Caracterización del cálculo de los costos de Ingeniería y Proyecto

Empirical research provides a number of business models that allow a firm to form international collaborations with MNCs. Tedeva and Knoke (2005) listed a number of models of international collaboration and the key feature of these models (Table 3.1.). According to Tedeva and Knoke (2005), there are a variety of ways of establishing an international collaboration. These modes have distinct features, as

shown in the table. It was established earlier that the ultimate goal of establishing IJVs represents the enhancement of indigenous innovation capacity in China. In this sense, it seems that an IJV is not the only possible option on the list. Other than IJVs, the acquisition of other companies (hierarchical relations); the licensing agreement, and the R&D consortia can also potentially achieve the ultimate goal of the government.

Table 3.1: Models of International Collaboration Hierarchical

Relations

Through an acquisition or merger, one firm takes full control of another’s assets and coordinates actions by the ownership rights mechanism

Joint Venture Two or more firms create a jointly owned legal organization that serves the purpose for its parent companies

Equity Investment

A majority or minority equity holding by one firm through a direct stock purchase of shares in another firm

Cooperatives A coalition of small enterprises that combine, coordinate, and manage their collective resources

R&D Consortia Inter-firm agreements for research and development collaboration, typically formed in fast-changing technological fields

Strategic Cooperative Agreements

Contractual business networks based on joint multi-party strategic control, with the partners collaborating over key strategic decisions and sharing responsibilities for performance outcomes

Cartels Large corporations collude to constrain competition by cooperatively controlling production and/or prices within a specific industry

Franchising A franchiser grants a franchisee the use of a brand-name identity within a geographic area, but retains control over pricing, marketing, and standardized service norms

Licensing One company grants another the right to use patented technologies or production processes in return for royalties and fees

Industrial Standards Group

Committees that seek the member organizations’ agreements on the adoption of technical standards for manufacturing and trade

Action Sets Short-lived organisational coalitions whose members coordinate their lobbying efforts to influence public policy making

Market Relations Arm’s-length transactions between organizations coordinated only

through the price mechanism

Source: Tedeva and Knoke (2005)

In fact, there has been a few acquisitions of international automotive firms. For example, Geely holding (a Chinese automotive firm) acquired Volvo in 2010, and SAIC

group acquired MG Rover in 2010. As a consequence, the Chinese companies acquired all of the assets of these international companies. Perhaps the most important assets for enhancing innovation represent the R&D capability and technologies of these firms. These can directly be utilised in the local innovation activities, which can explain why the central government of China has been pushing the acquisition of international companies.

However, the reality is that there has been a limited number international automotive firms that can bring benefit to the enhancement of indigenous innovation. Moreover, the major automotive MNCs that have a substantial amount of technological resources and R&D capability cannot be realistically acquired by Chinese firms. Additionally, the licensing does not seem to fundamentally address the issue of a lack of technological capabilities. This is because the licensing agreement only gives the local firm the technology rather than the innovation capability. Last, due to the lack of technological capabilities, Chinese automotive firms cannot realistically engage in an international R&D collaboration.

Instead, the IJV seems to be a more practical way of establishing a platform of exchanging resources and organisational learning. In fact, IJVs are generally defined as a collaborative business unit between at least two firms with at least one of the involved firms headquartered outside of the host country (Yan and Luo, 2001; Geringer and Hebert, 1989). Empirical research recognises several advantages of the IJV partnership as a form of international collaboration. This covers the fast access to an unfamiliar market due to risk sharing with the local IJV partner, better access to resources as both parties put complementary resources together to form and operate an IJV, and new insights and expertise as a consequence of complementary resources and capabilities (Gong et al., 2005; Nam, 2011; Yan and Luo, 2001). On the other hand, the disadvantages include the dilution of profits as well as difficulties with human resource (HR) management, which are also recognised by the current literature (Nam, 2011; Gong et al., 2005).

An IJV represents one form of an international collaboration, yet perhaps the defining feature of an international joint venture is that it involves creating a collaborative business unit jointly owned by the two firms involved (Nam, 2011). In order to form

and optimise the performance of the IJV, the parent companies usually combine and contribute their resources, such as financial, technological, managerial, and personnel resources to the collaborative business unit (Gutterman, 2009). For this reason, an IJV company is considered to benefit from the resources and specialty of the two companies.

Based on the review of the current literature, this research finds that a joint venture can enhance the innovation performance of the parent companies due to the complementary resources and capabilities of the parent companies. The complementary resources and capabilities of the parent companies can allow them the opportunity for mutual learning and allow new knowledge to be cultivated within the IJV.