International Diffusion of Knowledge: Isolating Mechanisms and the Role of the MNE
International Diffusion of Knowledge: Isolating Mechanisms and the Role of the MNE
The overriding issue in this chapter is one of the international diffusion of knowledge (information) or, rather, the isolating mechanisms that may retard such diffusion. In view of earlier contributions to this volume, Sölvell and Zander provocatively argue that multinational enterprises are not particularly well equipped to transfer knowledge between local innovation systems. The observed difficulty of transferring tacit knowledge and process technology and the localized nature of knowledge creation are used to establish the importance of local systems. The authors also believe that there are isolating mechanisms operating at the national level, and in addition to identifying problems with knowledge transfer within the multinational enterprise, it is pointed out that such a firm is likely to neglect its own subsidiaries in its endeavour to become an insider in the local (regional) innovation cluster. Rather closely echoing Scott's view in the previous chapter, but from a slightly different vantage point, Sölvell and Zander suggest that the international competitive advantage of firms is in fact more intimately linked with dynamism within discrete local systems than is commonly recognized.
Keywords: companies, competitive advantage, diffusion of information, diffusion of knowledge, dynamism, firms, innovation, international competitive advantage, internationalization, knowledge creation, local cluster, local innovation clusters, location, multinational enterprises, regional clusters, technology
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .