Antecedents and Outcomes of Multinational Corporations’ Market Knowledge Management: Evidence from Korean Firms

It is widely accepted that knowledge management enables multinational corporations (MNCs) to achieve positional advantage in the marketplace. Some MNCs, however, are more successful in managing market knowledge than others. Although academics and practitioners have paid attention to MNCs’ knowledge management process, few studies have explained how MNCs succeed in managing market knowledge. Using the resource-advantage theory of competition as an underlying framework, the current study develops an empirically testable model that draws on the theories of resource-based, strategic orientation, organizational structure, and knowledge management in order to explain the antecedents and outcomes of MNCs’ knowledge management process, which includes market knowledge development, dissemination, and application. In the model, the antecedents of the process are divided into strategic orientations and organizational structures. Strategic orientations are further classified as commitment to learning, intra-organizational connectedness, innovativeness, and speed orientation while organizational structures are centralization and formalization. In addition, the model views the outcomes as marketing effectiveness and efficiency. Using data collected from a survey of key informants of MNCs headquartered in Korea, the present study empirically tests the model. This manuscript offers important implications for theory and practice and concludes with the limitations of the study and directions for future research.