Propuesta para el cálculo de los costos de calidad

As suggested before, the involved parties in an IJV combine the complementary resources and capabilities to form an IJV company. As a consequence of this, the IJV company can have direct access to the combined resources of the parent companies. It was established in the previous chapter that the accessibility to resources can influence the innovation of a firm. In this respect, the IJV partnership is argued to be able to deliver the innovation output due to the benefit of the resources from two parent companies (Zhao et al., 2005). In fact, the role of the direct access to the collaborative resources of the parent company in the innovation activities of an IJV company is highlighted by Inkpen (2000). The process through which an IJV company accesses the resources of its parent companies is referred to as the internalisation process (Inkpen, 2000). This process of internalisation mainly represents the transferring process of the resources and the utilisation process of the transferred resources (Inkpen, 2000). Yan and Luo (2001) also highlight the importance of internalisation in suggesting that the utilisation of the collaborative resources within an IJV partnership is a sequential three-step process, made up of a perception stage, an internalisation stage and an abstraction stage. They argue that the collaborative knowledge transferred was initially perceived and made sense of by the receiving party. Then the perceived knowledge allows the opportunity for both parties to internalise and make use of the acquired knowledge collaboratively. The ultimate

stage of the abstraction is to improve the capabilities of the parent companies based on their knowledge pool (Yan and Luo, 2001).

In an IJV, the utilisation of the collaborative resources can result in the creation of new knowledge as demonstrated by the model proposed by Pak et al. (2015). This model evaluates knowledge creation on the basis of the utilisation of collaborative resources in the context of IJVs. The model consists of four distinct stages that describe the flow of the acquired resources within a joint venture. The model is presented in the Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1: Multi-Stage Model of Knowledge Management in the IJV Context (Pak et al., 2015)

In the flow of knowledge, Pak et al. (2015) find that in an IJV, the existing resources migrate from the parent companies to the IJV in order to establish and make the collaboration work. On the basis of the existing technology/knowledge, an IJV company is found to then adapt and consume the replicated knowledge in order for the IJV operation to proceed. Pak et al. (2015) find that through the second stage, the IJV benefits from the opportunity to learn from the acquired resources and eventually create new knowledge:

...knowledge is created through an organisational learning process in which individuals of an IJV digest and combine different transferred knowledge via

internalisation and socialization...The parent companies are collaboratively involved in exploring, leveraging and pursuing potential synergy by blending their resources, knowledge, and individual efforts in order to develop IJV-specific knowledge and competence (Pak et al., 2015, p.183).

After the adaptation stage, the joint venture company is found to be able to create new knowledge of its own based on the collaborative resources. The evolution of the acquired knowledge in an IJV is also found by Pollitte et al. (2015) to be a significant step in knowledge creation and, therefore, the innovation process. In the final stage of the model proposed by Pak et al. (2015), which is referred to as the reverse knowledge migration stage, the IJV partnership will allow the parent company to harvest the valuable and, specifically, IJV-embedded knowledge from the IJV and further improve their own knowledge and capabilities (Pak et al., 2015). Such knowledge creation and feedback effects suggested by Pak et al. (2015) are also recognised by some subsequent research (e.g. Zheng, et al., 2018; William and Vrabie, 2018).

The model of Pak et al. (2015) seems to echo some innovation theories, as it stresses the significance of the collaborative resources and the process of utilising the acquired resources to generate innovation results. There are some important implications of the model of Pak et al. (2015). First, the model of Pak et al. (2015) have provided some insights into the innovation process in the context of IJVs. Second and perhaps more importantly, this model seems to have provided a theoretical framework of how an IJV partnership, as a model of international collaboration, can benefit the enhancement of indigenous innovation capacity (the innovation capacity of the local parent company). As discussed in the previous section, the empirical literature supports the idea that the collaboration with MNCs can enhance indigenous innovation, mainly due to the capabilities and resources of MNCs. However, the mechanism under which the capability of MNCs can influence and enhance the indigenous innovation has not been presented in a detailed theoretical framework. In the model of Pak et al. (2015), how an IJV partnership can create new knowledge and consequently benefit its parent company is presented from a theoretical perspective. Therefore, this model seems to provide some

theoretical background to explain the Chinese government’s IJV-innovation strategy. As a conclusion, the literature reviewed above seems to suggest that the IJV partnership can create new knowledge based on the consumption of the collaborative resources of the parent companies. This is in line with the theoretical suggestion that the local firm can access the resources of MNCs and innovate in collaboration with MNCs. However, although an IJV is generally considered to be able to access and utilise the resources from the parent companies, the nature of an IJV makes accessing the resources of the parent companies more complex than an ordinary subsidiary. The complexity of the IJVs will be discussed later in Section 3.3. On the other hand, the mutual learning effect is also recognised in the literature on international collaboration with MNCs. Hence, the next section will focus on the mutual learning effects in IJVs.