Language, knowledge transfer and firm’s strategic assets: the strategic role of language in knowledge transfer to China

Abstract

This article is intended to examine the exact role of language in intra-firm cross-country knowledge transfer from the perspective of developing firm's strategic assets. We find that inadequate language ability can lead to communication failures and cultural misunderstanding, and has the potential to destroy the process of knowledge transfer. Hence, language is not an operational issue but of strategic importance to the transfer of knowledge within multinational enterprises. As language ability is uniquely related to the specific technical, managerial and cultural aspects of a firm, hard to substitute and imitate, it should be regarded as one of the firm's strategic assets and be dealt at strategic level.

Knowledge sharing in a non-native language context: Challenges and strategies

“…Problem-solving, developing new processes and making complex decisions are scenarios where knowledge sharing becomes an ambiguous and sometimes chaotic learning activity. Ambiguity is a characteristic of knowledge sharing, and therefore, reducing ambiguity and uncertainty associated with the new knowledge is striven for as this enhances knowledge comprehension and internalisation [21,61,62]. However, interviews show that employees found it difficult to reduce ambiguity in knowledge sharing when using a non-native language.…”

Let’s Talk about Language: A Review of Language‐Sensitive Research in International Management

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“…Andersen and Rasmussen, ; Angouri, ; Kassis Henderson, ). Tan and Gartland () demonstrate how a variety of situational resources such as symbols, visual aids, machine‐based translation, and body language was used to transfer knowledge. Similarly, Kingsley’s () findings on the language practices in multilingual workplaces illustrate the complexity and partiality of such practices, whereas Angouri () demonstrates how her informants typically used a ‘what works’ approach in their everyday interactions despite the existence of an official corporate language.…”

“…Reference is made to the impact of the corporate context on language use (e.g. Logemann and Piekkari, 2015;Tan and Gartland, 2014) as well as to the cultural (e.g. Janssens et al, 2004;Lauring, 2007), communicative (e.g.…”

Knowledge sharing and language diversity in organisations: influence of code switching and convergence

“…Linguistic differences are well known for their potential to disrupt social interaction (Mcall, 2003). Therefore, this recent change in the organisational workforce has aroused the interest of researchers and practitioners in language and its influence on knowledge sharing in multilingual contexts (e.g., Ahmad and Widén, 2015;Klitmøller and Lauring, 2013;Makela et al, 2007;Tan and Gartland, 2014;Welch and Welch, 2008).…”