Inter-Organizational Knowledge Sourcing of Overseas Subsidiaries: From Universities or From other Firms?

摘要

This paper studies firm-university knowledge sourcing using patent data assigned to foreign-owned subsidiaries of Multinational Corporate (MNC). Three technological related dimensions are evaluated, i.e. the technological knowledge in transfer, the characteristics of technology, and the technological context of a firm. The study argues that a firm’s knowledge sourcing from universities is significantly influenced by the level of technology complexity. In addition, we expect that firm goes to universities for knowledge only in areas, in which the firm has certain level of expertise, and which are not a part of the core technologies of the firm. This study not only argues that the institutional differences are important in determining external knowledge sourcing, but also contributes to our better understanding of what knowledge is sourced externally, and where.