Search

Purpose: This study aims to examine two innovation zones in China, including the Suzhou Industrial Park and Tianjin Eco-city, to gain a comprehensive understanding of city locations attributes and its relationship to inward foreign direct investment (FDI) from multinational enterprises (MNEs) in innovation zones embedded in nonhub cities in China. Design/methodology/approach: This research incorporates two site visits and in-depth interviews with 39 personnel working with innovation zones. Thematic analysis is used to analyze interview data and documents. Findings: The results highlight that cities can use innovation zones as a strategy to build high scale knowledge community precincts to connect MNEs and other global actors. As an important institutional feature of city locations, innovation zones increase within-city connectivity and connect cities in global networks resulting in cross-city connectivity to attract FDI from MNEs. From a dynamic knowledge community perspective, this research also compares active and passive approaches toward building knowledge communities and identifies several elements of knowledge communities within innovation zones in China. Research limitations/implications: The research results could be further explored in other institutional and economic contexts, to understand the interplay of city locations, FDI and innovation zones, and the dynamics of building knowledge communities. Practical implications: This research has several implications for policymakers and administrators who work with municipal economic development and the development and enhancement of innovation zones. It offers recommendations for MNEs to consider where to make foreign investments and the advantages innovation zones may offer to support FDI. Originality/value: This research contributes to the literature related to economic development and how nonhub cities can attract FDI and join global networks. It offers empirical insights drawn from two successful innovation zones located in nonhub cities in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This current study examines how MNE subsidiaries constitute "knowing" in their ongoing practices in local context, with a focus on the Chinese cultural context in which the subsidiary is embedded. From a dynamic system perspective, it provides a framework to further discuss learning of organizations with particular relevance to the Asian business context. This study complements the current understanding of learning by highlighting the essential role of context in enacting knowledge in practice. We conducted 48 in-depth interviews with managers in MNE subsidiaries located at three cities in China, including: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, which captured a broad picture of the Chinese geographic variations and the cultural context. It has practical implications for managers working in China and Asian emerging markets. This study explains the dynamic process of learning in MNE subsidiaries, and the interactions between employees and the local cultural context. Firstly, it reveals the learning nature of daily practices in subsidiaries from a practice view, which further confirms that the "knowing" process of organizations is a continuous, circular process of change characterized as systems dynamics. Second, it discusses that knowing and meaning are embedded in specific contexts of subsidiaries, which are across boundaries and faced with navigating a local cultural context. It highlights the effects of cultural context in enacting knowledge in practice by discussing contextual dynamics of knowing practices in MNE subsidiaries. In particular, the Chinese local context of learning has been examined with support of empirical data. Third, it finds that expatriates serve as channels and storehouse of tacit knowledge in subsidiaries considering the characteristics of Chinese cultural context. It suggests managers working in subsidiaries take advantages of local cultural context. It also has practical implications for MNE headquarters to expand into Asian emerging markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have discovered that the oxaziridine-mediated copper-catalyzed aminohydroxylation reaction recently discovered in our laboratories is dramatically accelerated in the presence of halide additives. The use of this more active catalyst system enables the efficient aminohydroxylation of electronically and sterically deactivated styrenes and also enables the use of nonstereogenic 3,3-dialkyl oxaziridines as terminal oxidants in the aminohydroxylation reaction. We present evidence that anionic halocuprate(II) complexes are the catalytically active species responsible for the increased reactivity under these conditions. This unexpected observation has led us to re-evaluate our mechanistic understanding of this reaction, On the basis of the results of a variety of radical trapping experiments, we propose a modified mechanism that involves a homolytic reaction of the olefin with a copper(ll)activated oxaziridine. Together, the observation that anionic additives significantly increase the oxidizing ability of oxaziridines and the recognition of the radical nature of reactions of oxaziridines under these conditions suggest that a variety of new oxidative transformations catalyzed by halocuprate(II) complexes should be possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]