We argue that product innovation by foreign subsidiaries of multinational corporations is a complex undertaking requiring a theoretical understanding of how managers combine subsidiary structural arrangements, knowledge connectivity, and contextual conditions into configurations that yield innovative products. Accordingly, we integrate relevant conditions from interrelated literature streams and explore their complementarities and substitutions in relation to subsidiary product innovation. Using a neo-configurational approach and data on 183 foreign subsidiaries operating in Europe, we identify six equifinal configurations associated with subsidiary product innovation. We leverage the configurational patterns to elaborate theory of how subsidiary product innovation is primarily driven by the interrelations among the relevant conditions, thus contributing novel insights to research on subsidiary management and global innovation.

中文翻译：

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配置外国子公司创新的知识连接和战略条件


我们认为，跨国公司外国子公司的产品创新是一项复杂的事业，需要从理论上理解管理者如何将子公司的结构安排、知识连通性和情境条件结合起来，形成产生创新产品的配置。因此，我们整合相关文献中的相关条件，探索它们在附属产品创新方面的互补性和替代性。使用新配置方法和 183 家在欧洲运营的外国子公司的数据，我们确定了与子公司产品创新相关的六种最终配置。我们利用配置模式来阐述子公司产品创新主要如何由相关条件之间的相互关系驱动的理论，从而为子公司管理和全球创新的研究提供新颖的见解。