Knowledge Flows, Governance and the Multinational Enterprise

This book contributes to the understanding of Knowledge Governance in the Multinational Corporation. Intra-firm and inter-firm processes of knowledge creation, sharing and exploitation have attracted increasingly managerial and scholarly interest. However the relation between particular knowledge processes, determinants of organizational choices, governance mechanisms, their relevant costs and benefits, and associated strategic advantages remain less well understood. To address these challenges, this book gives answers to the following questions. What are key challenges of governing knowledge in the multinational corporation? How do contingencies influence relevant trade-offs? How do sets of governance mechanisms respond to problems of cognition and incentives?

VOLKER MAHNKE (PhD) is Associate Professor of Innovation and Strategy at the Copenhagen Business School. His areas of special interest include international business, inter- and intra-firm learning, and the economics of international strategy and IT-markets. His research has appeared in several international journals. In addition to his academic work, he consults with major companies in the area of innovation and international strategy.

TORBEN PEDERSEN is Professor of International Business at Copenhagen Business School'. He has published over 40 articles and books concerning the managerial and strategic aspects of multinational companies (MNCs). His most recent work deals with the organization of MNCs with a focus on the mechanism that facilitates internal transfer of knowledge in MNCs and the learning associated with the internationalization process of firms. His research has appeared in journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies and International Review of Law and Economics, and he currently serves as web-editor of Journal of International Business Studies.