Knowledge transfer in multinationals: a paper by Pengfei Li honoured

Pengfei Li, an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Business, was presented with the Best Paper Award at the Academy of International Business (AIB) US Northeast conference, on October 19 and 20, in Philadelphia. The paper, entitled “Knowledge Strategies of Multinational Enterprises in Cluster Networks,” was co-authored with Professor Harald Bathelt of the University of Toronto.

The paper reports on a qualitative and comparative analysis examining the strategies that multinationals can apply to exploit the knowledge they need to compete on foreign markets.

After analyzing 49 pairs of subsidiaries located in Canada and China, the authors constructed a typology of four knowledge strategies: replicating, scouting, connecting and integrating, taking into account their leadership, industrial and spatial contexts.

For instance, when an enterprise comes from a regional context where there is little local expertise (no cluster) and wishes to embed itself in an industrial cluster, it is best to rely on scouting knowledge. On the other hand, when an enterprise in a cluster launches operations in a region where there is no cluster, its best bet is to replicate knowledge.

Lastly, when an enterprise and its subsidiary are both embedded in industrial clusters, the best strategy will be to integrate or connect knowledge.