Emerging centres of excellence: Knowledge-sharing between developing country firms and their subsidiaries in the developed world

This paper investigates how developing country firms with generally less developedcapability bases than their counterparts from the developed world can benefit from theirlocation in the technologically more advanced developed world. It documents that subsidiaries in more developed countries do act as centres of excellence for their firm, but thattheir role as such centres of excellence is still emerging, and characterised by less formal, lessoptimal knowledge sharing mechanisms. In addition, firms learn more if they are more similar(whether seen in terms of industrial competitiveness or institutional infrastructure) to their host country.The paper follows the traditional format: The theoretical model is discussed,hypotheses derived, and the methodology explained. The paper ends with a presentation anddiscussion of results, and a conclusion with suggestions for further research.