Chinese parent firm’s knowledge types and governance modes’ effect on overseas subsidiaries’ performance: a contingency perspective

Purpose Based on an ensemble sample of multinational enterprises (MNEs), this study aims to explore the effect of the interactions between Chinese parent firms’ knowledge (including both technological and marketing knowledge), equity control and cultural distance on the business performance of their overseas branches under different subsidiary roles. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a data set compiled from 138 listed Chinese manufacturing enterprises and their 231 overseas subsidiaries to test the hypotheses regarding the interactive effects of transferred knowledge types and the subsidiary’s control mode. Findings The empirical results suggest that the moderating effects of equity control and cultural distance vary with the types of the parent firm’s knowledge and subsidiary roles. Specifically, equity control positively regulates the relationship between technological knowledge and subsidiary performance while negatively moderating the relationship between marketing knowledge and subsidiary performance. Cultural distance appears to negatively regulate the relationship between marketing knowledge and subsidiary performance. This binary relationship is shown to be more significant for the implementer subsidiaries. Originality/value Drawing on the literature on inter-firm governance and knowledge-induced innovation mechanisms, the authors develop a theoretical contingency framework to derive some managerial implications for inter-firm and infra-firm knowledge transfer in light of MNEs’ performance integrity.

Post-merger integration and subsidiary roles in Chinese MNCs – the case of Chinese M&As in Germany

Purpose This paper adds to the literature on outward Foreign Direct Investments by Chinese Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in advanced economies. Its objective is threefold: to characterize the subsidiary roles that advanced economy targets of Chinese Multinational Corporations (CMNC) takeovers typically adopt, to assess the position that these subsidiary roles grant them within the CMNCs as a whole and to flesh out how subsidiary actors perceive and make sense of the particular constellation as a subsidiary of a CMNC. Furthermore, this paper aims to contribute to theory development on headquarters‐subsidiary relations by suggesting an additional theoretical lens. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on in-depth qualitative case studies from the automotive, mechanical engineering and solar industries and focuses on German firms that have been acquired by Chinese MNCs. Theoretically, the present paper draws on extant post-merger integration (PMI) and subsidiary role research, particularly from a micro-political and sensemaking perspective, refined by adding a neo-imperial dominance – lens. Findings The paper reveals the subsidiary roles that German subsidiaries of Chinese MNCs typically adopt and discovers the PMI pattern of “reverse integration” delineating quite a particular form of reverse knowledge transfer. Regarding human integration, it emphasizes the importance of neo-imperial attitudes surfacing in the German subsidiaries. Originality/value The value of the paper is in contributing to fill the pending research gap on the subsidiary roles that advanced economy subsidiaries of Chinese MNCs adopt, on the resulting positions of these subsidiaries within the overall Chinese groups and the sense that subsidiary actors make of being acquired by a Chinese MNC. The paper also reveals the importance of neo-imperial dominance patterns and attitudes in PMI in the constellation scrutinized.

The functions of external voices in hard news Appraisal: A dialogic perspective

This paper discusses the interaction between voices in the so-called Appraisal satellite, a section in the generic structure of hard news concerned with evaluation (White, 1998). The discussion focuses primarily on the interplay between external voices brought into the discourse by various forms of presentation, i.e. forms of reporting the language of others (Semino and Short, 2004); in addition, the paper touches upon the interplay between external voices and the internal authorial voice of the journalist. External voices are considered in terms of the function they fulfil in hard news Appraisal. Prototypically, external voices serve as the main source of evaluation but also fulfil various subsidiary roles; for instance, voices serve as the target of evaluation, express attitude, and provide a summary, background information and justification. Correspondences are found between voice functions and forms of presentation. Voice functions are interpreted from a dialogic perspective, more specifically in terms of their potential to expand and contract the established dialogic space (Martin and White, 2005).

Clinical research, national studies and grant applications: United Kingdom National Multidisciplinary Guidelines

Head and neck cancer clinical research is thriving. Infrastructure for clinical research is supported through the National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network with operates through 15 local clinical research networks for studies within the UK Clinical Research Network Portfolio. The National Clinical Research Institute is a partnership of UK cancer research funders that support high-quality cancer research, although the National Institute for Health Research also has funding streams that will fund cancer-related research. Their websites provide up-to-date information regarding ongoing research projects. Other specialty organisations such as the British Association of Head and Neck Oncologists play important subsidiary roles in supporting research.