Masking, claiming and preventing innovation in Cross-border B2B relationships: Neo-colonial frameworks of power in global IT industry

This paper analyzes the role of innovation in cross-border business-to-business (B2B) relationships within the born-global information technology (IT) industry to unmask the assertion that some nations, such as India, are simply ‘less innovative’ than others. We reveal a dark side in B2B relationshi...

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Main Authors: Malik, Ashish, Mahadevan, Jasmin, Sharma, Piyush, Nguyen, Tuyet-Mai
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2021
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83149
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author Malik, Ashish
Mahadevan, Jasmin
Sharma, Piyush
Nguyen, Tuyet-Mai
author_facet Malik, Ashish
Mahadevan, Jasmin
Sharma, Piyush
Nguyen, Tuyet-Mai
author_sort Malik, Ashish
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper analyzes the role of innovation in cross-border business-to-business (B2B) relationships within the born-global information technology (IT) industry to unmask the assertion that some nations, such as India, are simply ‘less innovative’ than others. We reveal a dark side in B2B relationships that masks, claims and prevents innovation. The dark side in innovation in the Indian IT industry is often manifested via three mechanisms of power; namely, a) masking the true ownership of innovation, b) preventing innovation by dominant organiza-tional structures in multinational enterprises (MNEs), and c) finally, the institutionalization of these practices in MNEs. We show when and how the dark side effects in (dis-) innovation are institutionalized in the business system itself through neo-colonial influences and trace power imbalances across multiple interfaces, such as headquarters – subsidiary or service provider – client. We discuss the theoretical contributions and managerial implications of our findings.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T11:21:19Z
publishDate 2021
publisher Elsevier
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-831492024-05-24T09:29:06Z Masking, claiming and preventing innovation in Cross-border B2B relationships: Neo-colonial frameworks of power in global IT industry Malik, Ashish Mahadevan, Jasmin Sharma, Piyush Nguyen, Tuyet-Mai This paper analyzes the role of innovation in cross-border business-to-business (B2B) relationships within the born-global information technology (IT) industry to unmask the assertion that some nations, such as India, are simply ‘less innovative’ than others. We reveal a dark side in B2B relationships that masks, claims and prevents innovation. The dark side in innovation in the Indian IT industry is often manifested via three mechanisms of power; namely, a) masking the true ownership of innovation, b) preventing innovation by dominant organiza-tional structures in multinational enterprises (MNEs), and c) finally, the institutionalization of these practices in MNEs. We show when and how the dark side effects in (dis-) innovation are institutionalized in the business system itself through neo-colonial influences and trace power imbalances across multiple interfaces, such as headquarters – subsidiary or service provider – client. We discuss the theoretical contributions and managerial implications of our findings. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83149 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.044 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Elsevier fulltext
spellingShingle Malik, Ashish
Mahadevan, Jasmin
Sharma, Piyush
Nguyen, Tuyet-Mai
Masking, claiming and preventing innovation in Cross-border B2B relationships: Neo-colonial frameworks of power in global IT industry
title Masking, claiming and preventing innovation in Cross-border B2B relationships: Neo-colonial frameworks of power in global IT industry
title_full Masking, claiming and preventing innovation in Cross-border B2B relationships: Neo-colonial frameworks of power in global IT industry
title_fullStr Masking, claiming and preventing innovation in Cross-border B2B relationships: Neo-colonial frameworks of power in global IT industry
title_full_unstemmed Masking, claiming and preventing innovation in Cross-border B2B relationships: Neo-colonial frameworks of power in global IT industry
title_short Masking, claiming and preventing innovation in Cross-border B2B relationships: Neo-colonial frameworks of power in global IT industry
title_sort masking, claiming and preventing innovation in cross-border b2b relationships: neo-colonial frameworks of power in global it industry
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83149