中国跨国公司海外进入模式与逆向知识转移

The entry mode of Chinese multinational enterprises and reverse knowledge transfer

跨国公司对外投资逐渐关注战略性知识资源寻求,并希望借助子公司向母公司的逆向知识转移获取东道国先进知识资源,因此探讨逆向知识转移前因要素成为备受学者们关注的问题。在此背景下,论文研究中国跨国公司在海外的进入模式对其子公司向母公司逆向知识转移的影响,并在此基础上探究母国和东道国政治紧密度以及东道国政治约束对于上述关系的调节作用。基于2008年至2020年间2073家中国跨国公司母公司及其16116家海外子公司的样本数据,论文研究发现相较于并购子公司,母公司新建子公司可获得更高的内部整合性,因而更有利于从子公司获得逆向知识转移。论文进一步研究表明,母国和东道国政治紧密度以及东道国政治约束在上述关系中起正向调节作用。该研究揭示了进入模式和逆向知识转移关系中潜在的内部整合机理,同时为中国跨国公司海外寻求技术进步提供了新思路。

Multinational enterprises(MNEs) are gradually focusing on seeking strategic knowledge resources via foreign direct investment. Subsidiaries located in different areas are considered the network nodes of MNEs, which can help MNEs access the knowledge in host countries and facilitate the reverse knowledge transfer. Specifically, in the process of foreign direct investment, MNEs are motivated to obtain high-end technological knowledge from host countries through reverse knowledge transfer, and local subsidiaries can facilitate this process by transferring their technological knowledge to parent companies, helping parent companies promote knowledge accumulation and technological progress. With this background, researchers began to explore the antecedents of reverse knowledge transfer. For instance, the extant literature has studied how strategic orientation, organizational structure, absorptive capability, and institutional factors influence reverse knowledge transfer. However, the literature has not investigated the impact of the entry mode of MNEs on reverse knowledge transfer from the perspective of internal integration.Based on the internal integration perspective, we study the relationship between entry mode and reverse knowledge transfer. We further explore the moderating effects of political closeness between home and host countries and political constraints of the host country on the above relationship. Based on a sample of 2,073 Chinese listed parent companies and their 16,116 foreign subsidiaries from year 2008 to 2020, we find that compared with the acquisition mode, the greenfield mode can gain higher internal integration, and thus facilitate the reverse knowledge transfer from foreign subsidiaries to parent companies. Specifically, the greenfield mode means that a MNE builds a new subsidiary from scratch, whereas the acquisition mode represents that a MNE acquires part or all of an existing subsidiary. Compared with an acquired subsidiary, a newly established subsidiary has similar culture, routines, and organizational structure to the parent company, which helps the subsidiary better integrate with the network of the MNE and thus facilitate reverse knowledge transfer from the subsidiary to the parent company. We further find that the relationship between the entry mode of MNEs and reverse knowledge transfer is positively moderated by political closeness between home and host countries and political constraints of the host country. The high degree of political closeness between countries and the high level of political constraints of the host country represent that host governments would impose few constraints and interventions on local subsidiaries when they transfer their technological knowledge to parent companies. Thus, these two contingent variables could enhance the effectiveness of the reverse knowledge transfer.This research extends the literature on the entry mode of foreign direct investment and the reverse knowledge transfer in several ways. First, this study contributes to the existing research on the relationship between entry mode and reverse knowledge transfer by offering a new perspective: the internal integration perspective. By studying the difference in the degree of internal integration between two entry modes as well as the diverse outcomes, this study reveals that the internal integration mechanism plays a critical role in the reverse knowledge transfer of MNEs. Second, this study enriches the extant literature by exploring the moderating effects of two important contingent factors: political closeness between home and host countries and political constraints of the host country. This research offers insights for Chinese MNEs who seek technological progress overseas.