Dr Michael Murphree
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Dr Michael Murphree

Senior Lecturer
Dr Michael Murphree

Murphree is a Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of International Business at the University of Sydney Business School. He has a PhD in International Affairs, Science and Technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master in International Affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Murphree is interested in foreign direct investment and local economic upgrading, extractive industries and international entrepreneurship in country-specific and comparative perspectives.

Murphree’s research objective is to generate findings which can help firms and government authorities harness the benefits of foreign investment and technology development to facilitate broad prosperity. His research has been published in international journals such as Research Policy, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Harvard Business Review, Journal of International Management, Journal of International Business Policy and Journal of Technology Transfer. His first book (co-authored with Dan Breznitz) – The Run of the Red Queen: Government, Innovation, Globalization, and Economic Growth in China, was published in 2011 and was the winner of the 2012 British International Studies Association Susan Strange Best Book Award and bronze medalist for the 2012 Axiom Business Book Award for International Business/Globalization.

Murphree has developed courses on comparative innovation systems and globalization which help students better understand both the impact of the global movement of goods on economic and social development and the sourcing, management and development of knowledge in a global context. He serves the academic community as an editorial board member at the Journal of International Business Policy and Journal of International Management. In 2020, he was awarded the Industry Studies Association Emerging Scholar in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award.

Murphree’s research strives to connect management theories to practice in industry- and region-specific contexts as a result of his training and background experience. His research in the Greater China Region considers ongoing institutional and environmental changes and their impacts on firms’ competitive advantages and competitive strategies. This broad topic is considered in the specific contexts of intellectual property rights, labour intensive industries such as consumer plastics, and high technology industries including electronics and information technology. His most recent projects consider the driving forces behind cross-border entrepreneurship by young Taiwanese and the succession in and reform of Taiwanese family businesses. For these projects, he has conducted field research in ten Chinese cities and regions since 2007. He speaks fluent Mandarin.

Outside of China, Murphree studies the impact of foreign direct investment on local firm capabilities. This project has examined the setting of the offshore oil and gas industry in Newfoundland, Canada. It is developing new insights on MNC subsidiary behaviour as a result of the localization of management and the impact of large scale FDI and local investment policies on the upgrading and performance of local enterprises in developed countries.

Before joining the University of Sydney in 2022, Murphree was an Assistant Professor of International Business at the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business and served as a visiting professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto in 2019.

Publications

Books

  • Breznitz, D., Murphree, M. (2011). Run of the Red Queen: Government, Innovation, Globalization, and Economic Growth in China. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. [More Information]

Book Chapters

  • Murphree, M. (2022). Crossing Borders to Innovate: Young Entrepreneurs and the Lure of Major Cities. In D. Castellani, A. Perri, V.G. Scalera, A. Zanfei (Eds.), Cross-Border Innovation in a Changing World: Players, Places, and Policies, (pp. 110-132). London: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
  • Murphree, M. (2022). Whither Global Value Chains: The Shifting Role of Taiwanese FDI in Mainland China. In G. Gereffi, P. Bamber, K. Fernandez-Stark (Eds.), China's New Development Strategies: Upgrading from Above and from Below in Global Value Chains, (pp. 141-166). Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]
  • Murphree, M., Breznitz, D. (2021). Global Supply Chains as Drivers of Innovation in China. In X. Fu, B. McKern, J. Chen (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of China Innovation, (pp. 554-572). London: Oxford University Press. [More Information]

Journals

  • Buckley, P., Murphree, M., Anderson, J. (2024). Horizontal subcontracting and the global factory. Journal of International Business Studies, 55(7), 934-944. [More Information]
  • Breznitz, D., Buciuni, G., Murphree, M. (2024). Still sticky after all those years? The resurgence of Marshallian districts in a world of global production networks. Regional Studies, 58(3), 522-536. [More Information]
  • Murphree, M., Petersen, B., Warrian, P., Gosine, R. (2022). Scope and scale of technology challenge and MNE subsidiary knowledge sourcing in host countries. Technovation, 116.0. [More Information]

2024

  • Buckley, P., Murphree, M., Anderson, J. (2024). Horizontal subcontracting and the global factory. Journal of International Business Studies, 55(7), 934-944. [More Information]
  • Breznitz, D., Buciuni, G., Murphree, M. (2024). Still sticky after all those years? The resurgence of Marshallian districts in a world of global production networks. Regional Studies, 58(3), 522-536. [More Information]

2022

  • Murphree, M. (2022). Crossing Borders to Innovate: Young Entrepreneurs and the Lure of Major Cities. In D. Castellani, A. Perri, V.G. Scalera, A. Zanfei (Eds.), Cross-Border Innovation in a Changing World: Players, Places, and Policies, (pp. 110-132). London: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
  • Murphree, M., Petersen, B., Warrian, P., Gosine, R. (2022). Scope and scale of technology challenge and MNE subsidiary knowledge sourcing in host countries. Technovation, 116.0. [More Information]
  • Murphree, M. (2022). Whither Global Value Chains: The Shifting Role of Taiwanese FDI in Mainland China. In G. Gereffi, P. Bamber, K. Fernandez-Stark (Eds.), China's New Development Strategies: Upgrading from Above and from Below in Global Value Chains, (pp. 141-166). Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. [More Information]

2021

  • Murphree, M., Breznitz, D. (2021). Global Supply Chains as Drivers of Innovation in China. In X. Fu, B. McKern, J. Chen (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of China Innovation, (pp. 554-572). London: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
  • Li, M., Makino, S., Murphree, M., Jiang, C. (2021). REGIONS and INNOVATION: A NEW TALE of THREE ECONOMIC REGIONS in CHINA. International Journal of Innovation Management, 25.0 (5). [More Information]
  • Yi, J., Murphree, M., Meng, S., Li, S. (2021). The more the merrier? Chinese government R&D subsidies, dependence, and firm innovation performance. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 38.0 (2), 289-310. [More Information]

2020

  • Murphree, M., Breznitz, D. (2020). Collaborative public spaces and upgrading through global value chains: The case of Dongguan, China. Global Strategy Journal, 10.0 (3), 556-584. [More Information]
  • Murphree, M. (2020). Manipulating Globalization: The Influence of Bureaucrats on Business in China, by Ling Chen. The China Journal, 84(1), 137-139. [More Information]

2018

  • Murphree, M., Anderson, J. (2018). Countering Overseas Power in Global Value Chains: Information Asymmetries and Subcontracting in the Plastics Industry. Journal of International Management, 24.0 (2), 123-136. [More Information]
  • Murphree, M., Breznitz, D. (2018). Indigenous digital technology standards for development: The case of China. Journal of International Business Policy, 1.0(3-4), 234-252. [More Information]

2017

  • Lin, H., Murphree, M., Li, S. (2017). Emergence of organizational routines in entrepreneurial ventures. Chinese Management Studies, 11.0 (3), 498-519. [More Information]

2016

  • Tang, L., Murphree, M., Breznitz, D. (2016). Structured uncertainty: a pilot study on innovation in China’s mobile phone handset industry. Journal of Technology Transfer, 41.0 (5), 1168-1194. [More Information]
  • Murphree, M., Tang, L., Breznitz, D. (2016). Tacit local alliance and SME innovation in China. International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development, 7(3), 184-202. [More Information]
  • Breznitz, D., Murphree, M. (2016). What the U.S. Should Be Doing to Protect Intellectual Property. Harvard Business Review, January. [More Information]

2013

  • Breznitz, D., Murphree, M. (2013). China's Run - Economic Growth, Policy, Interdependences, and Implications for Diverse Innovation Policies in a World of Fragmented Production. In D. Breznitz, J. Zysman (Eds.), The Third Globalization: Can Wealthy Nations Stay Rich in the Twenty-First Century?, (pp. 35-56). London: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
  • Kenney, M., Breznitz, D., Murphree, M. (2013). Coming back home after the sun rises: Returnee entrepreneurs and growth of high tech industries. Research Policy, 42(2), 391-407. [More Information]

2011

  • Breznitz, D., Murphree, M. (2011). Run of the Red Queen: Government, Innovation, Globalization, and Economic Growth in China. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. [More Information]

2010

  • Murphree, M. (2010). Rise of the Red Engineers: The Cultural Revolution and the Origins of China's New Class - By Joel Andreas. Review of Policy Research, 27(2), 202-204. [More Information]

2006

  • Hartley, L., Murphree, M. (2006). Influences on the Partial-Liberalization of Internet Service Provision in Ethiopia. Critique: A Worldwide Student Journal of Politics, Fall, 87-115. [More Information]