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Exploration And Exploitation: The Different Impacts Of Two Types Of Japanese Business Group Network On Firm Innovation And Global Learning, Yanli Zhang, John Cantwell
Exploration And Exploitation: The Different Impacts Of Two Types Of Japanese Business Group Network On Firm Innovation And Global Learning, Yanli Zhang, John Cantwell
Department of Management Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works
This article examines how two types of Japanese business group networks impact on firm innovation and global learning. Both the general network and Japanese business group literature have emphasized the important role this kind of tightly knit and stable network plays in facilitating the innovation of firms. Yet little is known of the different effects of the two types of business groups on innovation: horizontal versus vertical. In this article, we argue that the horizontal business group network, owing to its inter-industry conglomerate structure, promotes innovation of a wider knowledge-exploration type, whereas the vertical business group network, owing to its …
Innovation And Location In The Multinational Firm, John Cantwell, Yanli Zhang
Innovation And Location In The Multinational Firm, John Cantwell, Yanli Zhang
Department of Management Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works
This paper provides an overview of the relationship between multinational corporations (MNCs) and local economic systems. It examines the implications of a decentralisation of innovative activity within MNCs for their interaction with local networks. It is shown that this interaction depends upon the type of cluster, whether a general centre of excellence or a specialised centre. These two principal kinds of cluster are associated with different structures of local knowledge spillovers between firms. Localised science-technology linkages offer a further category of interaction. It is shown how locational hierarchies may affect the locational strategies of MNCs when they disperse innovative activity.