Knowledge Acquisition from MNE in International Joint Ventures in China

Abstract

Research on knowledge acquisition in transitional economies has attracted the attention of many scholars of international business. Although previous research has already unearthed some factors influencing knowledge acquisition, the research in transitional economies is not as mature as that in developed economies given the different situation and complex environment in the developing market. The Chinese market is a market deserving of research because of its successful economic development, the relevant international knowledge acquisition issues and its complex social environment. Previous literature lacks deep analysis of Chinese knowledge acquisition from foreign partners. This research tries to fill in the gap by analysing the knowledge acquisition process in depth, in the specific environment of China. This research analyses the FDI environment in China, and concludes that knowledge acquisition in China remains on a superficial level without an improvement of innovation. In accordance with previous literature, this research combines resource-based view, network view and institutional view together to propose factors influencing the depth of knowledge acquisition in China.The main contribution of this research is as follows: the first main contribution is that it combines IJV, parents' relationship, MNE network and institutional environment together to find out factors influencing the knowledge acquisition process in China; the second main contribution is that, by proposing key specific factors influencing knowledge acquisition from MNEs, this research argues that knowledge creation within IJV, cultural distance between parents, trust between parents, business ties between top managers in IJV and local firms and political ties between top managers in IJV and governmental officials are the most important factors for IJV's knowledge acquisition from MNEs.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Jiajia Liu (Supervisor) & Rudolf R. Sinkovics (Supervisor)