How do MNC R&D laboratory roles affect employee international assignments?
| Verfasser | Sapouna, Panagiota |
| Posten | RESEARCH ARTICLE - Research and development - Multinational corporations - Report - Abstract |
Abstract Research and development (R&D) employees are important human resources for multinational corporations (MNCs) as they are the driving force behind the advancement of innovative ideas and products. International assignments of these employees can be a unique way to upgrade their expertise; allowing them to effectively recombine their unique human resources to progress existing knowledge and advance new ones. This study aims to investigate the effect of the roles of R&D laboratories in which these employees work on the international assignments they undertake. We categorise R&D laboratory roles into those of the support laboratory, the locally integrated laboratory and the internationally interdependent laboratory. Based on the theory of resource recombinations, we hypothesise that R&D employees in support laboratories are not likely to assume international assignments, whereas those in locally integrated and internationally interdependent laboratories are likely to assume international assignments. The empirical evidence, which draws from research conducted on 559 professionals in 66 MNC subsidiaries based in Greece, provides support to our hypotheses. The resource recombinations theory that extends the resource based view can effectively illuminate the international assignment field. Also, research may provide more emphasis on the close work context of R&D scientists rather than analyse their demographic characteristics, the latter being the focus of scholarly practice hitherto.
Keywords International assignments * Roles of R&D laboratories * R&D employees * Resource recombinations * Multinational corporations
1 Introduction
This article examines how Research and Development (R&D) laboratories of multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries influence international assignments that employees working in these laboratories undertake. The emphasis on R&D scientists and engineers is topical as these persons are the main agents in the discovery and improvement of novel forms of technological progression in the 'centres of excellence' of the modern MNC. In MNCs such as Siemens, R&D laboratories stand out as a 'key success factor for the company' since their scientists and engineers develop innovations that constantly shape the cornerstones of accomplishments of the firm, according to its Head of Global Innovation Communication (Akalin 2009). It appears that R&D employees are valuable to MNCs since their tacit knowledge is actively engaged in innovation and provides the basis for generating value to firms (Kyriakidou 2011; Donnelly 2008).
This tacit knowledge represents an idiosyncratic resource that the MNC subsidiary possesses to achieve its objectives. Closely allied to the resource based view, the theory of resource recombinations posits that the way the firm recombines and reconfigures its existing resources, especially those that bring innovation, can provide value creation (Galunic and Rodan 1998). Birkinshaw and Pedersen (2009) support the view that the examination of subsidiary level resources for MNC affiliates to gain competitive advantage should be accompanied by appropriate resource recombinations. In a similar vein, the relationships between effective intrafirm learning, global sources of competitive advantage and enhanced performance are contingent upon the MNC's ability to coordinate and imperfectly mobilise heterogeneous human resources within the entire MNC system (Caligiuri and Colakoglu 2007). International assignments provide these employees opportunities for training and development because they may offer them prospects to lead projects and offer chances to join fast-track technology programmes. It follows that international assignments offer major opportunities to MNC R&D subsidiary employees to refine, hone and recombine their knowledge. In the current study, we focus on short-term international assignments (lasting up to 12 months) as they are considered particularly useful when MNC knowledge-specific skills need to be transferred as rapidly as possible. This can hold when particular problem-solving needs arise or when an MNC research project has to be divided between units quickly (Reiche and Harzing 2011). Besides, short-term international assignments could draw a larger pool of potential R&D scientists for the assignment programmes, effectively enhancing the probability and quality of knowledge resource recombinations within the MNC.
The motivation and retention of competent R&D scientists and engineers represents a considerable challenge to MNC subsidiary management (Martin and Schmidt 2010). Providing effective training and development programmes to R&D employees through international assignments should thus be an indispensable pillar of the international human resource management strategy of the MNC. The importance of those international assignments has recently come to the fore of the international human resource management agenda (Makela et al. 2009). This is likely to do with the fact that the number of international assignees within the MNC has increased considerably lately (Chang et al. 2012). This especially holds for short-term assignments as opposed to longer-term ones (Farndale et al. 2010). However, the empirical evidence concerning the determinants that influence the use of short-term assignments is scant (Collings and Scullion 2011; Codings et al. 2009), whereas it is almost absent for those assignments of R&D scientists.
We explore the effect of the roles of R&D subsidiary laboratories on the MNC decision to assume (short-term) international assignments for their R&D employees. Following previous research, these roles are those of the support laboratory, the locally integrated laboratory and the internationally interdependent laboratory. Our focus on the R&D laboratory subsidiary roles is dictated by the person-environment fit perspective that suggests that congruence should occur between the characteristics and demands of the employee with the attributes and culture of its (close) work-environment (Kristof 1996). R&D roles are very likely to affect work values and career orientations of R&D experts (Chang et al. 2008). The examination of these roles is likely to contribute to the MNC ability to develop effective transmission of knowledge and knowledge resource recombinations through R&D employee assignments (Belderbos and Heijltjes 2005).
This article is structured as follows. In the next section we explore the literature on R&D roles and international assignments, and develop the three hypotheses that guide the empirical study. In the section that follows we provide details of the methodology of the research. In the penultimate section we elaborate on the statistical analysis and present our results. We explore the main conclusions and implications, and discuss potential limitations of the study in the final section.
2 Research Background and Hypotheses
2.1 International Assignments and Mobility of R&D Employees
A significant portion of the technological advancements of MNCs does take place not in the headquarters of the firm but in foreign subsidiaries that may act as catalysts of innovative change for the whole MNC network (e.g., Ecker et al. 2013). This is the case at Procter and Gamble where 26 R&D centres worldwide make every effort to ensure that it hires 'great innovators' in its R&D laboratories, who pursue the advancement of technology to satisfy customers in more than 180 countries (Dyer and Gregersen 2012). Such an innovative humanitarian project is the Procter and Gamble Purifier of Water plant in Singapore which is expected to yield more than 200 million water purifier sachets annually by 2020 to provide for the firm's Children's Safe Drinking Water programme (Future Ready Singapore 2014). Nowadays, subsidiaries assume (or are assigned) autonomy that can lead to initiative-taking behaviour (Ambos et al. 2010; Young and Tavares 2004). This behaviour is likely to manifest in technological innovations in foreign R&D laboratories, which typify the 'liberalism era' whereby headquarters have to tap into ideas from 'centres of excellence' abroad and leverage them throughout the whole MNC network (Birkinshaw and Hood 2001; Nobel and Birkinshaw 1998).
The competitiveness of the MNC is dependent on its ability to reorganise and recombine its resources effectively (Rugman et al. 2011; Galunic and Rodan 1998). According to Sirmon et al. (2007) dynamic resource management model of value creation; appropriate structuring, bundling and leveraging are important sub-processes for MNCs that should be adjusted according to different environments. The examination of resource recombinations in MNC R&D activities originates from the work of Schumpeter (Schumpeter 1942) who views innovation as 'new combinations' that incessantly yield dynamics of 'creative destruction' (Sledzik 2013). International assignments reflect the strategic objectives of the firm (Harvey 1996). MNCs have to design employee practices to maintain congruence with the overall strategic plan of their network, while at the same time addressing the constraints of various host environments (Caligiuri and Colakoglu 2007; Milliman et al. 1991). In that regard, international employee mobility is considered to be a major human resource management practice that is well-aligned with the MNC strategic orientation (Novicevic and Harvey 2004). Prior research (Tahvanainen et al. 2005; Evans et al. 2002) has shown that one of the chief reasons behind offering international assignments to employees is knowledge transfer. The development of knowledge flows through international employee mobility is a common MNC practice (Achcaoucaou et al. 2014).
The international mobility of knowledge employees, such as those working in R&D laboratories, is particularly important because of their intrinsic talent and expected ability to transfer skills, creative thinking and expertise within the MNC (Campbell et al...
Um weiterzulesen
FORDERN SIE IHR PROBEABO ANCOPYRIGHT GALE, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
