Reverse knowledge and technology transfer: imbalances caused by cognitive barriers in asymmetric relationships

Expatriates managers’ cultural intelligence as promoter of knowledge transfer in multinational companies

PurposeThis study aims to synthesize extant literature on the concept of reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) built up over the past two decades with the help of bibliometric analyssis and also to suggest promising new areas for research in this field.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts a literature review methodology combined with bibliometric and network analysis based on 117 papers identified from the Scopus database. In particular, this study has tried to identify and capture themes not previously fully captured or evaluated by other reviews on this topic.FindingsThe authors have identified research themes and research gaps in the area of RKT. Overall, the review shows the main outlets that have published papers on RKT and the theoretical background this research is built on. This study exhibits core themes in this area that have persisted and grown consistently such as the subsidiary’s role in RKT. In addition, the review highlights less researched themes such as role of boundary spanning in RKT, which open exciting avenues for new research opportunities.Research limitations/implicationsThis study finds that RKT research has experienced remarkable growth from a complete viewpoint in recent years. There was a surge in publications in the area from 2008 onwards, and many of its influential papers seemed to have been published between 2013 and 2018. Prominent themes in this body of research have been identified and potential for future studies has been explored.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to map, synthesize and discuss the literature concerning RKT.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide a holistic view of how the different dimensions of absorptive capacity (AC) impact reverse knowledge transfer (RKT). Although the importance of AC has been realized in knowledge and RKT literature, scholars have hardly explored the differentiated importance of each component of AC. When knowledge leads to competitive advantage, understanding the differentiated contribution will help enhance the impact of AC on RKT. This becomes even more important for emerging economy multinationals (EMNCs), which struggle in the global market and suffer from various liabilities. Therefore, this study focuses on the multidimensional impact of AC on RKT from Indian multinational subsidiaries based in developed nations to their parent firm.Design/methodology/approachThis study is a quantitative study. The authors tested the research model using a structural equation modeling design based on survey data collected from subsidiaries (in developed economies) of Indian multinationals.FindingsThe results show that acquisition, assimilation and transformation components of AC have positive impact on RKT. However, the authors found that the exploitation dimension has no impact on RKT.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, the research design is original and this is the first study on the impact of all components of AC on RKT. AC is one of the most widely researched variables in knowledge literature, including different versions of Zahra and George’s concept of AC. However, its impact has not been explored much in RKT literature. This study addresses this gap and extends the literature on AC and RKT. The advantages of this study can be seen at the team and organization level.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of how different forms of digital technologies (i.e. digital communication technologies [DCTs] and digital in situ technologies [DSTs]) have varying effects on subsidiaries’ capacities to engage in reverse knowledge transfer (i.e. the flow of knowledge from subsidiaries to headquarters). Design/methodology/approach The increasing accessibility and sophistication of digital technologies has prompted growing interest in their implications for how multinational corporations (MNCs) organize value-adding activities. This conceptual paper argues that existing international business research has tended to treat digitalization as a uniform process. In contrast, the authors distinguish between DCTs and DSTs, each of which introduces distinct organizational dynamics. Findings This study develops a theoretical argument suggesting that the type of digital technologies adopted by MNCs configures value-adding activities in ways shaped by opposing forces, namely, centrifugal and centripetal tendencies. These opposing dynamics contribute to variation in subsidiaries’ capacity to generate and disseminate knowledge. To explain this heterogeneity, this study proposes a framework and a set of propositions that predict the effects of different digital technologies on the dimensions of disseminative capacity (i.e. ability, willingness and opportunity). Practical implications Headquarters’ adoption of specific forms of digital technologies can influence subsidiaries’ action in disseminating knowledge. The conceptual discussion in this paper can benefit managers by clarifying the consequences of adopting different forms of digital technologies to mobilize and leverage MNCs’ globally dispersed knowledge base. Originality/value This paper offers a more fine-tuned perspective on digitalization and its effects on knowledge management in multinational firms. By rejecting the treatment of digitalization as a uniform phenomenon, it provides a stronger theoretical foundation for future empirical work on the strategic management of digital transformation in global contexts.

Although MNCs are increasingly globalizing their R&D, we have an incomplete and inconsistent understanding of whether, and under what conditions, the knowledge accumulated from foreign R&D centers can improve the productivity of the parent firm. We address this issue by examining the factors that influence the extent to which reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) enhances the productivity of the MNC at home. Our contribution lies in showing that the productivity benefits of RKT depend on the idiosyncratic characteristics of MNCs' parent and R&D affiliates. We show that RKT has a stronger effect on the productivity of the parent MNC when foreign R&D units are charged with a knowledge seeking role. These effects further increase when R&D affiliates are well embedded in host countries. Surprisingly, the productivity enhancing effects of RKT do not differ across acquired and greenfield affiliates.

Reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) is essential for multinational corporations to benefit from employees' international experience, but repatriates often face difficulties in transferring knowledge gained abroad. Drawing on transposition theory, this study examines how pre‐expatriation embeddedness and host organization exposure shape RKT outcomes, and how the presence of peer repatriates moderates these relationships. We conceptualize repatriates as change agents who seek to translate, adapt, and legitimize external knowledge within their home organizations through processes of disembedding, recontextualization, and implementing new practices. Using survey data from 177 South Korean repatriates, we find that pre‐expatriation embeddedness and host organization exposure both positively affect RKT, and that peer repatriates strengthen the effect of embeddedness but not exposure. These results advance the understanding of RKT by highlighting the importance of conditions established before expatriation, and they apply transposition theory to identify the mechanisms of legitimacy and adaptation that enable contextual translation.

The impact of reverse knowledge transfers on exploitative and exploratory innovations in MNCs: The role of knowledge distance

Increasingly, the geographically dispersed subsidiaries begin to transfer knowledge to their headquarters. Meanwhile, more and more China’s companies go abroad and also face the problems of reverse knowledge transfer (RKT). Therefore, this paper explores the mechanism of RKT from the subsidiaries abroad to the parent companies at home. Based on the balanced scorecard (BSC), this paper presents the objects and variables in the perspective of financial, customer, internal business and innovation and learning in order to make the RKT process more successfully.

Reverse knowledge transfer in emerging market multinationals: The Indian context

There is a growing international dispersion of R&D activities by MNEs for the purposes of maintaining and augmenting their knowledge assets. Firms need to tap into alternative knowledge sources , as home countries are rarely able to meet all their technological needs. However, accessing to foreign knowledge implies integration with the host country innovation system that requires considerable time and resources. Although asset-augmenting activities are seen as primarily benefitting the MNE, we argue that home country innovation systems can also benefit from reverse knowledge transfer. Policy makers need to promote these linkages and flows, rather than seeing R&D internationalisation as a threat to the home economy. New knowledge developed abroad by firms can and should be encouraged to be transferred to the rest of the firm and to the local environment of the home country. JEL codes F23, O32, L22

Reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) is an important way for multinational enterprises (MNEs) to obtain knowledge resources from overseas host countries and sustain competitive advantage. For the dynamic process of RKT in MNEs, this paper builds the network evolutionary game model of RKT and makes simulation analysis of dynamic process to explore the operation mechanism about RKT. Results show that the signal transmission noise has great influence on the adaptation and renewal of parent and subsidiaries’ game strategy. There are separated characteristics about the influence of parent and subsidiaries’ unit cost and subsidiaries’ effort cost on the steady state’s realization speed of parent and subsidiaries’ positive strategies, and there is an optimal range for the influence on parent’s effort cost. The signal transmission and the strategy imitation of game strategy among subsidiaries strongly rely on the carrier network structure.

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of formal technology transfer activities of universities, research institutes and firms in Europe. It analyses the interactions between these actors at different levels, the country, the region and the organisational level. The thesis furthermore analyses internal and external factors influencing the technology transfer activities of these actors. The thesis consists of five main chapters that draw on survey results that have been conducted to collect information on the technology transfer activities of universities, research institutes and firms. These activities have often been referred to as either knowledge transfer or technology transfer. However as discussed in Chapter 1 knowledge transfer is a broader and more encompassing concept compared to technology transfer. This thesis refers to both knowledge transfer and technology transfer but focusses on activities which are in some way recorded at universities, research institutes or firms, and often involve some form of intellectual property. The surveys which resulted in the data used in this thesis were part of larger studies on knowledge and technology transfer and funded by either the European Commission or the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. In general, the audience of these studies were policymakers with the aim to collect and monitor technology transfer activities and provide recommendations based on quantitative and qualitative data that was collected as part of these studies. This thesis, drawing on quantitative survey results, extends this work by conducting economic analysis aiming to contribute to the academic literature in this field to better guide policy on formal technology transfer in Europe.

Do subsidiaries of foreign MNEs invest more in R&D than domestic firms?

Impact of Organizational Culture on Reverse Knowledge Transfer: Synthesising the Parts