مفهوم فرهنگ یادگیری سازمانی در سرمایه گذاری مشترک بین المللی

This paper focuses on organizational learning and innovation in international joint ventures (IJVs). Organizational learning addresses how organizations adapt to their environments, develop new knowledge, and then achieve competitive advantage. The authors present a conceptual framework that depicts the relationship between the parent organization(s)' climate, IJVs' organizational learning culture, innovativeness culture, innovation capacity, and IJV performance. Broadly, the IJV achieves superior performance by higher levels of innovativeness (openness to new ideas) and innovation capacity (capacity to implement innovations), which are associated with its organizational learning culture.

The impact of organizational learning on a firm's performance has received considerable attention in the marketing literature (e.g., Sinkula, 1994 and Slater & Narver, 1995). Specifically, within the strategic marketing literature, this stream of research initially focused on marketing capabilities (Day, 1993 and Day, 1994) and market information processing (Moorman, 1995 and Sinkula, 1994). Then, learning research broadened its focus to examine the effect of a market orientation combined with a learning orientation to achieve a competitive advantage (Baker & Sinkula, 1999a and Slater & Narver, 1995). Later, Hurley and Hult (1998) incorporated the role of innovation constructs into this line of research. Another stream of research on market-based learning, largely distinct from the strategic marketing literature, has emphasized the role of international joint ventures (IJVs) as an instrument of organizational learning. The main thrust of this research suggests that IJVs provide a platform for parent organization(s) to access each other's resources and capabilities (Anand & Khanna, 2000, Grant, 1996, Hamel, 1991 and Kogut, 1988). The differences in partner skills and knowledge provide the catalyst for learning (Inkpen, 2000). Interestingly, those major elements of learning in IJVs overlap the marketing capabilities (Day, 1993 and Day, 1994) and market-based learning (Slater & Narver, 1995) perspectives in strategic marketing. At the definitional level, IJVs involve two legally distinct organizations (the “parents”), each of which shares the decision-making activities of a jointly owned entity, with at least one parent organization headquartered outside the IJVs' country (Geringer & Hebert, 1989). Because cultural distance is an important obstacle to an IJV (cf., Buckley & Casson, 1996), the IJV in which the parent organization(s) emerge from different home countries to create a new distinct organizational entity (the “child”) seems appropriate for describing and explaining the relationship between the market-focused climate elements of parent organization(s) and the IJV's organizational learning culture. Furthermore, it is useful to focus upon one particular type of an IJV, since the manifestations of cooperative behavior can take many forms. In this paper, the IJV, which is newly established, is conceptualized as a marriage of equals in terms of ownership type, types of resources shared by parent organization(s) (e.g., market knowledge, technical knowledge, or both), and the location of the IJV (Buckley & Casson, 1996, Lyles & Salk, 1996 and Killing, 1983). Specifically, the primary interest is on 50:50 equity-based IJVs that are aimed at joint innovative efforts and motivated by the development of new technologies through R and D joint ventures, in which both parent organization(s) share technical knowledge (Buckley & Casson, 1996, Geringer & Hebert, 1989 and Kogut & Singh, 1988). Additionally, the IJV is considered to be remotely located from either parent organization, because the location of an IJV in the home country of one of the parent organization(s) may foster a dominance of that parent's influence over the venture (Killing, 1983 and Salk, 1997). The 50:50 equity-based IJVs are considered for two reasons: (1) active participation is commonly associated with having parents with equal participation in management, which is important in the formation of an organizational learning culture in newly established IJVs (Salk, 1997), and (2) effective learning and knowledge transfer is often realized in R and D joint ventures in which both parents have equal levels of equity (Killing, 1980). While such IJVs are becoming increasingly popular, scant research has been conducted to conceptualize the main market-focused climate elements driving superior IJV performance. The focus will be on the early stages of IJVs, which represent a significant period for the formation of IJV's organizational learning culture determined by the important precedents and interactions between culturally diverse management teams. Based on the above premises, the objective of the paper is to delineate the antecedents to organizational learning culture that affect innovation-based performance (including innovativeness culture and innovative capacity) of an IJV. First, the theoretical foundation for organizational learning in combination with culture is introduced. Then, a conceptual model and accompanying propositions are developed, with a specific focus on the relationship between the parent organization(s)' climate, the IJV's organizational learning culture, innovativeness culture, innovation capacity, and IJV performance. Finally, conclusions and avenues for future research are presented.

In a global environment where technologies, competitive positions, and consumer demands are changing rapidly, participation in an international joint venture is an important strategic tool to improve the innovation capacity of an organization. IJVs provide a setting where organizations have a chance to access others' organizational know-how and capabilities. In fact, many organizations enter into joint venture agreements with learning objectives, especially in R and D joint ventures. Owing to bounded rationality, each individual organization possesses experience, insights, or skills that are different from another. What they know affects the way they choose and process information. How organizations obtain information, recognize it as potentially useful, and process it contribute to our understanding of organizational learning. The objective of this paper was to develop a battery of integrated propositions that will contribute to our understanding of (1) how organizational learning culture is influenced by the parent organization(s) in newly developed IJVs and (2) the nature of organizational learning culture and its innovation-specific consequences in R and D IJVs. Inherent in the focus of this study is to explain how IJVs can achieve a competitive advantage through innovation. Building on Deshpande and Webster (1989), who shifted the attention from “what happens in organizations” to “why things happen the way they do,” particular attention is centered on the link between the parent organization(s)' climate and the IJV's organizational learning culture. Specifically, an interorganizational relationship that exists between the parent organization(s)' climate and the IJV's organizational learning culture is introduced. What happens [climate] in parent organization(s) influences the behavioral orientations [organizational learning culture] of the IJV. When the IJV is newly developed, it does not have a history and/or have not developed its routines or structures. Therefore, the degree of decentralization, openness, and trust in parent organization(s) will influence the behavioral orientations that are manifested in the IJV's organizational learning culture, and then innovativeness culture and innovation capacity of the IJV. Since bureaucratization limits creativity, responsiveness, timeliness, and innovativeness, moving decision-making authorization to the IJV increases organizational learning culture (cf., Senge, 1990). Learning culture can also be improved by the emergence of openness in the IJV, when parent organization(s) become willing to share their organizational know-how and capabilities and communicate with each other (cf., Senge, 1990). In addition, trust is necessary for effective openness and decentralization, because trust encourages communication and cooperation between parent organization(s), subsequently leading to higher levels of learning culture. Our conclusions should be viewed in light of the constraints of the study. Specifically, this paper considers an IJV of a particular type, which restricts our attention to a single case. It may be interesting to consider the different locations where an IJV may be established. For example, a study by Salk (1997) has showed that one of the parent organization(s) plays a more active role in the management of IJV, because it is closely located to that parent's home country. In addition, this study assumes IJVs formed by parent organization(s) with 50:50 equity levels. However, different ownership types affect the participation of partners in the IJV's management, and then may influence its learning culture. Finally, this study does not explicitly include the process of learning in the proposed conceptual model shown in Fig. 2. Future efforts should strive to include these stages in the learning processes depicted in Fig. 1.