Knowledge creation and transfer in a cross‐cultural context—empirical evidence from Tyco Flow Control

Abstract

The capability of multinational corporations (MNCs) to create and efficiently combine knowledge from different locations around the world is becoming increasingly important as a determinant of competitive advantage and will be more and more critical to their success and survival. Consequently, cultural differences and cross-cultural contexts play an essential role for and significantly influence global knowledge creation and management. This paper presents a case study resulting from a current empirical research project on knowledge management and the transfer of knowledge within organizations of MNCs. We describe and analyze the efforts of global market leader Tyco Flow Control (TFC)'s Japanese subsidiary KTM to transfer relevant-and often highly tacit-knowledge to a newly acquired production site in Taiwan. Challenges and difficulties encountered in the process of global knowledge management-in this case the transfer of knowledge from Japan to Taiwan-as well as the creation of new knowledge locally and its feedback-are illustrated and carefully examined. Finally, we discuss our findings and highlight practical implications for managers and international corporations in a global business environment.

Mastering tacit corridors for competitive advantage: Cross‐cultural knowledge creation and sharing at four international firms

“…With the target of reducing manufacturing unit cost, Tyco Flow Control, a US-based global market leader in valve production, wanted to move production from Japan to Taiwan. The company clearly underestimated the magnitude of knowledge transfer required, however (Kohlbacher & Krähe, 2007).…”

Culture and knowledge co‐creation in R&D collaboration between MNCs and Chinese universities

“…So far numerous cross-border knowledge interaction, including technology transfer projects, have encountered considerable difficulties or have failed because of significant cultural variations and barriers (Almeida et al, 2002;Holden, 2002;Kohlbacher and Krähe, 2007;Li and Scullion, 2006;Lindqvist et al, 2007;Moitra and Kumar, 2007;Qin et al, 2008;Seigel et al, 2003). Therefore in this paper especially the role of culture in more interactive type of U-I R&D collaboration is examined.…”

Exploring “culturalization” in rural entrepreneurial context through content analysis

“…The development of such a capacity requires ability and motivation (Minbaeva, Pedersen, Björkman, Fey, & Park, 2003) as well as learning effectiveness (Kohlbacher & Krähe, 2007). The latter is influenced by the knowledge connections among partners in building network and by the relatedness of partner knowledge and their cultural alignment (Inkpen, 2000;Kohlbacher & Krähe, 2007).…”

“…Furthermore, the “gift economy” stimulates knowledge flows among organizations, which have chosen to face market competition by collaborating with each other. Although extensive literature exists concerning organizational knowledge processes (Kohlbacher & Krähe, ; Nonaka & Takeuchi, ), investigations into knowledge creation beyond organizational boundaries are still lacking (Carlsson, ). Nonetheless, the “deutero learning processes” framework provides insights for achieving a better understanding of interorganizational knowledge (Mariotti, ).…”