Fast Friends: The Impact of Short-Term Visits on Firms' Invention Outcomes

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kang, Hyo; Eklund, John C.
• 署名单位: University of Southern California
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2021.16081
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 1154-1176
• 关键词: technology and innovation management; geography of innovation; international management; knowledge-based view (knowledge sharing or knowledge management)

摘要

We examine how employees' short-term visits between research and development (R&D) centers across different countries can enhance a firm's invention outcomes through enhancing intraorganizational knowledge flows and mutual trust between scientists. We utilize the staggered introduction of the U.S. visa waiver program (VWP) to 41 countries in 1988-2023, which substantially increased short-term visits to the United States. Following the introduction of the VWP, global pharmaceutical companies with R&D centers in VWP countries showed a significant increase in invention quantity and scope compared with those without R&D centers in VWP countries. Notably, we find that the benefits of short-term visits are greater when there is an intermediate knowledge distance between firms' R&D centers in the United States and VWP countries. If R&D centers have similar knowledge bases, efficient knowledge flows can occur even without visits. For centers with very different knowledge bases, short-term visits do not provide enough time for sufficient knowledge flows. Benefits of short-term visits are also magnified when the cultural distance is greater between firms' R&D centers. Our findings highlight that even short-term face-to-face interactions can enhance the sharing of tacit knowledge and subsequent invention, thereby offering important managerial and policy implications.