In recent decades, multinational enterprises (MNEs) have increasingly harnessed local knowledge through various customer involvement practices implemented by their foreign subsidiaries. Our study, using a multi-informant survey of 230 MNE subsidiaries in China, explores how these subsidiaries manage customer involvement in new product development (NPD). We specifically focus on two practices: using customers as an information source (CIS) or as a co-developer (CIC). We posit that the two types of customer involvement have distinct effects on a subsidiary's innovation capability, which in turn impacts two critical NPD outcomes: innovativeness and speed to market. Moreover, we suggest that the roles that customers play in CIS and CIC, as well as their contribution to the subsidiary's innovation capability, depend on whether the specific knowledge is derived from the parent headquarters or local partners. Our findings reveal that technological knowledge transfer from the parent headquarters enhances CIS's effect on innovation capability, yet diminishes that of CIC. In contrast, knowledge sharing from local partners exerts the opposite effects. By elucidating the underlying mechanisms and contingencies, our study fosters a deeper understanding of customer involvement in NPD and provides insightful guidance for MNEs seeking to leverage local knowledge for successful innovations in foreign markets.

中文翻译：

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通过客户参与新产品开发提升子公司创新能力：权变知识源视角

近几十年来，跨国企业 (MNE) 通过其外国子公司实施的各种客户参与实践，越来越多地利用当地知识。我们的研究通过对 230 家跨国公司在华子公司进行多方调查，探讨了这些子公司如何管理客户参与新产品开发 (NPD) 的情况。我们特别关注两种实践：使用客户作为信息源 (CIS) 或作为共同开发者 (CIC)。我们认为，两种类型的客户参与对子公司的创新能力有不同的影响，这反过来又影响两个关键的 NPD 结果：创新性和上市速度。此外，我们认为客户在CIS和CIC中所扮演的角色，以及他们对子公司创新能力的贡献，取决于具体知识是来自母公司总部还是当地合作伙伴。我们的研究结果表明，来自母公司总部的技术知识转移增强了CIS对创新能力的影响，但削弱了CIC的创新能力。相反，当地合作伙伴的知识共享会产生相反的效果。通过阐明根本机制和突发事件，我们的研究加深了对客户参与 NPD 的理解，并为寻求利用本地知识在国外市场成功创新的跨国企业提供了富有洞察力的指导。