ABSTRACT
By the early 1990s, multinational corporations’ international production had surpassed international trade as the main mechanism for servicing international markets. Trade itself was increasingly conducted within and between multinational corporations. The characteristics and management styles of these companies have changed dramatically over time. Still, international business researchers’ interest has tended to be on foreign direct investment flows rather than on firm level behaviour of multinational corporations and their new agendas. One of the fields that clearly needs to be researched in greater detail is the relationship between headquarters and subsidiaries of a multinational corporation (Young 2000). One main aspect in this relationship has been and is the transfer and the communication of corporate knowledge from headquarters to subsidiaries of a multinational corporation located in differing cultural and geographical settings and vice versa. This book aims to investigate whether the national culture of employees influ-
ences knowledge transfer processes within multinational corporations. The focus of attention is German and Japanese multinational corporations. The research results presented are based on the theoretical background developed by Edward T. Hall, which states that cultural background shapes the way people communicate with each other. This assumption is strongly supported by the existing literature on the topic and by qualitative interviews conducted to develop the underlying model. The main premise of the book was that even if knowledge is being trans-
ferred between two different organizational units, two individuals communicate knowledge. Intercultural knowledge transfer is considered a communication process and therefore faces the same challenges as an intercultural communication process. It is not happening in avacuum, but is surrounded by a cultural context. I therefore concluded that cultural differences in communication between two members of corporations also account for knowledge transfer processes between them. The main problem is that the sender and receiver are operating in two different cultural contexts, which may lead to hindrances in the knowledge transfer process. Besides this, knowledge transfer in multinational corporations takes place via the interaction of an international workforce and often overcomes long geographical distances. This means that the knowledge
between company units of multinational corporations. So how do cultural differences influence knowledge transfer? Can they be
ignored assuming that two members of the same organizations will share knowledge freely even across borders? Or do cultural differences present a serious barrier for corporate knowledge flows and consequently for a corporation’s success. To investigate these issues I have defined three research questions.
