Managing Knowledge Across Borders: Technologies, Markets, and Institutions

Guest Editors:

Bo Nielsen, The University of Sydney, Australia ([email protected])

Arpit Raswant, Deakin University, Australia ([email protected])

Kenneth Husted, The University of Auckland, New Zealand ([email protected])

Betina Szkudlarek, The University of Sydney, Australia ([email protected])

Hussain G. Rammal, The University of Adelaide, Australia ([email protected])

 

Managing and Real Impact Editor (Global)

Vijay Pereira, NEOMA Business School, Reims Campus, France ([email protected])

 

Submission Deadline: 31 October 2023

Expected Publication: 2024.

 

Knowledge is a critical source of sustainable competitive advantage (Grant, 1996; Sharkie, 2003); however, its creation has become increasingly dispersed (Mudambi & Santangelo, 2016). While the advent of new technologies permits an even greater dispersion of knowledge (Rathi & Given, 2017), it also exposes firms to vulnerabilities and subjects them to various market regulations and geopolitical issues when managing knowledge (Kostova, Roth, & Dacin, 2008; Varma et al., 2021). For instance, knowledge-related processes, including knowledge generation, access, sharing, and transfer, are abruptly influenced by new market policies regulating international R&D collaborations, 5G and IoT technology adoption, misinformation, user data, and whistleblowing (Kuciapski, 2017). Furthermore, knowledge management is subject to new international security linkages; those influence state-state and state-firm relationships in critical industries, sensitive locations, and when responding to new market regulations and adopting advanced emerging technologies (Boddewyn, 2016; Chipman, 2016; Evenett, 2019).

In addition to external market and institutional considerations, firms are simultaneously internalizing new technologies, which are increasingly supporting people and organizations to engage in knowledge management through automation and augmentation (Makarius, Mukherjee, Fox, & Fox, 2020; Michailova & Nielsen, 2006; Raisch & Krakowski, 2021). Examples include AI-enabled human resources management (Tambe, Cappelli, & Yakubovich, 2019), biometric data in the workplace (Brown, 2020), and data-driven marketing and growth strategies (Du, Netzer, Schweidel, & Mitra, 2021). However, many emerging technologies are subject to practically no or limited regulations at subnational, national, and international levels because of institutional inertia (Holmes Jr, Miller, Hitt, & Salmador, 2013; Jackson & Deeg, 2008; Pereira et al., 2021; Sunstein, 2014). Essentially, this requires co-evolution of firm strategies, technology development, and institutional structures (Nelson, 1994).

This special issue brings together knowledge management and technologies across firm-, institutional-, and international boundaries. Accordingly, it calls for a multilevel research perspective on how the multinational corporation (MNC) manages knowledge in response to increasing environmental complexities (Eden & Nielsen, 2020). The special issue focuses on the intersection between knowledge management and international business. We encourage submissions on a range of topics of both theoretical and empirical nature that shed new light on cross-border knowledge management. Examples include (but are not restricted to):

 

• How do MNCs manage organizationally, geographically, and institutionally dispersed knowledge?
   
• How do technologies, markets, and institutions facilitate or impede knowledge management across borders?
   
• How do MNCs co-evolve with markets and institutions for new technologies?
   
• What role do digital platforms and multistakeholder ecosystems play in firm internationalization strategy?
   
• How do multilevel perspectives facilitate cross-border transfer and absorption of knowledge?

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