1,720,992 research outputs found
Choosing an appropriate alliance governance mode: The role of institutional, cultural and geographical distance in international research & development (R&D) collaborations
No full textWe identify a variety of R&D alliance modes in a knowledge-intensive industry (e.g., Pharmaceuticals), and classify them into four ordered categories which go beyond the traditional binary equity vs non-equity alliance classification. This enriches our understanding of alliance governance structures and broadens the application of alliance modes in what is today a more complicated international R&D collaboration setting. We then explore national, industry and firm factors that determine the selection of an appropriate R&D alliance governance mode, using a sample of 237 international alliance deals. The likelihood of using a more-integrated alliance governance mode decreases as the difference or “distance” between nations of the partner firms increases in terms of human capital and cultural distance. On the other hand, a greater geographic and institutional difference is positively associated with the selection of more integrated alliance governance modes. Furthermore, firms in the research stage are more likely to use a more-integrated governance mode, as opposed to firms in the development stage. These findings advance research on alliance governance structure. They reveal the factors affecting the R&D alliance governance mode choice.Peer reviewe
Viewing global strategy through a microfoundations lens
No full textResearch Summary: The emerging microfoundations literature asserts that macro concepts and macro-out-comes, such as firm-level capabilities, performance and strategies, need to be understood in terms of the underlying actions, interactions and characteristics of micro-level entities, such as individual actors and managers. This literature has specific implications for the understanding of cross-level explanatory mechanisms; notably, it asserts that all relations between macro variables are mechanisms that involve micro variables. While the microfoundations literature has been influential in the general strategy literature, global strategy has been less impacted by it. This is paradoxical because the research challenges pointed to by the literature are often magnified in the multinational corporation and in a global strategy context, and this context may introduce novel challenges. For example, Google's strategic decision in 2018 to reenter the Chinese market (macro-level analysis) is best understood through the thinking of decision-makers in the company, as well as opposition to the move from over 1,000 of its employees.
We characterize microfoundations, discuss their relevance to the global strategy, and show how the papers in this special issue fill important microfoundational gaps in the global strategy literature.
Managerial Summary: For too long, studies of corporate strategies have focused on the firm as a unit of analysis, as if the firm could decide or think on its own, neglecting the fact that it is managers who think. The underlying motivations, interactions and characteristics of individual managers of companies have often been missing in explanations of global strategy formulation. This can especially be a lacuna in closely-held companies in emerging countries where decision-making is more concentrated in the minds of owners, top managers and family members.
The microfoundations literature specifically tries to connect the thinking and backgrounds of individual managers with strategic decisions their firm makes. While the microfoundations literature has made some headway in the general strategy literature, the analysis of global strategy has been less impacted by it. This is paradoxical because the research challenges pointed to by the literature are often magnified in the multinational corporation and in a global strategy context. This introductory paper first refines and enunciates microfoundations theory, in its application to global business. It then also shows how the papers in this special issue fill important microfoundational gaps in the global strategy literature
Reconceptualizing the Firm in a World of Outsourcing and Offshoring: The Organizational and Geographical Relocation of High-Value Company Functions
No full textIn the largest sense, global strategy amounts to (1) the optimal disaggregation or slicing of the firm's value chain into as many constituent pieces as organizationally and economically feasible, followed by (2) decisions as how each slice should be allocated geographically ('offshoring') and organizationally ('outsourcing'). Offshoring and outsourcing are treated as strategies that need to be "simultaneously" analysed, where just 'core' segments of the value chain are retained in-house, while others are optimally dispersed geographically, as well as dispersed over allies and contractors. This amounts to a reconsideration of the nature of the firm that captures the dynamic changes in global configuration and a reconsideration of what constitutes 'core' activities that need to be retained internally. The article proposes a new research agenda that searches for each firm's optimal degree of disaggregation and global dispersion given that further scattering of value chain activities entail benefits as well as increased complexity and costs. Copyright (c) 2010 The Authors. Journal of Management Studies (c) 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and Society for the Advancement of Management Studies.
Organizational Structure in a Global Context: The Structure-Intangible Asset Portfolio LInk
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Using alliances to test core theories of strategic and international management::The case of the resource-based view
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Uncertainty, complexity, and appropriability of cross-border innovation
No full textConducting innovation activities across national borders, firms face political, social, economic, financial, technological, or demand uncertainties. To manage the costs stemming from uncertainties in foreign countries, the conventional wisdom of transaction cost economics suggests that firms should internalize the practice of cross-border innovation to substitute the external hazards. However, many firms do outsource innovation activities to independent contract providers in countries with high uncertainty. Why? To resolve this paradox, I draw upon the theory of real options, the perspective of appropriable rents, and the literature of international expansion. I argue that firms use outsourcing as an option to incrementally invest in cross-border innovation and capture the value of a growth option through learning by outsourcing under uncertainty. In addition, firms could develop the architecture of system-specific outsourcing to secure their entrances to countries with high uncertainty. Moreover, firms benefit from expanding cross-border innovation along with an implementation of a global strategy in a long run. My premises are validated by testing a unique dataset from the Corporate Client Survey of Offshoring Research Network, the International Country Risk Guide, the Index of Economic Freedom, the Patent Protection Index, and the Special 301 reports by the United States Trade Representative.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
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