Capability development within the multinational corporation

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dc.contributorAalto-yliopistofi
dc.contributorAalto Universityen
dc.contributor.authorKilpinen, Paula 
dc.contributor.departmentJohtamisen ja kansainvälisen liiketoiminnan laitosfi
dc.contributor.departmentDepartment of Management and International Businessen
dc.contributor.schoolKauppakorkeakoulufi
dc.contributor.schoolSchool of Businessen
dc.contributor.supervisorPiekkari, Rebecca, professor 
dc.date.accessioned2013-11-26T13:31:37Z
dc.date.available2013-11-26T13:31:37Z
dc.date.defence2013-02-01 
dc.date.issued2013 
dc.description.abstractThe operating environment is being shaped by globalization forces, rapid technological change and intensified competition, which call for strategic changes and new capabilities from multinational corporations. Even though the capability-based determinants to firm survival and growth have been recognized, research on capability development has been limited. This study investigates capability dynamics within MNCs and the interactions between strategy and the environments internal and external to the firm. It puts forward longitudinal case studies of three Finnish multinational firms, Nokia, Kone and Iittala, as they were undergoing strategic changes, in order to explain how capabilities are developed within MNCsand how the MNC context, including globalization, has an impact on capability development. The findings explain how MNC strategies and activities trigger various mechanisms and generate complex outcome patterns in capabilities. The findings indicate that the various patterns or ‘logics’ by which the MNCs build capabilities can be regrouped into four main logics: variation-based, (internal) selection-based, retention-based and access-based logics, which represent patterned links between intra-firm evolutionary processes, dynamic capabilities and capability development. This study demonstrates how the case firms employed different capability logics at different periods of time in order to adapt to external changes, but also to shape the external environment. The findings also elucidate the ‘liability of complexity’ that the multinational corporations encounter, as they possess complex internal and external selection environments and need to respond to divergent external and internal pressures. This may create various forms of inertia or counteracting mechanisms to capability development and may result in ‘indirect selection’ of certain capabilities with significant implications on firm performance. The study also demonstrates how the advantages of the multinational firm increasingly relate to and are augmented by its capacity to use not only the subsidiary network but also its global network of partner firms, ‘enterprise ecologies’, to complement its internal capability base with cospecialized assets. This study extends current research by explicitly integrating the dynamic capabilities view (DCV) and the evolutionary perspectives for a more holistic picture on capability development within the MNC context. It also provides empirical evidence of the dynamic process of capability development when subject to a global business environment of uncertainty and complexity. The managerial implications of the study involve the capability logics that managers may employ to cope with and to influence the external environment. They also relate to identifying the various complexities within the MNC context and promote aligning the internal selection criteria with strategy.en
dc.dissid473 
dc.format.extent253 s. 
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.bibid626853 
dc.identifier.isbn978-952-6049-81-6 
dc.identifier.issn1799-4934 
dc.identifier.urihttps://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/11566
dc.identifier.urnURN:ISBN:978-952-6049-81-6 
dc.language.isoenen
dc.opnWestney, Eleanor, professor, Schulich School of Business at York University, Canada 
dc.programme.majorKansainvälinen liiketoimintafi
dc.programme.majorInternational Businessen
dc.publisherAalto Universityen
dc.publisherAalto-yliopistofi
dc.relation.ispartofseriesAalto University publication series. DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONSfi
dc.relation.ispartofseries13/2013fi
dc.subject.heleconkansainväliset yhtiöt 
dc.subject.heleconkasvu 
dc.subject.heleconkehitys 
dc.subject.heleconorganisaatio 
dc.subject.heleconprosessit 
dc.subject.heleconinternational companies 
dc.subject.helecongrowth 
dc.subject.helecondevelopment 
dc.subject.heleconorganization 
dc.subject.heleconprocesses 
dc.titleCapability development within the multinational corporationen
dc.typeG4 Monografiaväitöskirjafi
dc.type.dcmitypetexten
dc.type.ontasotVäitöskirja (monografia)fi
dc.type.ontasotDoctoral dissertation (monograph)en
local.aalto.digiauthask
local.aalto.digifolderAalto_66889
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