Knowledge Outflows from Foreign Subsidiaries and the Tension Between Knowledge Creation and Knowledge Protection: Evidence from the Semiconductor Industry

Alessandra Perri, Ulf Andersson

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    This paper analyzes the MNC subsidiaries' trade-off between the need for knowledge creation and the need for knowledge protection, and relates it to the extent of knowledge outflows generated within the host location. Combining research in International Business with Social Theory, we build a conceptual framework suggesting that subsidiaries that extensively draw on external knowledge sources are also more likely to generate knowledge outflows to local firms. We argue that this may be explained by the subsidiaries' willingness to build the trust that facilitates the establishment of reciprocal knowledge linkages. However, when the value of the subsidiary's knowledge stock is very high, the need for knowledge protection restrains reciprocity mechanisms in knowledge exchanges, thus reducing the extent of knowledge outflows to the host location. This study contributes to the literature on the firm-level antecedents of FDI-mediated local knowledge outflows, as well as to the broad IB literature on the relationship between subsidiaries and their host regions. The implications for managers and policy-makers are also discussed
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalInternational Business Review
    Volume23
    Issue number1
    Pages (from-to)63-75
    ISSN0969-5931
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Feb 2014

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