Introduction
Worldwide learning is a key capability for multinational corporates to compete in today 's global competitive environment (Bartlett and Beamish, 2014). It allows multinational corporations to be exposed to diversity and gain more learning opportunities to strengthen and develop different capabilities. Whipp (1991) even stated that learning is the main approach to generate, maintain and regenerate knowledge. Through learning to gain knowledge therefore has been seen as an important source for corporations since knowledge can be used to accomplish diverse present and future assignments (Hocking et al. 2007).
In addition to worldwide learning, how to manage knowledge is also a key to multinational corporations’ success (Bartlett
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Global knowledge management would be the best practice for multinational corporations to realise the benefits of worldwide learning, and in term to optimise their competitive advantage. Therefore, the ways and the extent that multinationals can achieve this learning in the real world would be the interest of this essay. The paper will firstly explore the essence of knowledge and research why knowledge management is important to organisations. Then will shift to examine how corporations in recent years manage to take the advantage of global knowledge management by developing information technology system, and will also identify the challenges and limitations that organisations may face if fail to take the local response into consideration before reaching a logical conclusion.
The Concept of Knowledge
In order to manage knowledge successfully, it is essential to clarify the essence of knowledge before identifying the importance of knowledge management. The perception of knowledge has been varied broadly; however, one of the generally accepted defintion is from Davenport and Prusak (1998). According to their points of view, knowledge is defined as a set of experience and values, it either comes from individuals ' mind or roots in the organisation, which can be found in the documents, routines, practices and norms, and is assumed to flow between individuals through various networks, being used to assess and embody new
The substantial part of the article concentrates on the way companies and their managers should embrace contemporary multinational market. The author claims: “Adaptation strategies are better suited to opportunities opened by the shift in the locus of teh global growth. (..)Western markets must compete in big emerging markets like China and India. But they can;t forcé their way in.” That is why, it is critical to pay careful attention to political, economic, or cultural diversity. Ghemawat is skilled in giving pieces of advice to those who underestimate the importance of countries differences and similarities. He also says: “I propose that every MBA gradúate – and presumably every global manager – have a mínimum body of globalization related knowledge, including (..)an understading of how differences between countries can influence cross-border interactions; awareness of the benefits of teh additional cross-border integration’.
Knowledge is considered as one of the most important and competitive resource for sustenance of the organisation (Zack, 1999). It can be compared to the strategic resource that can be used and applied in various frames of the organisation. Experienced managers in the organisations believe that company can receive strategic advantage through knowledge and not the strategies or actions implemented by competitors. Knowledge can be regarded as a strong approach that opens numerous ways of success. It is that weapon that help organisation to evaluate solutions in financial and other professional difficulties.
The transnational model was developed to support the needs of large, multinational companies. This model consists of multinational corporations-experienced in international markets with facilities in several foreign countries that simultaneously utilize technological advances, innovation, global learning and efficiency to be successful. These multinational organizations adopt organic structures, similar to the learning organization, that are flexible, unified and coordinated through corporate culture and shared visions and values of its employees (Daft,
Hislop, D. (2013). Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction (3rd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Thomas Davenport and Laurence Prusak (1998) define knowledge as follows: "Knowledge is a mixture of experience, values, kontektual information, views and expert intuition gives it a fundamental Iingkungan and framework
The superior capabilities of knowledge management systems provide an opportunity for the business to engage the most effective components and recognize the importance of communication to make informed, accurate decisions (McGrath, 2001). This system can organize the company’s knowledge resources, knowledge obtaining, organizing, and applying to make a sound routine the will enforce effectiveness (Niu, 2008). The dynamic function of knowledge management to create, capture, and apply knowledge to achieve an organization’s objective will allow them to be more profitable and successful (Zucker, 1986). In addition to increasing profits, the system can be also used to reduce costs and enhance research and development (DeTienne & Jackson, 2001). With all of these advantages, it would be wasteful for a company to not employ knowledge management. As seen in the Discovery Communications, Inc. example, the company can attribute their new productivity levels and increase in ease of securing documents to the knowledge management system that put into place by Carefree Technology. Like Discovery Communications, Inc., knowledge management is so popular today because companies can collect, process and share knowledge to ignite employees ' creativity which in turn will make the business grow. Wenhong and Jianhua (2009) explained the core of knowledge management is to convert company’s knowledge resources into an increased company
Many Chief Executive Officers and top management teams of giant corporations, within North America, Europe, and Japan, acknowledge that providing the correct training model is the most vital challenge that they are challenged with today. They are mindful that it has become even worse during the past decade to identify internationalization strategies and to choose which countries to execute business with. Nevertheless, most companies have stuck to strategies they have conventionally used, which emphasize standardized approaches to new markets while sometimes experimenting with a few twists locally.
While Knowledge Management (KM) is important in any business however, there is no real agreed upon definition. KM is a concept that includes the
Cullen, J. B., & Parboteeah, K. P. (2011). Multinational management (5th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning
Knowledge can refer to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. It can be tacit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); it can be more or less formal or systematic. Botha et al (2008) pointed out that tacit and explicit knowledge should be seen as a spectrum rather than as definitive points. Therefore, in practice, all knowledge is a mixture of tacit and explicit elements rather than being one or the other. The most important distinction within KM is between explicit and tacit knowledge. The overload of data is making knowledge management increasingly more important as it facilitates decision-making capabilities; builds learning organizations by making learning routine, and stimulates cultural change and innovation.
Global learning is critical to meet competitive demands from Valuable skills can develop in any of the firm’s worldwide operations and Transfer of knowledge from foreign subsidiary to home country, to other foreign subsidiaries
Organization wants to achieve the objectives of sustained growth and increased profitability, organization must constant innovation its product or service, also need to carry out some plans to expand its business to enable an organization to have a better development. Organization expands its business cannot be confined to the domestic market must also move abroad, which effectively allows an organization closer to the global market and broadening the scope of business and profitability. However, business expansion is not as easy in this global environment, globalization has not only changed the enterprise competitive landscape also influence the way leaders conduct business (Caligiuri, 2006). Furthermore, with globalization, global leadership in terms of cultural knowledge needed to become more acute and require more advanced level of cognitive ability on the complexity of managing the demand of multiple cultures while completing managerial tasks (Caligiuri, 2006, Grosse, 2011). Therefore, the development of global management skills is very important for the global organizations and managers. Only effective in developing global management skills can help the organization reduce the risk of international business
Research on the internationalisation process and retail internationalisation acknowledges the relevance of knowledge management and organizational learning, even though there is a lack of discussion about the specific constructs and approaches. The central role of knowledge sharing in the internationalisation process is rarely stressed. The aim of this paper therefore is to stress the importance of a more critical discussion about knowledge in theories about internatioanlisaiton
The advent of social networking and other media has transformed the way citizens interact and how businesses market, promote, and distribute their products globally. The same can be said for mass collaboration efforts occurring through digital, online technology for the development of new and innovative systems, products, and ideas. Both social networking and mass collaboration bring new power and influence to individuals across borders and transform the nature of their relationships with global organizations. As in the past, these developments underscore and reinforce the importance of understanding different cultures, national systems, and corporate management practices around the world. Students and managers now recognize that all business is global and that the world is now interconnected not only geographically but also electronically and psychologically; it is hard to imagine any business or nonbusiness organization that is not directly affected by globalization. Yet, as cultural, political, and economic differences persist, savvy international managers must be able to develop a global mindset in order to effectively adjust, adapt, and navigate the changing landscape they face on a day-to-day basis. In this new eighth edition of International Management, we have taken care to retain the
The world offers significant business opportunities for every company, however, opportunities are accompanied by significant challenges for managers. Managing global operations across diverse cultures and markets represents a big challenge and opportunity for companies. To compete in the global market and be successful, companies must learn the strategies, policies, norms and technology necessary to conduct international business. The opportunities for global expansion are numerous, and attaining success is a matter of developing the right strategy to win local markets and its consumers.