Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Notes on contributors
- Preface: the reconfiguration of the world economy
- Part I Conceptual frameworks and theories
- Part II The offshoring and outsourcing of R&D and innovative activities
- 4 Blurring firm R&D boundaries
- 5 Outsourcing, fragmentation, and integration
- 6 Towards a better understanding of multinational enterprises' R&D location choices
- 7 Does R&D offshoring displace or strengthen knowledge production at home? Evidence from OECD countries
- 8 Innovation across tech-firms' boundaries
- 9 Suitable organization forms for knowledge management at various R&D functions in decentralized and cooperative R&D networks
- Part III Management issues in offshoring and virtual teamwork
- Part IV Empirical analyses and case studies of outsourcing and offshoring
- Index
- References
8 - Innovation across tech-firms' boundaries
A knowledge-based view
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Notes on contributors
- Preface: the reconfiguration of the world economy
- Part I Conceptual frameworks and theories
- Part II The offshoring and outsourcing of R&D and innovative activities
- 4 Blurring firm R&D boundaries
- 5 Outsourcing, fragmentation, and integration
- 6 Towards a better understanding of multinational enterprises' R&D location choices
- 7 Does R&D offshoring displace or strengthen knowledge production at home? Evidence from OECD countries
- 8 Innovation across tech-firms' boundaries
- 9 Suitable organization forms for knowledge management at various R&D functions in decentralized and cooperative R&D networks
- Part III Management issues in offshoring and virtual teamwork
- Part IV Empirical analyses and case studies of outsourcing and offshoring
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Nowadays, the business environment is becoming more and more dynamic and uncertain requiring firms to continuously innovate within short periods of time. Further, technological products are requiring more and more distinct and numerous bodies of knowledge which increases the complexity of the production process. In order to gain competitive advantage, firms tend to outsource the innovation process strategically, as a whole or in part, to external players. Traditionally, the knowledge creation process was considered a firm's core capability to be kept internally, within its boundaries. However, due to the new rules of competition, firms have started to cooperate with external players in order to create new value and develop novel products. These emergent business tendencies have restructured different technology-oriented industries and reshaped the core capabilities of the firm. Indeed, the knowledge representing a critical input to the value creation process is becoming more dispersed over a network of interconnected organizations. Accordingly, a new governance structure has emerged to overcome the shortcomings raised by the wide-ranging multi-technological base of high-tech products. As a matter of fact, the extended enterprise (EE) is the result of an outsourcing strategy adopted by firms aiming mainly at reducing the complexity, increasing the creativeness, and lowering the cost of the innovation process. Thus, new core capabilities have emerged within the context of the EE, making the traditional core capabilities of a firm obsolete.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Global Outsourcing and OffshoringAn Integrated Approach to Theory and Corporate Strategy, pp. 210 - 238Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
References
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