Franchising, which accounts for a significant share of the U.S. domestic service industry, has also become a major strategic alternative in the international expansion of U.S. service firms. This article attempts to explain the international franchising and control decision by U.S.-based service...

What determines a service firm's organizational choice between equity-based control and franchising? This question, which has elicited some theoretical answers and a few empirical tests in a domestic setting, has never been addressed in an international context before. This study explains the...

Our study examines the conditions under which firms enter into strategic alliances subsequent to knowledge spillovers. We propose that spillovers serve as signals of knowledge dependence and potential complementarity, encouraging alliance formation to enable better learning and limit...

This paper investigates factors affecting the effectiveness of knowledge sharing in globally dispersed expert groups in a professional service MNC. We specifically focus on possible moderating effects of managerial involvement on the relationships of dispersion and trust with the individual...

Cross-border acquisitions may be a primary mode for accessing novel knowledge and the building up of knowledge capabilities. However, the successful exploration of novel business and/or location knowledge may require specific structural forms for the incorporation and internal transfer to occur....

This paper integrates knowledge-based theories of the firm with geograph-ical studies of industrial agglomeration to produce a model that helps explain the competitive advantages enjoyed by proximate firms located in geographical clusters. We propose a hierarchy of specialized knowledge stocks...

We develop a model of the micro-process of knowledge acquisition, dissemination, and application in the networks of alliances that have become important sources of external knowledge for multinational firms. Based on the concept of communities of practice as sources of highly tacit know-how,...

This study explores the effect of coordination needs on alliance governance. We examine coordination needs that arise as a consequence of the characteristics and the context of the alliance. We posit that alliance characteristics and contextual factors influence alliance form and equity...