Essays on location and development of subsidiary R&D strategic role: A matter of dual network embeddedness

• Autores: Fariza Achcaoucaou Iallouchen
• Directores de la Tesis: José María Castán Farrero (dir. tes.), Paloma Miravitlles Matamoros (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat de Barcelona ( España ) en 2013
• Idioma: inglés
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Juan José Durán Herrera (presid.), María Luisa Ramírez Alesón (secret.), Fidel León Darder (voc.)
• Materias:
  • Ciencias económicas
    • Economía del cambio tecnológico
      • Transferencia de tecnología
    • Organización y dirección de empresas
    • Economía sectorial
      • Investigación y desarrollo
  • Ciencia política
    • Relaciones internacionales
      • Organizaciones internacionales
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: Dipòsit Digital de la UB
• Resumen

  • The integration of subsidiaries into international networks is altering the scholarship conception of the MNC, forcing to recognize subsidiaries as differentiated nodes of the internal corporate network also embedded in the external host-local networks. This double-network paradigm highlights the potential of the subsidiary to tap into specific bodies of local knowledge and make them available to the rest of the MNC, becoming an important source of technological competencies and enabling it to contribute to the MNC¿ overall competitive advantage. This view revived the interest in the configuration of subsidiary R&D roles, especially in those of a particularly contributively disposition conducive to long-term success. Nevertheless, literature on subsidiary R&D is mainly focused on one side of the dual phenomenon, either the embeddedness in the internal or the external network. To fulfil this void, this dissertation seeks to advance in the understanding of the locations and development of subsidiary R&D roles at the interface of internal and external knowledge networks This dissertation is developed in three essays overlapped along the above line of argument, where every essay delves deeply into the findings of the former. The first essay revisit de commonly cited location advantages for R&D and the degree to which they influence subsidiary R&D-contributing role. Adopting a case study methodology and examining eight subsidiaries with centres of research excellence in Spain, it is shown that supply-side factors impacting technology have a greater power of attraction than demand-side market factors on R&D-contributing role. However, the Spanish environment appears to be characterised by a greater prevalence of demand-side factors than it is by supply-side factors, which accounts for Spain¿s ranking as an ¿intermediate¿ country when it comes to attracting foreign direct investment in R&D and innovation. Nevertheless, the high R&D-contributing subsidiaries studied, demonstrate that the moderate innovative context of the host country does not hinder its technological potential, provided they maintain relatively stable relations with local agents in the environment. As a result, the degree of embeddedness of affiliates in the local networks emerges as catalysts for FDI in R&D. This prompted the focus on the network effects of interacting with multiple agents on the subsidiary R&D role evolution and guided the subsequent research. The second essay focuses on changes in subsidiary capabilities and on the dynamic mechanisms by which their R&D role might evolve, especially, as a consequence of their interaction with a variety of knowledge networks. This issue is examined through four longitudinal case studies of subsidiaries operating in Spain. Using an inductive approach to theory building, we develop a general theoretical framework considering the subsidiary¿s embeddedness in the knowledge networks within the MNC (internal) and within the host country (external). We find that evolving towards a competence-creating mandate is characterised by the simultaneous growth of embeddedness in both internal and external networks; otherwise, a subsidiary may gravitate away from upgrading its R&D role. The results of the first and second essay uncover the confounding effects of country factors, corporate factors and dual-embeddedness on subsidiary R&D roles and redirect the focus of the third essay on this issue. Adopting a partial least square (PLS) approach to structural equation modelling, the third essay provides empirical evidence on the interaction of these elements from a survey of 111 foreign-owned subsidiaries located in Spain. This chapter finds that favourable internal and external context conditions may not necessary lead to the enhancement of subsidiary R&D-contributing role unless dual embeddedness is well established, since internal embeddedness acts as a fully mediator for corporate effects, external embeddedness acts as a partial mediator for country effects and, in turn, dual embeddedness (with internal embeddedness preceding the external embeddedness) acts as partial mediator of country effects.