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Institutions and the Diversity and Prevalence of Multinationals’ Knowledge‐Augmenting Subsidiaries

Allen, Matthew M. C.; Allen, Maria L.; Lange, Knut

Authors

Matthew M. C. Allen

Dr Maria Allen M.L.Allen1@salford.ac.uk
Associate Dean Academic QA & Enhancement

Knut Lange



Abstract

Multinational corporations (MNCs) increasingly seek to gain access to, and exploit, locationally specific sources of advanced knowledge and technological capabilities, creating a need to explain (1) the diversity among these facilities and (2) how institutions influence MNCs’ abilities to invest in different subsidiary types. Extending debates on firms’knowledge-augmenting activities, the authors integrate institutions into their analytical framework to a greater extent than previous work has done. Moreover, existing contributions provide typologies of R&D subsidiaries. In contrast, the authors focus on a particular subset of subsidiaries, knowledge-augmenting ones, and put forward a theory to explain their variety and their prevalence, enabling them to identify previously neglected subsidiary types that have important managerial and policy implications. By down playing the diversity of these subsidiaries, existing work has not been able to capture the full range of managerial challenges as well as the costs and benefits of different subsidiary types to host countries. The authors, therefore, problematize firms’ abilities to gain access to foreign knowledge-generating assets, highlight the importance of institutional environments, provide policy recommendations and identify areas for future research.

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date Aug 16, 2017
Publication Date 2018-07
Deposit Date Feb 7, 2025
Journal British Journal of Management
Print ISSN 1045-3172
Electronic ISSN 1467-8551
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 29
Issue 3
Pages 483-496
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12242