Successful and unsuccessful radical transformation of multinational mobile telephony companies: the role of institutional context

A number of prominent European multinational mobile telephony companies (MNMTCs) have their origins in state-owned monopolies that successfully undertook radical transformation in the late 1980s to late 1990s. Not only did they face liberalization of their domestic markets but they also moved from fixed-line telephony to mobile telephony prior to rapid expanded overseas. Our study focuses on Telenor whose operations currently span the Nordic region and Southeast Asia. Like other MNMTCs, Telenor currently faces another period of radical change as global digital services providers are set to ride on the connectivity MNMTCs supply thereby reducing them to “dumb-pipes”. Our study indicates that Telenor has abandoned radical transformation for “modernization” of its extant operations. For an understanding of why this second radical change is proving arduous for MNMTCs, we argue that there is a need to take into consideration institutional change

Functional-level transformation in multi-domestic MNCs: transforming local purchasing into globally integrated purchasing integrated purchasing

This paper revisits Bartlett and Ghoshal’s transnational theory of the MNC in relation to multi-domestic MNCs. We argue that the aggregate level of analysis adopted by Bartlett and Ghoshal is unhelpful for identifying significant changes in multi-domestic MNCs at the level of discrete functions. We argue that a more disaggregated level of analysis is required. Our analysis of two cases of multi-domestic MNCs that have undertaken the global integration of their locally distributed purchasing functions indicates that while significant change to the purchasing function has occurred, at the aggregate level both MNCs remain multi-domestic. In both cases the decision to integrate local purchasing was regarded as having more obvious benefits than integrating other functions such as marketing. While both of our case multi-domestic MNCs may in future choose to integrate other functions and develop into full-fledged transnational companies we argue that there is no inevitability to this. Indeed global integration may cease with the purchasing function. A second theme in this paper is that we argue that Bartlett and Ghoshal’s transnational theory has a biased view of what constitutes effective governance mechanisms for achieving global integration, local responsiveness and worldwide learning and that it would greatly benefit from a more balanced application of hierarchical and relational governance mechanisms

The digital challenge for multinational mobile network operators. More marginalization or rejuvenation?

Multinational mobile network operators (MNOs) rapidly emerged in the early 1990s and for a decade and a half were the dominant actors in their industry. We analyze the development and competitiveness of a typical MNO, Telenor. With the introduction of 4G in 2010, we show that Telenor, like other MNOs largely failed to respond to the opportunity that connectivity provided to develop digital services. Instead, these were developed by technology platform companies such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Telenor became a marginalized supplier of standardized internet connectivity. We argue that the ‘decade of lost opportunity’ (2010-2020) for Telenor was a product of a lack of ‘recombinant firm-specific advantages’ (FSARs). With the launch of 5G, an emerging global digital infrastructure, this sidelining is set to intensify unless Telenor responds to this new opportunity by developing B2B digital services. We analyze the FSARs that are necessary for a successful transition of capturing the value that 5G provides and the degree to which they are present, or potentially present, in Telenor

VUCA and the future of the global mobile telco industry

The disruption global digitally based firms are imposing on the positions of established multinational telcos is not just in degree, but also in kind. As such, the telcos are entering a period of VUCA. Although digitally based competitors could suffer from liabilities of ‘outsidership’, employing the telco Telenor as a case, we argue that the physical presence of telcos in local markets will be insufficient to avoid a future as utilities or dumb-pipes. One significant issue as they confront VUCA is therefore whether telcos are able to develop and apply dynamic capabilities

The effect of organizational separation on individuals' knowledge sharing in MNCs

The ability of an organization to apply knowledge globally has been conceptualized as critical for the existence of multinational corporations (MNCs). We argue for an organizational separation effect on knowledge sharing that challenges the view of the MNC as a latent social community. Using a unique data-set of more than 4.000 individual responses from an MNC, Telenor, we test how three types of drivers for individuals’ knowledge sharing –individuals’ motivation, and individuals’ perceptions of organizational values and organizational work practices- work differently within, as opposed to across, business units. Our analysis suggests that while intrinsic motivation, innovative values and job autonomy are relatively important drivers of knowledge sharing within the business units, extrinsic motivation, result-oriented values and participation in corporate employee development are relatively more important for knowledge sharing across business units

Contextualizing AMO explanations of knowledge sharing in MNEs: the role of organizational and national culture

Ability, motivation, and opportunity (AMO) approaches have dominated studies of knowledge sharing in multinational enterprises (MNEs). We argue that there is a need to consider both the national and organizational cultural contexts. Beyond their direct influence on knowledge sharing with colleagues in other business units (BUs), national and organizational culture significantly reinforce the positive relation between individual motivation and knowledge sharing. Thus, our multi-level approach to knowledge sharing in MNEs gives rise to a contextualized AMO approach that provides a novel and more potent understanding of variations in knowledge sharing. At the individual level, our approach includes the degree of ability in the sense of professional competence, intrinsic motivation, and opportunities to interact with colleagues in other BUs. At the organizational and country levels, we examine the direct and indirect effects of a collaborative culture on knowledge sharing. We employ data from an MNE that operates across a variety of regions, including the Nordic countries, Central and Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. The sample consists of 11,484 individuals nested in 1,235 departments in 11 countries. As well as confirming the significance of individual competence, intrinsic motivation, and opportunities for interaction for knowledge sharing, our findings reveal that both organizational culture and national culture are important factors for our understanding of knowledge sharing. This suggests that over and above recruiting intrinsically motivated employees, managers can enhance knowledge sharing by developing collaborative organizational cultures at the departmental level

Wall Microstructures of High Aspect Ratio Enabled by Near‐Field Electrospinning

Near-field electrospinning (NFES) holds the potential to develop into a versatile additive nanomanufacturing platform. However, the impact of a variety of processing variables remains unresolved.Herein, the effect of solvents used to prepare suitable solutions for 3D microstructuring by electrospinning is studied. 3D straight walls of stacked fibers are fabricated using a layer-by-layer fiber deposition approach. The effect of the choice of substrate material is also explored. The results show that a high vapor pressure, and a low dielectric constant of the solvent, as well as a high substrate conductivity facilitate improved stacking of fiber layers. Utilizing these conditions, 3D stacked walls of polyethylene oxide are fabricated, and a maximum aspect ratio of 191.7 ± 52.6, while using a chromium/gold substrate and dichloromethane/methanol as the solvent is achieved