Transferencia de Conhecimento entre Multinacionais e Fornecedores Locais no Brasil - Estudo IAMOT2002

IAMOT2002 The 11th International Conference on Management of Technology 0 THE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER PROCESS AMONG MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS AND LOCAL SUPPLIERS WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM BRAZIL Francisco Uchoa Passos Professor University of Sorocaba uchoaglobocom Roberto Sbragia Full Professor University of São Paulo PhoneFax 551130316946 rsbragiauspbr Abstract This study tries to examine the mechanisms of knowledge transfer from Multinational Corporation s MNC installed in Brazil and its local suppliers A set o transfer practices related to technical and management aspects were investigated with respect to its intensity and specific contents derived from contractual relations An intentional sample of 30 MNCs operating in areas like Auto parts Pharmaceutical Mining Instruments Machinery Ceramics and Food from different countries as USA Germany Switzerland England Canada French Japan Sweden and Italy were analyzed The paper discusses values attitudes and policies observed by MNCs weak an strength points related to the practices most used common criterias used for selecting local suppliers and other aspects intended to improve this kind of relationship and contribute to academic discussions and new researches Keywords Multinational corporationlocal suppliers relationship Technology transfer Knowledge management Supply chain management Suppliercustomer relationship Industrial development Local development Introduction The different ways that companies contact and work throughout their production chains are based on the purchase and sales relationships among them Thus the profile of the relationships established results from the nature of the organization policies they practice According to Schmitz 1997 apud Haguenauer Prochnik 2000 relationships among companies in the production chain have two types of effects a unintentional effects that result from routine market transactions and b deliberate cooperative effects comprising the transfer of management technologiesmethods cooperation agreements and coordinated activities by the companies part of the chain This study focuses on the second type of effect that is on relationships that presume a given international level of coordination and cooperation among companies The subsidiaries of transnational companies operating in Brazil practice relatively knowledgeintense production processes They present on principle conditions favorable for their top executives to foster competencies within the local production chain This explains foreign companies natural interest in stimulating organization practices that encourage the transfer of knowledge to their local suppliers within the countrys production environment However during the last ten years transnational companies have apparently reduced their potential for technological dissemination spinoff among local companies as a result of priority commitments to production chains with a global importance The reduction of the local diffusion of knowledge takes place amid changes in transnational companies management that have very likely altered traditional knowledge transfer policies to local suppliers These changes include a the relative ease with which production material is imported outsourcing often setting aside local suppliers to the benefit of foreign ones b the restructuring of transnational relationships with the local supply chains that result from alterations of the supplier base pyramid modular and other types of relationships and c the emptying of the roles of Research Development and Engineering RDE giving priority to the adoption of innovations generated at IAMOT2002 The 11th International Conference on Management of Technology 1 the head office Fleury Fleury 1997 We also emphasize that the specialization of some of the subsidiaries with the intention of gaining efficiency which may in turn result in a reduction of the local product mix and the local loss of production verticalization which may generate an interbranch1 complementation are recent strategies that have also altered the subsidiaries relationships with local suppliers making the production and technological chain and organization more fragile Laplane Sarti 1999 Thus we believe that current knowledge transfer practices to local suppliers are different to a greater or lesser degree from those observed until the start of the 1990s when the import substitution scenario still existed The intention of this study is to identify the current nature and extent of these practices And the central question this paper intends to answer through empirical verification is condensed in the following formulation to what extent are the subsidiaries of transnational companies putting in place organization practices that favor the transfer of technical and management knowledge to their local suppliers Review of the Literature Chart 1 summarizes the key contributions obtained from the literature reviewed for the construction of the theoretical model The strategic importance of the subsidiaries for the corporation and their autonomy regarding the head office were seen as variables that permit them to foster the transfer of technical and managerial information to local suppliers Ferdows 1997 This expectation results from the supposition that subsidiaries with important positions in the variables mentioned would have more freedom to seek new local business and interact more intensely with companies in the regions where they operate According this rationale subsidiaries that are more coordinated and in tune with the local learning and technological infrastructure have more opportunities to share information and transfer knowledge to local partners than subsidiaries that are isolated from local reality and are only coordinated and in tune with the actual corporation Vasconcellos et al 1992 Bartlett Ghoshal 1992 emphasize that the access of the subsidiarys top executive to the head office is one of the relevant features of the autonomous transnational model Dyer 1996 and Dyer et al 1998 describe forms of relationships between the leaders of production chains and their suppliers that result in leveraging the latters skills and qualification Chart 1 Summary of the most relevant contributions from the literature Author Key Contribution Dyer 1996 The concept of an American Keiretsu that clarifies new forms of relationships of the company heading the production chain visàvis its suppliers based on an experiment made by the US Chrysler assembler and its supplier base Dyer et al 1998 The concept of suppliers who are strategic partners to whom the company heading the chain should allocate resources and dedicate some effort into making them world class suppliers Kaufman et al 1996 The concept of problemsolving suppliers who demonstrate high technological competence and close cooperation with their customers Vieira Camargo 1976 Some general traits of the type of actions adopted by transnational companies defined based on the countries where their capital comes from Bartlett Ghoshal 1992 The ideal transnational company model particularly in regard to communication and integration of the subsidiarys top executive with the corporations head office Ferdows 1997 The continuum of the subsidiarys autonomy in regard to the head office especially in view of supplier management and product and process innovation aspects Vasconcellos et al 1992 The organization and relationship of the company heading the chain with external technology sources 1 Creation of production chains with branches of the corporation in other countries Methodology Study Objectives and Hypotheses In objective terms the study concentrates on the following empirical evaluations a Intensity profiles of a set of organization practices for the transfer of technical and managerial knowledge from the subsidiaries to their local suppliers and b eventual significant differences in the profile of the practices in view of the set of intervening variables Based on the premises of the authors in the bibliography we foresaw that the subsidiaries with more intense knowledge transfer practice profiles were a those that manufactured products with a higher technological content b those with a more strategic importance for the corporation c those with more autonomy in regard to the head office and d those with an enhanced working relationship with the local educational and technological infrastructure We hope that this study will provide relevant suggestions and recommendations for the practices in question to produce the expected results of knowledge transfer and continue to contribute to the insertion and increased participation in the addition of local value by the suppliers of transnational companies subsidiaries Conceptual Model and Tool The schematic drawing in Figure 1 presents the set of eight knowledge transfer practices to local suppliers the effect of which qualification of the supplier can be expanded or attenuated by the set of the processes six intervening variables The study is limited to the subsidiary practices in its relations with local suppliers Thus the measurement of the qualification to share value on the part of the suppliers will not be the object of this study only the practices that can lead to the skills or qualification developed by the subsidiaries The tool used was a closed questionnaire containing respectively indicators for the practices and the intervening variables The indicators for each of the eight practices found in Chart 2 do not exclude one another so it is interesting to know the relative intensity of each For this end we used a quantitative ordinal intensity grading scale Likert with a variation of 1 to 5 that accommodated the respondents perception of the indicator Chart 3 presents the indicators of the six intervening variables gauged in the survey three of which serve to characterize the type of company technological content origin of capital and size while the other three refer to the corporate policies evaluated by the respondents The indicators of each of the six intervening variables exclude one another so that each respondent was requested to mark a single valid alternative in the questionnaire Sampling Procedure The 30company sample surveyed for this study was of the intentional nonprobabilistic type using the following sources of data ANPEI the National Association for R D E of Innovative Companies Associação Nacional de P D E das Empresas Inovadorass Roster of Associated Companies which provided a group of 50 companies with foreign capital In September 2000 we mailed the questionnaires to executives from this group of companies We received 9 complete answers Roster of industrial companies with foreign capital installed in the region of the state of São Paulo comprising 172 companies The questionnaire was applied in October and November 2000 in interviews with executives of 21 companies IAMOT2002 The 11th International Conference on Management of Technology 3 Figure 1 Model of Organization Practices for Knowledge Transfer Subsidiary measured Supplier not measured Subsidiary measured Organization Practices of Knowledge Transfer 1 Criteria to select and hire local suppliers 2 Occasion to hire local suppliers for production input 3 Characteristic of the subsidiarys policy regarding local suppliers 4 Occasion for the transfer of technical contract information to local suppliers 5 Teamwork with local suppliers 6 Knowledge areas where there is technical support from the subsidiary to local suppliers 7 Types of technical and organization knowledge transferred to local suppliers 8 Information technology used in communication with local suppliers Qualification to share Value Intervening Variables FacilitatingInhibiting 1 Technological product content 2 Origin of Capital 3 Size of Company 4 Strategic importance of the subsidiary for t corporation he 5 Autonomy of the subsidiary in regard to the head office 6 Articulation with the local educational and technological infrastructure Chart 2 Practice Indicators nonexcluding scale of 1 to 5 Indicators Measured 1 SelectionHiring criteria 7 indicators Price quality delivery background affiliation technical capacity productivityprice reduction agreements 2 When hiring 5 indicators During manufacture prior to manufacture prior to the prototype prior to the detailed project prior to the conceptual project 3 Supplier policy 4 indicators Several suppliers a single supplier longterm contracts joint development agreements regarding qualityproductivityprice reduction 4 Occasion for information transfer 4 indicators Never commodities a single time in the contract part in the contract and part throughout the supply period in an ongoing supplier development process 5 Teamwork with suppliers 3 indicators Never teams from the subsidiary at the suppliers plant technical support supplier teams at the subsidiarys plant participating in RDE 6 Areas of technical support for suppliers 5 indicators Quality Control Production Processes Use of material Project Improved Productivity 7 Technical knowledge in production 13 indicators ISO 9000QS 9000 standards SPC QFD JIT setup techniques NC machines robots metrology CAD CAM MRP II cellular manufacture costreduction methods 8 IT in communications with suppliers 3 indicators WAN EDI and the Internet Chart 3 Indicators of Intervening Variables excluding one another single alternative Variables of Company Identification 3 Indicators Measured 1 Technological product content high commodities and similar products low other products 2 Origin of capital the several countries where more than 50 of the companys capital comes from 3 Size of the subsidiary small 500 employees US 100 million annual sales big 500 employees US 100 million annual sales Variables Evaluated by Respondents 3 Indicators Measured 4 Strategic importance of the subsidiary for the corporation market position stableimportant participation growthimportant participation growthsmall participation stablesmall participation level of top manager 1st 2nd 3rd 4th or less frequency with which local top executive gets in touch with the head office 5 alternatives varying from none to total 5 Autonomy of the subsidiary regarding the head office autonomy in strategy does not take part in Strategic Planning participates occasionally participates but is not much emphasized active participation major decisionmaker autonomy in innovation produces according to projects from the head office adapts processes adapts products launches new products for the local market launches new products for the entire corporation Autonomy in supplier management follows detailed guidance from head office follows policiesguidelines from head office may eventually ask head office for answers to questions has relative autonomyrarely asks the head office has full autonomy 6 Articulation with local learningtechnological infrastructure 5 alternatives from never to routinely frequency with which quality control services are contracted frequency with which organization consultingemployee training services are contracted frequency of joint development of productsprocesses frequency of acquisition of local technology IAMOT2002 The 11th International Conference on Management of Technology 5 Respondents Functional Profile Most of the data obtained in this study came from the respondents individual perceptions about their companies organization practices to transfer knowledge to local suppliers The guideline permanently present in our field research was to seek out in the subsidiaries the individuals best qualified to provide the indicators of those practices or proxies In terms of the respondents functional occupations two superimposed conditions were essential a the respondents should be active at the most strategic level possible so they would have an extensive knowledge of the subject and b they must be involved with functional activities directly or indirectly linked to the relationship with local suppliers ie supplies production material or engineeringdevelopment Chart 4 shows the functional profile of the professionals who provided the data for this survey we believe that the participation requirements were largely met2 Please observe that jointly Top Management Supplies and Production comprise exactly 70 of the respondents Chart 4 Respondents Functional Profile Sector and Position in the Company Nr of Answers Top Management 5 167 Managing Partner 1 DirectorPresident CEO 2 General Director 2 Production 9 300 Industrial Director 2 Production Director 1 Industrial Manager 1 Plant Manager 3 Engineering Process Manager 1 Process Manager 1 Supplies 7 233 Supply Manager 2 Purchasing Manager 3 Contract Manager 1 Purchasing Coordinator 1 Management Finance 5 167 Administrative Financial Director CFO 2 Administrative Financial Manager 1 Manager for Economic and Financial Studies 1 Accounting Analyst 1 Marketing Sales 3 100 Marketing Sales Manager 1 ImportExport Assistant 1 Foreign Relations Assistant 1 Planning 1 33 Head of Planning and Control 1 Total 30 100 Technological Product Content As it does not focus on any particular industrial sector the sample of companies examined presents considerable diverse product lines and therefore diverse technological product and process density contents Some of these products were arbitrarily considered to have a high or low technological content Although the dividing line between the two categories may not be clear we considered that commodities and similar 2 Respondents in Management Finance had dealings with suppliers and were mostly from the higher echelons Respondents who working with Marketing Sales were also executives with an indirect knowledge of supplier management because of their experience with the import of manufacturing material IAMOT2002 The 11th International Conference on Management of Technology 6 items have a low technological content while other products have a high technological content Chart 5 presents the sample companies product lines where 20 of the companies six of them were considered to have a low technological content because the products they manufacture resemble commodities The other companies 24 were considered by exclusion to have a high technological content Chart 5 Technological Product Content Products Companies Nr of Companies Low Technological Content 6 Promotional forms and games A 1 Refractory material E 1 Pigments S 1 Aluminum products ingots sheets L 1 Sugar and alcohol byproducts J 1 Isotonic beverages U 1 High Technological Content 24 Car parts vehicle transmission D M X 3 Car parts roller bearings Y 1 Car parts electrical components Z 1 Milling machines F O 2 Mining equipment P 1 Drills saws and manual equipment Q AD 2 Dimensional metrology tools I T 2 Process industry equipment C G NAA AB 5 Wires and cables powertelecom AC 1 Batteries accumulators systemspower W 1 Industrial packagingreinforced fabric R V 2 Pharmaceutical products B 1 Instruments for clinical analyses K 1 Medical and surgical instruments H 1 Identification of the companies by alphabetical letters to preserve confidentiality Countries Where the Capital Comes From Germany and the US appear most often with nine and seven companies respectively and are responsible for approximately 53 of the total number of companies Switzerland and the UK appear with three companies each Canada France and Japan rank third with two companies each Finally Sweden and Italy have one company each in the sample The distribution of the companies in the sample by country of origin was considered satisfactory and although this was not deliberate is does not differ very much from the occurrence of foreign companies in the countrys industrial sector Size of the Companies The size of the companies in the sample was defined by two indicators annual sales in 1999 expressed in US million and the number of company employees at the time of the survey The annual sales segmented the samples into two groups a group of small companies 19 subsidiaries with sales below US100 million and a group of big companies eight subsidiaries with sales equal to or above US100 million Three companies did not provide information on sales For purposes of confirmation the sample was further broken down by number of employees which resulted in another two groups small companies 18 subsidiaries with less than 500 employees and big companies 12 subsidiaries with 500 or more employees IAMOT2002 The 11th International Conference on Management of Technology 7 Analysis of Results To begin with the eight practices were awarded a descriptive statistical treatment to clarify the intensity of the set of practices and identify those most used by the companies in the sample The scores 1 to 5 attributed to the practices generated two types of information the average profiles and the preferential indicators The average profiles showed the average intensity of each type of practice and were defined by the group of mathematical averages of the each variables indicators The preferential indicators indicated the practices preferred by the subsidiaries to transfer knowledge to their suppliers and consist of the indicators that the respondents rated 4 or 5 The six intervening variables of the subsidiaries transfer of knowledge to local suppliers were also awarded a descriptive statistical treatment which showed the percentage of companies that matched each indicator of the abovementioned variables Thus we obtained a broad view of the intervening variables that prevailed in the sample group of the companies investigated The data treatment was complemented by the analysis of the influence of the intervening variables on knowledge transfer practices to verify the occurrence of significant differences among the companies regarding the abovementioned practices when the sample undergoes cuts for breakdown according to the products technological content origin of capital size of the company strategic importance of the subsidiary for the corporation autonomy of the subsidiary in regard to the head office and coordination and activities with the local learning and technological infrastructure For this end all eight practices were matched to all six intervening variables and the latter were considered control variables for the observation of the former Mann Whitneys U nonparametric test was employed showing whether two independent groups of variables have the same distribution or if they present different distributions Siegel 1975 A pair of company groups was formed for each test one of which with a certain indicator of the intervening variable considered and the other without this indicator The SPSS for Windows Release 800 software was used with a bilateral significance level of 5 p00503 the maximum value considered satisfactory for the uncertainty margin in the attempt to generalize the results of the survey Profile of the practices The analysis of the data showed a strong convergence of the average profiles and the preferential practice indicators that is the indicators with the highest averages were also the ones with the highest scores The summary below assembles the indicators that were respectively awarded the highest and the lowest values of the averagesscores Highest averagesscores Technical skill as a hiring criterion Immediate hiring prior to manufacturing Longterm contract policy Information transfer in a continuous process Teamwork at suppliers facilities manufacturing support Technical support for quality control Lowest averagesscores Single supplier policy Teamwork at the subsidiarys facilities RDE Most types of technical knowledge transferred average of 253 Profile of the intervening variables The three intervening variables evaluated according to the respondents perceptions the other three are data typical of the companys characterization presented the following relative occurrences for their respective indicators 3 The charts adapted from the test outputs are presented in one authors PhD thesis Passos 2001 IAMOT2002 The 11th International Conference on Management of Technology 8 Strategic importance for the corporation Growth potential 30 companies 100 Big market share 21 companies 68 Local leader in 1st2nd tier 22 companies 73 Totalextensive access of the top executive to the head office 24 companies 80 Autonomy regarding the head office Active participationmain decisionmaker in Strategic Planning 29 companies 97 Productprocess adaptationdevelopment 26 companies 87 Development of new products for the local market 17 companies 57 Total autonomy in supplier management 16 companies 53 Rare queries to head office about supplier management 7 companies 23 Full guidance from head office regarding supplier management 1 company 3 Articulation with the local learningtechnological infrastructure Routine Quality Control service contracts QC 5 companies 17 Very frequent Quality Control service contracts 7 companies 23 Routine consulting contracts 1 company 3 Contracts with very frequent consulting 13 companies 43 Rareeventual participation in joint development 20 companies 67 Never purchased local technology 18 companies 60 Influence of the intervening variables on practices The subsidiaries with the most outstanding practices are those that Manufacture products with the highest technological content Have more autonomy in terms of supplier management and Contract more Quality Control services These results partially prove hypotheses a c and d bearing in mind that autonomy in regard to the head office only influences the practices in terms of supplier management Amid the types of cooperation and joint work with the local infrastructure only the quality control service contracts have any influence on the subsidiaries knowledge transfer practices to their local suppliers Hypothesis b concerning the influence of the subsidiarys strategic importance for the corporation was not verified The influence of the variables size and origin of capital although not foreseen in the hypotheses shows that Size was not appropriate to identify practices as we already imagined NorthAmerican companies stood out positively in some organization practices and The two Japanese companies did not stand out anywhere Conclusions and Recommendations Before we come to the conclusions it is important to bear in mind that the following limitations may reduce the validity of the generalization of the conclusions arrived at by the study a the possibility that the theoretical model may not include other relevant variables b the study focused exclusively on subsidiaries while we know that knowledge transfer also depends on the suppliers competence in absorbing it c the broad diversity of possible forms of knowledge transfer that result from the large variety of technologies and production processes of the companies in the sample and d the concentration of the companies in a specific IAMOT2002 The 11th International Conference on Management of Technology 9 geographic area4 These limitations should thus be viewed as initial conditions based on which the studys conclusions and recommendations should be considered Conclusions As evidenced by the profile of the practices identified by the survey knowledge transfer is burgeoning both in terms of diversity and intensity with the single exception of some technical knowledge to control the quality of the items produced Empirical data may indicate an apparently inconsistent attitude on one hand favorable to supplier qualification and on the other that denies that purpose This can be interpreted as an attitude that seeks to obtain the twofold advantage of bargaining power and the benefit of a partnership with local suppliers The subsidiaries show a a preference for already technologically qualified suppliers always available when they are needed and in a sufficient number to allow the best possible choice and b a preference for lasting relationships with some isolated lowintensity technical support especially for the quality control of the items produced For the Brazilian subsidiaries of transnational companies to contribute to the insertion of local suppliers into their production chain through their technical and organization qualification companies knowledge transfer practices to the suppliers would have to be much improved both in terms of their nature and intensity These improvements would come about by the spontaneous action of the subsidiaries a situation where they would identify advantageous partnership opportunities with their suppliers andor through industrial policies adopted by Government agencies involved with the industrial development Recommendations Below follow a few recommendations to enhance practices that foster knowledge transfer a Focus on subsidiaries with a high technological content for these are the subsidiaries with the highest potential in qualitative and quantitative terms to divulge local suppliers technical and organizational knowledge b Encourage autonomy for the management of local suppliers among the subsidiaries because this dimension of autonomy seems to put in place knowledge transfer practices c Stimulate the articulation of subsidiaries with local entities that provide services with a technological content because although they do not identify causal relations companies with this type of articulation seem to give more value to knowledge transfer practices to local suppliers d Foster the creation of partnerships with local suppliers for RDE at the subsidiaries facilities especially for the development of new products for the local market and e Expand and intensify all types of technical knowledge useful for the local suppliers production processes Finally it must be understood that this study because of its prospective nature does not intend to exhaust the topic of knowledge transfer from subsidiaries of transnational companies to their local suppliers On the contrary the authors see this study as a possible point of departure to intensify and expand knowledge about the subject Among the immediate possibilities to advance the survey we emphasize two the enhancement of the theoretical model for new investigations and the verification of the impact of knowledge transfer among local suppliers References Bartlett C A and S Ghoshal 1992 Gerenciando Companhias no Exterior a Solução Transnacional Makron Books São Paulo 4 As in this area the relative presence of foreign companies is the highest in the country the conclusions obtained from the sample may not be so different from those valid for the total number of subsidiaries in the country IAMOT2002 The 11th International Conference on Management of Technology 10 Chesnais F 1999 A Mundialização Financeira Tradução Carmem Cacciacarro Xamã São Paulo Daniels JD E W Ogram and L H Radebaugh 1982 International Business Environments and Operations 3rd ed AddisonWesley Massachusetts 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