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Cultural Factors Influencing the Knowing of a Multinational Company

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Intercultural Interactions in the Multicultural Workplace

Part of the book series: Contributions to Management Science ((MANAGEMENT SC.))

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Abstract

The aim of the chapter is to discuss the role of cultural factors in creating an organization’s knowing. This has been done trying to obtain answers to two main questions: what cultural factors influence the creation of an organization’s knowing in a multinational company (MNC)? Does the influence of cultural factors depend on the management efforts of the MNC, or is it predetermined by the national culture?

Both the theoretical and empirical approaches are applied in the research. A literature analysis is used to reveal and discuss the cultural factors influencing the knowing of an MNC. The methodology of empirical research is based on the application of case study strategy.

This chapter has three parts. In the first part, the conceptual approaches to a MNC and its management from the perspective of its interaction with the environment are presented. In the second part of the chapter, the peculiarities of knowing of a MNC are discussed. In the third part, the influence of cultural factors on the creation of knowing of a MNC are discussed using the data from theoretical and empirical research.

The research made it possible to find and explain the role of particular cultural factors in creation of an organization’s knowing. It also allowed some findings and generalizations to be made that could be important for researchers and practitioners in the field of knowledge and culture management. This is especially the case for those who are focusing on issues related to MNCs.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In knowledge management field the terms ‘knowledge’ and ‘knowing’ have one essential difference: tacit knowledge is included into the meaning of the term ‘knowing’; the term ‘knowledge’, as usually, refers to explicit knowledge.

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Correspondence to Palmira Juceviciene .

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Juceviciene, P., Mozuriuniene, V. (2017). Cultural Factors Influencing the Knowing of a Multinational Company. In: Rozkwitalska, M., Sułkowski, Ł., Magala, S. (eds) Intercultural Interactions in the Multicultural Workplace. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39771-9_19

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