The Impact of National Culture on Knowledge Transfer in Swedish Multinationals Operating in Developed Markets
(2020) IBUH19 20201Department of Business Administration
- Abstract (Swedish)
- The rapid globalization has led to a rise in the number of multinational corporations. One common objective among these corporations when expanding to other developed markets is to access intangible resources such as knowledge. Through the acquisition of knowledge, corporations can strengthen their strategic position and improve their competitiveness. When operating across national borders, various influences on knowledge transfer need to be considered, national culture being one of them. Hofstede has developed a framework for assessing a country’s national culture by implementing six dimensions. These dimensions affect the organizational culture and have impact on various business procedures, including knowledge transfer.
This... (More) - The rapid globalization has led to a rise in the number of multinational corporations. One common objective among these corporations when expanding to other developed markets is to access intangible resources such as knowledge. Through the acquisition of knowledge, corporations can strengthen their strategic position and improve their competitiveness. When operating across national borders, various influences on knowledge transfer need to be considered, national culture being one of them. Hofstede has developed a framework for assessing a country’s national culture by implementing six dimensions. These dimensions affect the organizational culture and have impact on various business procedures, including knowledge transfer.
This research focuses on examining the impact of Swedish national culture on knowledge transfer between developed markets. The study illustrates tacit knowledge and takes on the approach of knowledge transfer as a process. Two frameworks regarding knowledge transfer developed by Goh and Riege are used to find key success factors for creating effective knowledge transfer processes which can be tied to the characteristics of the Swedish national culture defined by Hofstede.
The purpose of this study is to present unique insights regarding the Swedish national culture’s specific characteristics and how they influence knowledge transfer within Swedish multinationals. The authors believe this perspective can contribute to previous research regarding the general impacts of national culture on knowledge transfer.
By interviewing six people from five Swedish multinationals, patterns within and between the corporations were recognized and analyzed. It was found that especially three dimensions in Hofstede’s framework were relevant indicators for how the studied corporations manage their knowledge transfer. The dimensions are power distance, individualism and the masculinity. The cultural characteristics associated with these dimensions proved to be facilitators for establishing open, innovative and collaborative knowledge transfer processes.
Keywords: Sweden, developed markets, national culture, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions framework, knowledge, knowledge transfer, knowledge process (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9022193
- author
- Andersson Olivecrona, Matilda LU and Andersson, Louise LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- IBUH19 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9022193
- date added to LUP
- 2020-11-16 14:11:34
- date last changed
- 2020-11-16 14:11:34
@misc{9022193,
abstract = {{The rapid globalization has led to a rise in the number of multinational corporations. One common objective among these corporations when expanding to other developed markets is to access intangible resources such as knowledge. Through the acquisition of knowledge, corporations can strengthen their strategic position and improve their competitiveness. When operating across national borders, various influences on knowledge transfer need to be considered, national culture being one of them. Hofstede has developed a framework for assessing a country’s national culture by implementing six dimensions. These dimensions affect the organizational culture and have impact on various business procedures, including knowledge transfer.
This research focuses on examining the impact of Swedish national culture on knowledge transfer between developed markets. The study illustrates tacit knowledge and takes on the approach of knowledge transfer as a process. Two frameworks regarding knowledge transfer developed by Goh and Riege are used to find key success factors for creating effective knowledge transfer processes which can be tied to the characteristics of the Swedish national culture defined by Hofstede.
The purpose of this study is to present unique insights regarding the Swedish national culture’s specific characteristics and how they influence knowledge transfer within Swedish multinationals. The authors believe this perspective can contribute to previous research regarding the general impacts of national culture on knowledge transfer.
By interviewing six people from five Swedish multinationals, patterns within and between the corporations were recognized and analyzed. It was found that especially three dimensions in Hofstede’s framework were relevant indicators for how the studied corporations manage their knowledge transfer. The dimensions are power distance, individualism and the masculinity. The cultural characteristics associated with these dimensions proved to be facilitators for establishing open, innovative and collaborative knowledge transfer processes.
Keywords: Sweden, developed markets, national culture, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions framework, knowledge, knowledge transfer, knowledge process}},
author = {{Andersson Olivecrona, Matilda and Andersson, Louise}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Impact of National Culture on Knowledge Transfer in Swedish Multinationals Operating in Developed Markets}},
year = {{2020}},
}