ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates how knowledge resources external 'threat' spurned innovation and change at the Kristiansand subsidiary. It also discusses the knowledge development of the Kristiansand refinery in light of Robert Pearce's concept of 'creative subsidiaries', that affiliates that actively try to shape their destiny and develop their line of business. A new refining process and pioneered new digital control system is used to explore head office-subsidiary relations and the Kristiansand refinery's linkages to the wider Norwegian business and research system. In the spring of 1965, Jahnsen was given the go-ahead from Canada to establish a large research and development unit in Kristiansand to work on the Matte-Leaching process (ML). The research and development unit's success certainly strengthened the Kristiansand refinery's position within Falconbridge. The chapter explores several areas of change in the 1960s: the intensified research and development, computerized control, organizational patterns and transportation systems. All four areas show that Falconbridge's Kristiansand subsidiary retained its strong entrepreneurial and innovative capabilities.
