LOCAL FIRM'S KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION IN THE GLOBAL MANUFACTURING NETWORK: EVIDENCE FROM CHINESE SAMPLES

The Global Manufacturing Network (GMN) is a new manufacturing system, which provides great opportunities for local firms in developing countries to acquire knowledge and upgrade capabilities through collaborations in the GMN. This paper hypothesizes that local firm's potential absorptive capacity has a positive impact on its knowledge acquisition in the GMN, and the association between them is moderated by network embeddedness. Using data from Chinese manufacturing firms, this paper confirms the hypothesis that local firm's potential absorptive capacity can contribute to its knowledge acquisition in the GMN, and the hypothesis of the moderating effect of network embeddedness is partially supported by the results.