Managing Knowledge Workers In Global Value Chains

Global value chains span national and organizational boundaries in a growing number of industries. Knowledge creation and exchange within these diffuse networks is more complex than in the centralized R&D process of the past. This research, based on extensive fieldwork with engineers and managers in multinational headquarters and subsidiaries in a number of high-tech industries, analyzes alternative modes of managing knowledge workers in this global setting. Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM), of which formal HR policies are but a small part, is necessary to structure formal and informal network activities, both within and beyond the firm.