Emergence and Impact of MNC Centres of Excellence

ULF HOLM is Lecturer in the Department of Business Studies at Uppsala University and the Institute of International Business at Stockholm School of Economics. TORBEN PEDERSEN is Professor in the Department of International Economics and Management, Copenhagen Business School.

'This is an excellent book on a critical topic, namely how to create competencies and use these in multinational corporations. Critically, the authors have illustrated that such organizations have multiple centres of excellence as part of their global networks as opposed to the old headquarters only syndrome. The book demonstrates convincingly how subsidiary headquarters as well as subsidiary research and development centers can be sources of competence. In-depth case studies and a comparative multinational approach further strengthen the value of the book, with multinational headquarters in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany and the UK being part of the sample. All in all, the authors have tackled one of the most critical issues facing today's organizations: how to become truly effective, global competence-creating, and competence-using organizations. They show that balanced, broadly-distributed networks represent the answer.' - Peter Lorange, President, International Institute for Management Development 'This volume contains material at the cutting edge of international business research. Many emerging areas of critical importance are identified, and courageously explored by some of the leading scholars from a broad range of business-related disciplines. The monograph deserves to be widely read and carefully studied.' - John Dunning, Rutgers and Reading Universities

• INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW PART 1: THE CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE PROJECT The Centres of Excellence Project: Methods and Some Empirical Findings PART 2: DETERMINANTS AND BASIC FEATURES OF CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE Development of MNC Centres of Excellence Subsidiary Influence and Corporate Learning: Centres of Excellence in Danish Foreign-Owned Firms The Impact from Business Networks on MNC Competence Development: A Case Study PART 3: DEVELOPMENT OF SUBSIDIARY COMPETENCE Industrial Clusters and Foreign Companies Centres of Excellence in Norway Multinational Research Subsidiaries in Denmark R & D Centres of Excellence in Canada The Competence of Formally Appointed Centres of Excellence in the UK Competence Creation and Recognition: A Case Study PART IV: USE AND INTEGRATION OF SUBSIDIARY COMPETENCE WITHIN THE MNC Mergers and Acquisitions as Establishment Modes for Centres of Excellence: The Case of Italian Subsidiaries Characteristics of R & D Centres of Excellence in MNCs The Impact of Centres of Excellence on MNC Performance The Dilemma of Developing a Centre of Excellence: The Case of ABB Generation