Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The acquisition of tacit knowledge in China: An empirical analysis of the ‘supplier-side individual level’ and ‘recipient-side’ factors

  • Published:
Management International Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The

  • This study examines the impact of ‘supplier-side individual level’ factors pertaining to foreign expatriates, e.g., individual embeddedness and motivation, as well as a number of recipient-side variables, on tacit knowledge acquisition by Chinese firms through joint ventures.

  • Results indicate that individual embeddedness of foreign expatriates, and recipient-side variables such as recipient’s collaborativeness, its readiness, and the comprehensiveness of its acquisition methods play critical roles in the successful acquisition of tacit knowledge.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Badaracco, J., The Knowledge Link: How Firms Compete through Strategic Alliances, Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beamish, P./ Berdrow, I., Learning from IJVs: The Unintended Outcome, Long Range Planning, 36, 2003, pp. 285–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berdrow, I./ Lane, H. W., International Joint Ventures: Creating Value Through Successful Knowledge Management, Journal of World Business, 130, 2002, pp. 1013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berman, S. L./ Down, J./ Hill, C. L., Tacit Knowledge As A Source of Competitive Advantage in The National Basketball Association, Academy of Management Journal, 45, 1, 2002, pp. 13–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. S./ Duguid, P., Organizational Learning and Communities of Practice: Towards a Unified View of Working, Learning and Innovation, Organization Science, 2, 1, 1991, pp. 40–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, P. J./ Casson, M. C., The Future of the Multinational Enterprise, London: Holmes & Meier 1976.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, P. J./ Glaister, K. W./ Husan, R., International Joint Ventures: Partnering Skills and Cross-Cultural Issues, Long Range Planning, 35, 2002, pp. 113–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, P. J./ Clegg, J./ Tan, H., The Art of Knowledge Transfer: Secondary and Reverse Transfer in China’s Telecommunications Manufacturing Industry, Management International Review, 43, Special Issue, 2003, pp. 67–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calder, B. J./ Staw, B. M., The Self Perception of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 1975, pp. 599–605.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, W. M./ Levinthal, D. A., Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation, Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, 1990, pp. 128–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dhanaraj, C./ Lyles, M. A./ Steensma, H. K/ Tihanyi, L., Managing Tacit and Explicit Knowledge Transfer in IJVs: The Role of Relational Embeddedness and the Impact on Performance, Journal of International Business Studies, 35, 2004, pp. 428–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glaister, K. W./ Husan, R./ Buckley, P., Learning to Manage International Joint Ventures, International Business Review, 12, 2003, pp. 83–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons, R., Incentives in Organizations, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12, 4, 1998, pp. 115–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant, R. M., Toward a Knowledge-based Theory of the Firm, Strategic Management Journal, 17, 1996, pp. 109–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamel, G. Competition for Competence and Inter-Partner Learning Within International Strategic Alliance, Strategic Management Journal, 12, 1991, pp. 83–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huber, G. P., Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and a Review of the Literature, Organization Science, 2, 1991, pp. 88–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inkpen, A., An Examination of Knowledge Management in International Joint Ventures, in Beamish, P. W./ Killing, J. P., (eds.), Cooperative Strategies: North American Perspectives, San Francisco, California: New Lexington Press 1997, pp. 337–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inkpen, A., Learning, Knowledge Acquisition, and Strategic Alliances, European Management Journal, 16, 2, 1998, pp. 223–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inkpen, A., Learning Through Joint Ventures: A Framework of Knowledge Acquisition, Journal of Management Studies, 37, 7, 2000, pp. 1019–1043.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inkpen, A./ Beamish, P., Knowledge Bargaining Power, and the Instability of International Joint Ventures, Academy of Management Review, 22, 1, 1997, pp. 177–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inkpen, A./ Crossan, M., Believing is Seeing: Joint Ventures and Organization Learning, Journal of Management Studies, 32, 5, 1995, pp. 595–618.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inkpen, A./ Dinur, A., Knowledge Management Processes and International Joint Ventures, Organization Science, 9, 4, 1998, pp. 454–468.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inkpen, A./ Tsang, E., Social Capital, Networks, and Knowledge Transfer, Academy of Management Review, 30, 1, 2005, pp. 146–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, J. G./ Ettenson, R./ Morris, M. D., Us Versus Them, or Us Versus Everyone? Delineating Consumer Aversion to Foreign Goods, Journal of International Business Studies, 33, 2, 2002, pp. 345–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kogut, B., Joint Ventures: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives, Strategic Management Journal, 9, 4, 1988, pp. 319–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kogut, B./Zander, U., Knowledge of The Firm And The Evolutionary Theory of The Multinational Corporation, Journal of Internal Business Studies, 1993, pp. 625–645.

  • Lane, P. J./ Lubatkin, M., Relative Absorptive Capacity and Interorganizational Learning, Strategic Management Journal, 19, 5, 1998, pp. 461–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lane, P. J./ Salk, J. E./ Lyles, M. A., Absorptive Capacity, Learning, and Performance in International Joint Ventures, Strategic Management Journal, 22, 2001, pp. 1139–1161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leana, C. R./ Van Buren, H. J., Organizational Social Capital and Employment Practices, Academy of Management Review, 24, 1999, pp. 538–555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyles, M. A./ Salk, J., Knowledge Acquisition From Foreign Parents in International Joint Ventures: An Empirical Examination in the Hungarian Context, Journal of International Business Studies, 27, 5, 1996, pp. 877–903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyles, M. A./ von Krogh, G./ Aadne, J. H., Knowledge Acquisition and Knowledge Enablers in International Joint Ventures and their Foreign Parents, Management International Review, 3, Special Issue, 2003, pp. 111–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Makhija, M. V./ Ganesh, U., The Relationship Between Control and Partner Learning in Learning-related Joint Ventures, Organization Science, 8, 5, 1997, pp. 508–527.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marcotte, C./ Niosi, J., Technology Transfer to China: The Issues of Knowledge and Learning, Journal of Technology Transfer, 25, 2000, pp.43–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsden, P. V., Network Data and Measurement, Annual Review of Sociology, 16, 1990, pp. 435–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, X./ Salomon, R., Knowledge Transfer Capacity and its Implications for the Theory of the Multinational Corporation, Journal of International Business Studies, 34, 2003, pp. 356–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mowery, D. C./ Oxley, J./ Silverman, B., Strategic Alliances and Interfirm Knowledge Transfer, Strategic Management Journal, 17, 1996, pp. 77–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nahapiet, J./ Ghoshal, S., Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage, Academy of Management Review, 23, 2, 1998, pp. 242–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R. R./ Winter, S. G., An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nonaka, I., A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation, Organizational Science, 5, 1, 1994, pp. 14–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ouchi, W. G., Markets, Bureaucracies and Clans, Administrative Science Quarterly, 25, 1980, pp. 129–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osterloh, M./ Frey, B. S., Motivation, Knowledge Transfer, and Organizational Forms, Organization Science, 11, 5, 2000, pp. 538–550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi, M., The Tacit Dimension, New York: Doubleday & Co. 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed, R./ DeFilippi, R. J., Causal Ambiguity, Barriers to Imitation, and Sustainable Competitive Advantage, Academy of Management Review, 15, 1990, pp. 88–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simonin, B. L., Ambiguity and the Process of Knowledge Transfer in Strategic Alliances, Strategic Management Journal, 20, 7, 1999, pp. 595–623.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simonin, B. L., An Empirical Investigation of the Process of Knowledge Transfer in International Strategic Alliances, Journal of International Business Studies, 35, 2004, pp. 407–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Subramaniam, M./ Venkatraman, N., Determinants of Transnational New Product Development Capability: Testing the Influence of Transferring and Deploying Tacit Overseas Knowledge, Strategic Management Journal, 22, 2001, pp. 359–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szulanski, G., Exploring Internal Stickiness: Impediments to the Transfer of Best Practice Within the Firm, Strategic Management Journal, 17, 1996, pp. 27–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsang, E. W. K./ Nguyen, D. T./ Erramilli, M. K., Knowledge Acquisition and Performance of Inter-nal Joint Ventures in the Transition Economy of Vietnam, Journal of International Marketing, 12, 2004, pp. 82–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teece, D. J., Towards an Economic Theory of the Multiproduct Firm, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 3, 1982, pp. 39–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uzzi, B., Embeddedness in the Making of Financial Capital: How Social Relations and Networks Benefit Firms Seeking Financing, American Sociological Review, 64, 1999, pp. 481–505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winter, S., Knowledge and Competence as Strategic Assets, in Teece, D. (eds.), The Competitive Challenge, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger 1987, pp. 159–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zander, U./ Kogut, B., Knowledge and Speed of the Transfer and Imitation of Organizational Capabilities: An Empirical Test, Organization Science, 6, 1, 1995, pp. 76–92.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Eden Yin (Lecturer)

  2. Faculty of Management, University of Lethbridge, Calgary, Canada

    Yongjian Bao (Assistant Professor)

Authors
  1. Eden Yin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yongjian Bao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yin, E., Bao, Y. The acquisition of tacit knowledge in China: An empirical analysis of the ‘supplier-side individual level’ and ‘recipient-side’ factors. MANAGE. INT. REV. 46, 327–348 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-006-0050-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-006-0050-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation