Impact of Strategy on Knowledge Sharing in Host Country Networks

This paper investigates how knowledge strategy impacts multinational firms’ knowledge sharing in host country networks. The interactions in network are a source of learning and knowledge acquisition for firms to fill their knowledge gaps. A quantitative study with structural equation modeling is carried out on five Asian and European telecommunications multinational firms operating in Pakistan. The results suggest that a clearly outlined knowledge strategy positively impacts firm’s knowledge sharing in host country networks. The acquired knowledge leads to effective market intelligence and improvement in firm’s process innovation and consequently in its performance. The knowledge sharing positively impacts research and development integration of past projects, however it has no significant impact on firm performance. The implication for managers is to accept past failures and remove barriers to knowledge sharing that prevent employees from using their expertise, encourage and engage them in solution finding.