OVERCOMING LOCALIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE-THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FIRMS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wagner, Stefan; Hoisl, Karin; Thoma, Grid
• 署名单位: European School of Management & Technology; University of Munich; University of Camerino
• 刊物名称: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.2174
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 1671-1688
• 关键词: external learning; knowledge acquisition; localization; patent citations; professional service firm

摘要

The literature on organizational learning asserts that external learning is often limited geographically and technologically. We scrutinize to what extent organizations acquire external knowledge by accessing external knowledge repositories. We argue that professional service firms (PSFs) grant access to nonlocalized knowledge repositories and thereby not only facilitate external learning but also help to overcome localization. Focusing on patent law firms, we test our predictions using a unique dataset of 544,820 pairs of European patent applications. Analyzing patterns of knowledge flows captured in patent citations, we find that accessing a PSF's repository facilitates the acquisition of external knowledge. As the effect is more pronounced for knowledge that is distant to a focal organization, we conclude that having access to a knowledge repository compensates for localization disadvantages. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.