Pursuing Innovation Through Knowledge Sharing

The present study investigates the relationship between knowledge sharing (knowledge donation and knowledge collection dimensions) with organizational innovation (Administrative and technological innovation forms) in Brazilian and Portuguese organizations. The hypotheses were tested using the partial least squares (PLS) approach. Knowledge donation was shown to be positively related with administrative innovation among Portuguese companies, but not among Brazilian companies. Knowledge donation was shown to be positively related with technical innovation among both Brazilian and Portuguese companies. Knowledge collection was shown to have no relationship with either of the two types of innovation in the two investigated countries. As a practical implication, companies that work in multiple locations need to customize their sharing processes considering differences in national culture. Other studies have made use of the two-dimensional concept of knowledge sharing, but view its relationship with a one-dimensional construct of innovation and without comparing contexts.

A Model of Socially Responsible Organizational Culture

While scholarly literature abounds with research on organizational culture and CSR, this study adds knowledge to the field, redefining a new concept: that of socially responsible organizational culture. In our opinion, socially responsible organizational culture encompasses all the values, beliefs, norms and strategies that facilitate, direct, operate and develop the relations between organization and stakeholders in order to harmonize these relationships and increase economic, social and environmental performance. This paper creates a conceptual model of socially responsible organizational culture and presents a methodology for evaluating socially responsible organizational culture in the EU Member States. Results show significant variations between states, explained by differences in national culture, attitude and focus on CSR actions.

7. Further innovations and controversies

‘Further innovations and controversies’ looks in more detail at affinities and differences between some of the key analytic approaches to emerge post-war, especially in America, France, and Britain. It begins with the ‘ego psychology’ tradition in post-war America led by Heinz Hartmann, Ernst Kris, and Rudolph Loewenstein before considering the work of Jacques Lacan in France and new directions taken in Britain by Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, and Wilfred Bion. Each of these main figures was both an inspiration to others and a catalyst for argument and new approaches. Distinct schools of thought within psychoanalysis owe much to these individual clinicians, but they also reflect wider differences in national culture and thought.

R&D in Sweden and manufacturing in China: a study of communication challenges

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore communication challenges related to geographic distance, with emphasis on differences in national culture and language between R&D and manufacturing engineers, in a development project faced with uncertainty and equivocality. Design/methodology/approach – The results originate from a longitudinal single-case study of a commercial product development project. Findings – Three communication challenges are identified: clarity of shared information, intention to share information, and responsiveness to information received. The challenges are strongly associated with differences in national culture and language. The study also indicates that the communication challenges cannot only be handled by the use of rich communication media, but also by employment of communication media of low richness such as e-mails or “picture books”. Research limitations/implications – The single-case study approach limits the ability to generalize the findings. Future research should thus focus on additional studies of geographically separated R&D and manufacturing. Originality/value – The results from the study provide important insights for the management of product development in geographically dispersed settings. The findings emphasize the need to consider potential differences in national culture and language within a product development team. Acknowledging these differences and managing them properly can support efficiency of product development projects.

How Much Does National Culture Constrain Organizational Culture?

The assumption of strategy approaches like the resource based view is that, despite environmental constraints, ample room remains for organizations to differentiate on the basis of organizational culture (together with related human resource practices) to achieve sustained competitive advantage. In contrast, other perspectives assume that management practice and organizational culture mirror, or are constrained by, national culture. To the degree that such a constraint exists, within-country variance in culture should be small and between-country variance large. In statistical terms, the first question is: what is the magnitude of the effect size for country? The larger the effect, the more likely it is a constraint. Second, what portion of the country effect size is due to differences in national culture? My review finds that most of the variance in organizational cultures is not explained by country; of the variance that is explained by country, only a minority is due to national culture differences. As such, there may be more room for organizational differentiation than typically recognized. Third, under what circumstances will country and national culture effects be larger or smaller? I present a model suggesting more room for differentiation in countries having greater individual level variance in cultural values and related variables.

FOKKER, A CLASH OF CULTURE

What role do cultural play in the survival of companies that face existential problems? We try to provide some answers by looking at the decline of the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. In 1996 this company went bankrupt and among the causes of this event cultural factors rank high, at least at first sight. We show that differences in national culture could have played a role in one of the defining moments in Fokker's existence: the failed take-over by the German aerospace giant Deutsche Aerospace (DASA). But we also show that an over-ambitious management was responsible for the situation in which there were no other options to survive besides a take-over by DASA. An increasing gap between the ambitions of the management to be one of the worlds prime aerospace companies and the limited resources of what was essentially a second-league player put Fokker in such a bad financial condition that it surely had to become an unbearable burden for DASA. So culture played a role in Fokker's decline, but its influence was at its peak long before the problems that brought the company down were recognised.