected at the divisional levels from a list of “Fortune 500” firms. A total of 1,100 questionnaires were mailed to divisional managers and 115 responses were used for the data analysis.

The results of this study support the hypotheses that BPII directly affects customer responsiveness and product/service innovation. In addition, data integration and communication networks flexibility are found to significantly affect customer responsiveness and product/service innovation. Communication networks connectivity did not have any significant effect on customer responsiveness and product/service innovation, respectively. Data integration, intrafirm networks connectivity and networks flexibility are found to significantly mediate the relationship between BPII and customer responsiveness and BPII and product/service development, respectively. Interfirm networks connectivity was not found to significantly mediate the relationship between BPII and customer responsiveness and BPII and product/service development, respectively.

The sample consists of divisions of Fortune 500 firms. Second, the study is cross‐sectional; therefore, it lacks the predictive power to find the long‐term effects of BPII and IS integration on customer focus. A longitudinal study can be a future research endeavor to validate the results of the study.

To business managers, the study clarifies the role of IS integration in customer focus.

Post-merger integration (PMI) is driven by coevolving processes. This paper examines the coevolution of dynamic integration strategy and network reconstruction and explores how these processes systematically enable emerging market acquirers to upgrade innovation capabilities.

This paper conducts a multi-case study based on four Chinese overseas acquisitions of manufacturing firms. The data were collected from interviews and archival documentation.

This study develops a coevolutionary framework of dynamic integration strategy and network reconstruction to explain processes and mechanisms of an acquirer’s innovation capability upgrading. This framework identifies three network motivations, namely, network access, network connection and network synergy. Under different network motivations, dynamic transitions of the acquirer’s integration strategy coevolve with multi-level reconstruction of its networks. Collectively, they are important mechanisms driving innovation capability moves from imitation innovation to asportation and reimitation innovation and then to independent innovation.

This paper responds to a recent call for more insights into the dynamics of PMI and contributes to the research on emerging market multinational corporations’ post-acquisition integration. By integrating the M&A and networks literature, the paper provides evidence of unexplored mechanism of network changes during PMI. It reveals that how acquirers manage the dynamics of PMI to gradually achieve multi-level reconstruction of their networks. Based on a coevolutionary framework, the paper provides a process perspective on how the coevolution of PMI and network reconstruction promotes the upgrading of innovation capabilities.

This paper aims to examine how integration modes impact the acquirer knowledge diffusion capacity of overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&As) effected by emerging market firms and the role played by the global innovation network position of the acquiring firms in affecting this relationship.

Through the use of structural equation modelling and bootstrap testing, the hypotheses are tested by drawing upon a sample of 102 overseas M&As effected by listed Chinese manufacturing companies.

The results show that acquirers from emerging countries are unable to increase the knowledge diffusion capacity unless they choose the right post-merger integration mode. This paper also finds that the relationship between integration mode and knowledge diffusion is channelled through the centrality and structural holes of acquirers in the global innovation networks. When considering the combinations of different resource similarities and complementarities of the acquired firms, differences emerge in the integration model and network embedded path of acquirers in emerging countries.

Emerging market multinational enterprises should consider post-merger integration as a crucial facilitator to the crafting of global innovation network positions that promote knowledge diffusion. The choices of integration mode and brand management autonomy should be matched with the resource similarities and complementarities that exist between the acquirer and target firms.

Based on the resource orchestration theory and by focussing on network centrality and structural hole as the crucial links, this study provides a nuanced understanding of the relationship between post-merger integration and knowledge diffusion and sheds light on latecomer firms from emerging countries.

As intermodal logistics networks play a crucial role in enhancing the entire logistics performance, effectively managing the intermodal logistics network has become a significant strategic consideration in international logistics. The existing literature stresses that inter-organizational knowledge exchange is essential to successfully integrating logistics components and for maximizing logistics performance in the long run. These contentions ensure that knowledge exchange between intermodal logistics network entities-such as shipping lines, port terminal operators, freight forwarders, road and rail freight operators and other related logistics operators-are key factors in facilitating the successful integration of an intermodal logistics network because an intermodal logistics network is an integrated part of the entire international logistics system. This paper aims to investigate the question of how intermodal logistics network entities can successfully exchange knowledge with each other, and whether the knowledge exchange can contribute to the effective integration of the intermodal logistics network. For this, this paper adopts the social network embeddedness perspective in order to identify a useful inter-organizational relationship mechanism within the intermodal logistics networks, allowing the facilitation of knowledge exchange among the network players. A conceptual framework will be developed for the exploration of the aforementioned relationships between the social network mechanisms, i.e. network density, tie strength, knowledge exchange among network entities, and intermodal logistics network integration. Following the parameters of this framework, the theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to offer deeper insight into the relationship between a subsidiary’s internal integration in its manufacturing network and subsidiary-level operational performance by taking into account the country context of the respective subsidiary.

Subsidiary-level information is gathered using the sixth round of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey, thus including 507 subsidiaries from 22 countries. Country context is operationalised using the Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum.

The findings reveal that internal integration has a positive influence on operational performance improvement. Country context acts as a moderator on this relationship: subsidiaries in less developed countries are only able to improve their effectiveness (quality, flexibility, delivery), while developed country subsidiaries gain both effectiveness and efficiency (cost, time) benefits from internal integration.

The unit of analysis is the knowledge-receiving subsidiary without taking the characteristics of the sending unit or that of the whole network of subsidiaries into account. Based on the context-dependency of the integration-performance relationship found in this paper, a future research agenda is proposed including further factors (absorptive capacity, knowledge complementarity, organisational practices) that could influence this relationship.

Subsidiary managers in less developed countries should strive to acquire intra-network knowledge related to effectiveness, while managers in developed countries can expect both efficiency and effectiveness benefits.

A large-scale survey encompassing subsidiaries from both emerging and developed countries is used to offer deeper insight into the relationship between internal integration and performance. The paper provides a possible explanation for previous mixed findings on this relationship. The differentiation between efficiency and effectiveness performance shows that country context represents an important factor that moderates the integration-performance relationship.

This paper aims to investigate the moderating effects of the role a plant plays in a manufacturing network on the relationships between its level of integration with other plants in the same manufacturing network (referred as “internal manufacturing network integration” in this paper), its interactions with suppliers/customers (referred as “external supply chain integration” in this paper), and its operational performance.

This paper is based on the data from the sixth version of International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS VI). Specifically, this paper uses a subset of the IMSS VI data set from the 606 plants that identified themselves as one of the plants in a manufacturing network.

The results demonstrate plant role has a moderating effect on the relationship between internal manufacturing network integration and external supply chain integration, but not on the relationship between external supply chain integration and operational performance. Our research also highlights that plant role moderates the mediating effect of external supply chain integration on the relationship between internal manufacturing network integration and operational performance. More importantly, it indicates that if a plant wants to significantly increase its operational performance, it will have to strengthen its linkages with supply chain partners, no matter which role it plays in manufacturing network.

This paper supplements the existing research by developing further understandings on the relationship between internal manufacturing network integration, external supply chain integration and operational performance. Specifically, it examines the influence of plant role on such relationship and reveals the essence about in what context (in terms of plant characteristics) internal manufacturing network integration influences the operational performance of a plant in a manufacturing network through external supply chain integration.

Since the mid‐1980s, the subject of information systems (IS) integration and its role in business process improvement (BPI) has been of considerable interest to business managers and researchers. The present study examines the effects of IS integration on BPI. The moderating effects of industry type, information intensity of the industry, and time since the initiation of the existing program in the firm have also been analyzed. The data for the study were gathered through a survey of Fortune 500 US firms at divisional levels. The results of the study support the hypotheses that data integration and communication networks integration affect the dimensions of BPI. However, none of the moderators, except industry type, was found significantly affecting the relationships between networks integration and process improvement effect and customer focus.

The purpose of this paper is to study whether a fast supply network structure interacts with customer integration (CI) by positively moderating the relationship between CI and efficiency performance.

The authors developed two hypotheses, incorporating dimensions of CI, fast supply network structure and efficiency performance. The hypotheses are tested through a hierarchical regression analysis using data from a sample of 200 manufacturing plants.

CI alone is not enough to guarantee cost reductions because a fast supply network structure acts as a moderator of the CI‐efficiency relationship. The role of this moderator is twofold. On the one hand, it interacts with CI, strengthening the positive impact of CI on efficiency through a positive complementary effect. On the other hand, if the supply network structure is not intended to support fast lead times, the impact of CI on efficiency can be hindered and, in extreme cases, CI can even make efficiency worse.

Efficiency maximization requires levering simultaneously on CI and the supply network structure, rather than investing and acting on CI only. Managers should carefully weigh up the supply network structural context before embracing a CI program, because adopting CI in a wrong context could amplify a series of problems (e.g. nervousness of plans) and offset CI benefits in terms of efficiency.

This study provides an original contribution to the literature on the relationship between CI and efficiency by adopting a contingency perspective, namely assuming that the relationship between supply chain practices and performance is contingent upon how supply networks have been designed. Accordingly, this research questions the assumption that CI always improves efficiency, by analysing the complementary effect between CI and a fast supply network structure. This provides a number of original implications for the interpretation of the relationship between CI, supply network structure and efficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships at the level of plant in a manufacturing network, labelled as networked plant in the paper, between inter-plant coordination and operational performance, supply chain integration (SCI) and operational performance and inter-plant coordination and SCI.

This paper is developed based on the data obtained from the sixth version of International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS VI). Specifically, this paper uses a subset of the IMSS VI data set from the 606 plants that identified themselves as one of the plants in a manufacturing network.

This paper finds that external integration is significantly related to operational performance of networked plant, whereas internal integration is not. As an enabler for external integration, the influence of internal integration on operational performance of networked plant is mediated by external integration. This paper also provides evidence to the purported positive impact of internal integration on inter-plant coordination, as well as the positive impact of inter-plant coordination on external integration. It further suggests that inter-plant coordination can influence operational performance of networked plant through external integration and also mediate the relationship from internal integration to performance through external integration.

This paper contributes to the SCI literature and extends the understanding of the impact of SCI on the operational performance by selecting networked plant as a unit of analysis. Besides, this paper distinguishes inter-plant coordination from SCI and investigates the relationship between inter-plant coordination, SCI, and operational performance for the first time.