Date
2010
Dewey
Economie industrielle
Sujet
transfer; platform of knowledge; international joint ventures
JEL code
O33; L14
Conference name
4th International Conference on Industrial Dynamics, Innovation Policy and Growth (TEKPOL)
Conference date
05-2010
Conference city
Izmir
Conference country
Turquie
Type
Communication / Conférence
Item number of pages
19
Abstract (EN)
The evolution of co-operations between firms has permitted a plentiful
literature around the conception of the firm and its frontiers and has placed
the specificity of competencies and innovation in the heart of the firm
analysis. The evolution of the firm is observed according to the
technological opportunities and the quality of its own competencies. In this
context, the international joint ventures (IJV), between firms belonging to
different levels of development, can be considered as a dynamic channel for
acquisition new knowledge and improvement of existent competencies. The
contractual relation is a challenge for the developing partner to reach a
platform of knowledge and improve its competencies. However, the transfer
inherent from IJV is not systematic. It is conditioned by the existence of
prior core knowledge that could influence the success and the quality of the
transfer. Considering this, we propose to measure the performance of the
transfer inherent from international joint ventures on the recipient partners
in the case of Tunisian firms. For that purpose we based the analysis on
responses to a questionnaire sent to the managers in the different sectors in
year 2005 and including two types of firms, those being engaged in an IJV
and those not. We describe in the first section, the sample selection and the
methodology of the analysis. Then we measure the effects of the IJV that
are appreciated at two levels: the level of the perception of the managers and
the level of the type of supports made by the foreign parent. Empirically we
obtain five main effects declined in the evolution of knowledge and learning, the evolution of the tangible asset, the improvement of
organizational capacities, the development of the technical learning and
finally the tangible capacities. In the section 2, we test the potential
absorptive capacity (PACAP), which could have an influence in terms of
improving the performance effects of the IJV. The results show a correlation
between the considered dimensions of the potential ACAP- the evolution of
the R&D expenditure, the R&D unit and the qualifications- and the
evolution of knowledge and learning. In section 3, we measure, the
influence of the profiles characteristics of the firms, on moderating the IJV’
effects. The results are significant only on “the evolution of the knowledge
and learning”. We extend the analysis by testing the influence of each
control parameter on improving the previous results. We operate the same
analysis by measuring the influence of each profile characteristic separately.
We note the significant results for the parameter: Service sector. The other
profile characteristics have not an exclusive and direct influence on the
improvement of the alliance performance. Finally, we conclude and we
underline the limits of this study.