Search

This paper examines both conditions that can enable collaborative and combinative knowledge generation within multinational corporations (MNCs) and benefits that firms can achieve from these types of innovations. I posit that more basic relationships that have been established through manufacturing integration can enable multicountry collaborative innovations and that these innovations will bring together diverse knowledge that is likely to spawn further innovation within firms. Empirical analysis of a panel that includes comprehensive and confidential data on the worldwide operations of U.S. MNCs and their worldwide patents reveals robust support for these arguments. Overall, this paper broadens extant research on knowledge generation within MNCs by exploring both the antecedents and benefits of multicountry collaborative innovations.

This paper defines initiative as a key manifestation of corporate entrepreneurship, and examines the types of initiative exhibited in a sample of six subsidiaries of multinational corporations. From a detailed analysis of 39 separate initiatives, four distinct types are identified, which we refer to as ‘global,’ ‘local,’ ‘internal’ and ‘global–internal hybrid,’ to correspond to the locus of the market opportunity whence each arose. Two important conclusions are indicated. First, entrepreneurship at the subsidiary level has the potential to enhance local responsiveness, worldwide learning and global integration, a much broader role than previously envisioned. Second, the use of contextual mechanisms to create differentiated subsidiary roles has its limitations because each initiative type is facilitated in different ways. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Both structural determinants and competitive factors can work to define the relevant environment for strategy formulation within an industry. This study examines the effects of each of these two sets of factors on global integration strategies, and finds that their impacts vary considerably from one industry to another. The study also investigates the relationship between a business's global integration strategy and its performance, using an industry-specific perspective. In the aggregate, the businesses studied appear to be under-globalized. However, this relationship varied significantly by industry ; four of the industries studied appeared to be under-globalized, while the remaining three industries were at or near an optimal level of globalization.