数字经济时代跨国企业子公司角色变革研究——内部化理论分析框架

The Changing Role of Subsidiary of Multinational Enterprises under Digitalization:An Analytical Framework of Internalization Theory

传统跨国企业的子公司作为企业国际经营的主要载体,在数字经济时代其角色正在发生转变。基于内部化理论的视角,本文首先提出了扩展该理论的必要性,并通过引入准内部化的机制视角,分析了影响数字经济时代跨国企业子公司角色转变的两大因素:一是东道国本地组织基于交易特征的能力,包括当地市场需求、数字技术及数字基础设施;二是东道国的制度系统,包括合法性建立、实体制度及符号规则。前者决定了数字交易优势,后者决定了数字制度优势。基于此,本文运用类型学的分析手段,引入二维概念框架,讨论了数字时代子公司的四种角色,即数字中心、试验田、实践平台、孵化工厂。此外,这一框架还可被应用于跨国企业国际经营中的进入模式选择和跨境知识转移的分析。进一步研究发现,数字交易优势影响公司间的知识转移行为,而数字制度优势则影响跨国企业在东道国的所有权选择。

As the main carrier of international operation,the subsidiaries of multinational enterprises(MNEs)are changing their roles in the digital economy era.Based on the perspective of internalization theory,this research first asserts the necessity of expanding the boundary of classical theory.By introducing the mechanism of“quasi-internalization”,it illustrates two key factors that incur the change:one is the transaction-based competence of local organizations,including market demand,digital technology,and digital platform infrastructure;the other is institutional systems of host country,including legitimacy,substantial institutions and symbolic rules.The former determines the digital transactional advantages,and the latter determines the digital institutional advantages.Based on this,this paper introduces a two-dimensional conceptual framework by means of typological analysis,and discusses the four roles of subsidiaries in the digital era,namely,digital center,experimental field,practice platform,and incubation factory.Moreover,this framework can also be applied to the analysis of the entry mode selection and cross-border knowledge transfer of transnational enterprises in their international operations.Further research shows that the advantages of digital transaction affect the knowledge transfer behavior among companies,while the advantages of digital system affect the ownership choice of multinational enterprises in the host country.