Global sourcing partnerships and emerging MNC markets: A conceptual framework

This theoretical paper is about global sourcing partnerships for emerging Multinational Corporations (MNCs), such as Eastern European MNCs and the difficulties they face in accessing local knowledge networks in developed economies, a key issue given the continuing enlargement of the European Union with the addition of new members. Given the socially complex nature of knowledge, knowledge transfer for emerging MNC markets must take into account the institutional factors in emerging markets, including the issue of psychic distance towards emerging markets or economies. We show how countertrade, a nonstandard type of exchange in countries such as Eastern Europe can be seen as a type of institutional commitment accelerating global sourcing and e-procurement partnerships for emerging MNC markets. We show that our general framework of countertrade and hostage-style exchange can also be applied to the uncertainty of global sourcing and e-procurement in the 21st century.