Title: Global sourcing partnerships and emerging MNC markets: a conceptual framework

Authors: Jai-Beom Kim, Chong Ju Choi, Carla C.J.M. Millar, Brian J. Hilton, Philip Cheng

Addresses: School of Business Administration, Sungkyunkwan University, Chongno-gu, Seoul 110–745, Korea. ' National Graduate School of Management, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. ' TSM Business School, Universities of Groningen and Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands. ' Cranfield Institute of Technology, RMCS, Swindon, SN6 8LA, UK. ' National Graduate School of Management, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

Abstract: This theoretical paper is about global sourcing partnerships for emerging Multinational Corporations (MNCs), such as Eastern European MNCs and the difficulties they face in accessing local knowledge networks in developed economies, a key issue given the continuing enlargement of the European Union with the addition of new members. Given the socially complex nature of knowledge, knowledge transfer for emerging MNC markets must take into account the institutional factors in emerging markets, including the issue of psychic distance towards emerging markets or economies. We show how countertrade, a nonstandard type of exchange in countries such as Eastern Europe can be seen as a type of institutional commitment accelerating global sourcing and e-procurement partnerships for emerging MNC markets. We show that our general framework of countertrade and hostage-style exchange can also be applied to the uncertainty of global sourcing and e-procurement in the 21st century.

Keywords: global sourcing; emerging markets; MNCs; psychic distance; e-procurement; electronic procurement; multinational corporations; emerging economies; countertrade; Eastern Europe.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTM.2006.011288

International Journal of Services Technology and Management, 2006 Vol.7 No.5/6, pp.463 - 474

Published online: 13 Nov 2006 *

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