The Development and Sharing of Knowledge by Centres of Excellence and Transnational Teams: A Conceptual Framework1

Zusammenfassung

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This paper develops a conceptual framework addressing the development and sharing of knowledge by Centres of Excellence and transnational teams, which are important organizational mechanisms used by headquarters to manage knowledge processes within multinational corporations. The inherent differences of Centres of Excellence and transnational teams are conceptualized in terms of pre-existing knowledge, practices, interaction and communication. The inherent differences in the organizational mechanisms influence the amount of subsidiary participation and what factors that facilitate and hamper knowledge development and sharing respectively.

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The Development and Sharing of Knowledge by Centres of Excellence and Transnational Teams: A Conceptual Framework1

Introduction

During recent decades, not only has competition among companies intensified, but there has also been a fundamental change in its nature: it has become more knowledge-based, implying that the source of competitive advantage is argued as resting on the companies' ability to develop and share knowledge across subsidiaries (Kogut/Zander 1992, Nohria/ Ghoshal 1997). The issue of knowledge as a strategic resource has been subject to increased attention within international business research, not least in that which characterises an MNC that is proficient in handling knowledge processes2 (Björkman et al. 2004, Foss/Pedersen 2004). A well-known conjecture posits that the differentiated network MNC is, in fact, more favourably positioned than other MNCs with respect to developing and sharing knowledge, simply because of its access to more knowledge networks through its diverse and dispersed subsidiaries (Bartlett/Ghoshal 1989, Foss/Pedersen, 2002, Hedlund 1986, Holm et al. 2005). This highlights one of the strategic challenges for MNC headquarters today, i.e., that of choosing, designing and establishing organisational mechanisms that support and increase knowledge processes across subsidiaries (Björkman et al. 2004, Foss/Pedersen 2004).

In recent years, Centres of Excellence and transnational teams have received increased attention since they are perceived as organisational mechanisms that evidently enhance the development and sharing of knowledge across subsidiaries (Adenfelt/Lagerström 2006, Bachmann 2006, Birkinshaw 2001, Foss/Pedersen 2004, Schweiger 1998), and they are documented as being increasingly common in the differentiated network MNC (Gupta/Govindarajan 2001, Lagerström/Andersson 2003, Yamin/Otto 2004).

A Centre of Excellence is defined as a subsidiary selected by headquarters, as it possesses distinct knowledge in a certain field (Forsgren et al. 2000, Reger 2004). It has, from its time of conception, an indeterminate responsibility for developing and sharing knowledge with other subsidiaries (Forsgren et al. 2000). A transnational team is defined as consisting of participants from several subsidiaries selected by headquarters for their distinct knowledge in certain fields, and it is appointed for a pre-determined time period to develop and share a distinctive knowledge (Gupta/Govindarajan 2001, Schweiger 1998).

Yet, with a few exceptions (e.g., Björkman et al. 2004, Foss/Pedersen 2002, 2004, Gupta/Govindarajan 2000, Yamin/Otto 2004, Zander/Kogut 1995), little atten...

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