Technology transfer within MNEs: An investigation of inter-subsidiary competition and cooperation

Much theory and research that seeks to explain why and how technology transfers occur within multinational enterprises (MNEs) actually addresses the question of how these transfers occur among cooperative subsidiaries, and relies on the assumption of inter-subsidiary cooperation. However, subsidiaries do not always cooperate. We suggest that the success of technology transfer among subsidiaries depends on the extent to which the relationships among an MNE's subsidiaries (i.e. inter-subsidiary) are competitive or cooperative. Inter-subsidiary cooperation is determined by the MNE's international strategy, organizational structure, and the social relationships among subsidiaries. Both hierarchical and social relational factors drive the potential for inter-subsidiary multimarket competition that originates from the overlap on the subsidiaries' products, technologies, and market portfolios.technology transfer, subsidiaries, competition and cooperation, international strategy

Firm Characteristics and Country Institutional Development: Business Relationships with Foreign Firms in Transition Economies

The composition of firms' foreign business networks has been attended to in recent research but has seldom been subjected to empirical study in transition economies. In this study, we test hypotheses related to the composition of firms' foreign business relationships. First, we suggest that firms' characteristics matter for building a network of ties the foreign agents. Then, we consider the moderating effect of the degree of institutional development of the home country to assess to extent to which firms' foreign business relationships in transition economies are affected by the institutional development. We conduct a set of logistic regressions and one OLS regression to investigate the composition of firms' business relationships using firm-level data from 24 transition economies. The results indicate that firm size and membership in trade associations are good predictors of foreign business relationships ? specifically, relationships with foreign investors, customers, and suppliers - and also of the diversity of foreign relationships. The country's institutional development radically changes which firms' characteristics matter in forming business relationships.transition economies, foreign relationships, types of ties, institutional development

Culture in international business research: a bibliometric study in four top IB journals

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conduct a study on the articles published in the four top international business (IB) journals to examine how four cultural models and concepts – Hofstede’s (1980), Hall’s (1976), Trompenaars’s (1993) and Project GLOBE’s (House et al., 2004) – have been used in the extant published IB research. National cultures and cultural differences provide a crucial component of the context of IB research. Design/methodology – This is a bibliometric study on the articles published in four IB journals over the period from 1976 to 2010, examining a sample of 517 articles using citations and co-citation matrices. Findings – Examining this sample revealed interesting patterns of the connections across the studies. Hofstede’s (1980) and House et al.’s (2004) research on the cultural dimensions are the most cited and hold ties to a large variety of IB research. These findings point to a number of research avenues to deepen the understanding on how firms may handle different national cultures in the geographies they operate. Research limitations – Two main limitations are faced, one associated to the bibliometric method, citations and co-citations analyses and other to the delimitation of our sample to only four IB journals, albeit top-ranked. Originality/value – The paper focuses on the main cultural models used in IB research permitting to better understand how culture has been used in IB research, over an extended period.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Composition of small and large firms? business networks in transition economies

Recent research has theorized on the composition of firms' business networks but has not empirically examined business networks in transition economies may vary for different firms. In this study, using firm level data from twenty six transition economies collected by the World Bank and the EBRD in 1999-2000, we conduct a set of logistic regression models to investigate the composition of small and large firms' business networks. The results show that, in contrast to smaller firms, larger firms are more likely to have formal business relationships, and relationships with national and foreign financial institutions, government, and foreign firms. In addition, in a subgroup analysis of seven transition economies we show that the composition of the firms' business networks varies substantially across countries but that the government is still a dominant client. Furthermore, we found a large variation on firms' reliance on informal ties and the extent to which firms exchange with foreign firms.business relationships, multi-country, transition economies, institutional environment

From Coulomb blockade to the Kondo regime in a Rashba dot

We investigate the electronic transport in a quantum wire with localized Rashba interaction. The Rashba field forms quasi-bound states which couple to the continuum states with an opposite spin direction. The presence of this Rashba dot causes Fano-like antiresonances and dips in the wire's linear conductance. The Fano lineshape arises from the interference between the direct transmission channel along the wire and the hopping through the Rashba dot. Due to the confinement, we predict the observation of large charging energies in the local Rashba region which lead to Coulomb-blockade effects in the transport properties of the wire. Importantly, the Kondo regime can be achieved with a proper tuning of the Rashba interaction, giving rise to an oscillating linear conductance for a fixed occupation of the Rashba dot.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; presentation improved, discussions extended. Published versio

Quando o jogo competitivo multimercado se sobrepõe aos mecanismos internos de coordenação

Uma parte importante da investigação existente sobre empresas multinacionais procura explicar porque e como a transferência de conhecimento, ou de tecnologia, ocorre dentro das multinacionais. A maioria desta investigação trata as transferências num contexto que pressupõe a cooperação entre as subsidiárias geograficamente dispersas. Neste artigo, explicamos como nem sempre as subsidiárias cooperam e, pelo contrário, pelo menos às vezes competem, e exploramos algumas implicações desta diferença para que as transferências de conhecimento efectivamente ocorram. Ao examinar relações de cooperação e de competição entre as subsidiárias de uma mesma multinacional, sugerimos que o sucesso da transferência de conhecimento depende do formato organizacional da empresa multinacional, do alinhamento entre a estratégia internacional e a estrutura organizacional e do sistema de recompensas em prática. Na ausência destes, parece razoável sugerir que emerge competição multi-mercado entre as subsidiárias que é originada pela sobreposição na carteira de produtos, tecnologias e mercados das subsidiárias

Transactions Cost Theory influence in strategy research: A review through a bibliometric study in leading journals

Transaction cost theory (TCT) is widely used in several management disciplines. Its value for explaining organizational phenomena and managers? decisions is well accepted and has been recognized with two Nobel laureates (Ronald Coase and Oliver Williamson). In this paper we examine the impact of the TCT on extant research in top tier management journals. We conduct a bibliometric study supported in the analysis of citations and co-citations to uncover the connections between authors and presumably theories. We conclude that the TCT, albeit its specific focus on the transactions as the unit of analysis, is present in a majority of management- and business-related research.transaction costs theory, bibliometric study, strategy research, review

Fragmentation and OB Star Formation in High-Mass Molecular Hub-Filament System

Filamentary structures are ubiquitously seen in the interstellar medium. The concentrated molecular mass in the filaments allows fragmentation to occur in a shorter timescale than the timescale of the global collapse. Such hierarchical fragmentation may further assist the dissipation of excessive angular momentum. It is crucial to resolve the morphology and the internal velocity structures of the molecular filaments observationally. We perform 0".5-2".5 angular resolution interferometric observations toward the nearly face-on OB cluster forming region G33.92+0.11. Observations of various spectral lines as well as the millimeter dust continuum emission, consistently trace several $\sim$1 pc scale, clumpy molecular arms. Some of the molecular arms geometrically merge to an inner 3.0$^{{\scriptsize{+2.8}}}_{{-\scriptsize{1.4}}}\cdot10^{3}$\,$M_{\odot}$, 0.6 pc scale central molecular clump, and may directly channel the molecular gas to the warm ($\sim$50 K) molecular gas immediately surrounding the centrally embedded OB stars. The NH$_{3}$ spectra suggest a medium turbulence line width of FWHM$\lesssim$2\,km\,s$^{-1}$ in the central molecular clump, implying a $\gtrsim$10 times larger molecular mass than the virial mass. Feedbacks from shocks and the centrally embedded OB stars and localized (proto)stellar clusters, likely play a key role in the heating of molecular gas and could lead to the observed chemical stratification. Although (proto)stellar feedbacks are already present, G33.92+0.11 chemically appears to be at an early evolutionary stage given by the low abundance limit of SO$_{2}$ observed in this region.Comment: 37 pages, 23 figure