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Knowledge development in MNC subsidiaries: The influence of MNC internal and external knowledge and control mechanisms
Author(s) -
Sumelius Jennie,
Sarala Riikka
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
thunderbird international business review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.553
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1520-6874
pISSN - 1096-4762
DOI - 10.1002/tie.20202
Subject(s) - subsidiary , multinational corporation , business , autonomy , context (archaeology) , knowledge management , control (management) , china , industrial organization , management , computer science , political science , economics , finance , law , biology , paleontology
In this study, we examine the influence of control mechanisms and internal and external knowledge on multinational company (MNC) subsidiary knowledge development. Previous research stresses the importance of these factors for subsidiary behavior, but nonetheless they remain underexplored in the context of subsidiary knowledge development. The study is based on questionnaire data from 161 MNC subsidiaries in China and Finland. The results indicate that MNC internal and external knowledge, as well as decision‐making autonomy of MNC subsidiaries, positively influence knowledge development in MNC subsidiaries. Conversely, the importance of knowledge development as a performance evaluation criterion did not show any influence on MNC subsidiary knowledge development. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.