Transcript Globalisation - Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Knowledge transfer & network dynamics in
international organizations:
the case of Swedish organizations in Singapore
[GCGD Theme 2 - The International Organization of Production / Theme 3 - Global Social Relations]
by Cheryl M. Cordeiro-Nilsson
PhD, MSc, MA
I
My Background
Singapore &
Sweden
Globalized Singapore
• Young nation state gained independence in 1965
• No natural resources
• Singapore is part Asia’s NIEs that includes Hong Kong, South
Korea, Taiwan.
• FDI stocks as a percentage of GDP remained almost constant at
159.3% in 2005 and 159% in 2006.
• Of the 141 countries studied, Singapore is ranked as the 2nd
country in the world with the strongest potential attractiveness for
FDI (World Investment Report 2006 of the UNCTAD).
Globalized Sweden
• From 1990 - 2007 foreign owned companies in
Sweden increased from 2,563 to 11,944 (ITPS, 2008).
• From 1990 to 2007, the number of employees in
foreign owned companies in Sweden increased from
9% to 24% (ITPS, 2008).
• 190 (ca. 15% of all international) Swedish companies
are present in Singapore (Exportrådet 2008).
Swedish companies abroad
• In 2006, 1,268 Swedish companies and their
subsidiaries had 1.5 million employees.
• Two thirds of these were abroad. These companies
represent 40% of Swedish export.
• The largest percentage increase was in China.
II. Previous Research
• 2001 (MSc) National Information Infrastructure and the
Realization of Singapore IT2000 Initiative. Division of
Information Studies, Nanyang Technological University
of Singapore (NTU).
• 2009 (PhD) Swedish management in Singapore: a
discourse analysis study. Department of Philosophy,
Linguistics, and Theory of Science, University of
Gothenburg (GU).
CDA
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
An interdisciplinary approach to the
study of discourse.
Views language as a social practice
and focuses on the ways social and
political domination are reflected by
text and talk.
SFL
Systemic functional linguistics (SFL)
A model of grammar developed by
Michael Halliday in the 1960s.
The approach is concerned with the
contextualized, practical uses to which
language is put, as opposed to formal
grammar, which focuses on
compositional semantics, syntax and
word classes such as nouns and verbs.
Theoretical background of CDA and SFL
(Eggins and Slade, 1997:24)
CDA from the perspective of M. A. K. Halliday’s SFL
• CDA has wide applicability and
interests from literary critics,
critical theorists, communication
technologiests, geographers,
philosophers, political scientists,
sociologists and even those in
artificial intelligence / engineers.
• SFL views language as a means
to an end, not as an end in itself
(Halliday, 2004).
• SFL is instrumental linguistics i.e.
the study of language for
understanding something else
(Fowler, 1991).
PhD thesis method of analysis
• Create a corpus (long, semi-structured interviews).
• Transcribe the interviews (Göteborg Transcription
Standard, Nivre et al 2004).
• Manage data (Strauss and Corbin’s grounded theory
coding procedures, 1998).
• Gather corpus based prominent themes; specific
texts pertaining to themes selected for linguistic
analysis.
• Apply CDA via SFL as a framework to the text
example (i.e. in-depth, specific respondents’ point of
view)
• Concordance software, for a cross-section analysis,
profiling concepts across the entire corpus (i.e. all
respondents’ point of view).
Focus Findings
• Hierarchy - related to the respondents’ intrinsic
understanding of organization structure. Both
groups had a very different view of organization
hierarchy.
• Assimilation / Integration - related to how well
the Swedes and Singaporeans worked together
and if there was ultimately a 3rd style of
management, a ‘Scandinasian’ style of
management that emerged. But no, there wasn’t
a merged style of management, rather a
constant contestation of power.
Hierarchy Related Topics
1. Information sharing / dissemination:
“Power is often knowledge information and if you were
afraid to lose your power, then you want to do
everything you can to keep it, including knowledge.
Don't share knowledge because he could be the
one ‘killing’ you to take over, so keep knowledge
here, only give small pieces of information down to
everybody else, safer for me.”
~ Maj-Liss Olsson, GM of Svenska Handelsbanken in Singapore
Hierarchy Related Topics
2. Knowledge management
3. Expertise consulting
4. Decision-making processes
5. (Tacit) Knowledge transfer
6. Knowledge production and creation
7. Networking dynamics
Assimilation / Integration
Related Topics
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Information sharing
Local cultural and language barriers
Local business protocols
Tacit knowledge
Knowledge transfer and learning
Knowledge production and creation
Networking dynamics
These related topics are the
focus of the proposed study.
III
The relevancy of this
field
to business and
academic research.
1. Tacit Knowledge
Importance
“Our paint workshops
all over the world are
the same, the
processes are the
same, the
procedures are the
same, but the results
come out different.” ~
Stephen Odell, CEO of Volvo
Cars
2. Social Network Dynamics
“I built up our company
the first 10 to 15 years
… today I let my local
staff handle all our
customer contacts…
They do it much better
than I do it.”
~ Bo Johansson, Director of Viking
Engineering in Singapore
3. Current Studies
“…the more easily codifiable
(tradable) knowledge can be
accessed, the more crucial does tacit
knowledge become for sustaining or
enhancing the competitive position of
the firm….”
~ Maskell and Malmberg (1999:172)
In new economic geography, knowledge
management and international business…
• Interest in the concept of tacit knowledge and social network
dynamics has grown steadily in recent decades (Gertler,
2003).
• How is it produced? Is this related to mobility and the affinity
of people?
• How do organizations harvest and utilize tacit knowledge?
•
How is it reproduced and shared? Is this related to
absorptive capacity of the environment and the organization?
IV
The relevancy of
proposed study to
GCGD’s themes #2
(and #3).
Knowledge transfer & network
dynamics in international
organizations:
the case of Swedish organizations
in Singapore
Theme 2
International Organization of
Production
“…knowledge and network
dynamics…changes in the global
economic environment create new
preconditions for successful
internationalization of firms”
Theme 3
Global Social Relations
“What is the basis upon which people form
new communities, organization and
political movements?”
Tx and network dynamics
V
Proposed Study
Diagram 1 Area of study
TA = Tacit knowledge from Culture A
TB = Tacit knowledge from Culture B
E = Explicit knowledge (codified knowledge, patents, manuals etc.)
TX = Area of investigation shown in Diagram 2. New knowledge
created, by transfer of knowledge?
Diagram 2
Problem statement in diagram and area of investigation for this
study
Parent O rganization
Subsidiary Organization
Overc oming barr iers in host country
Language &
Cultural barriers
Know ledge (K),
Tacit kn owledge
Know ledge
Managem ent m odel
Studying the
pro cess
of transnational K transfer
Formulating models
How language &
cultural barr iers affects
organization networking
Method of Study:
Data c ollection
Focus groups
Long interviews
Method of analysis
Grounded theory (Stra uss & Corbin, 1998)
Discourse analysis (Eggins, 2004; Halliday, 1994)
Network d ynamics
model
Research Questions…
• How is tacit knowledge transferred?
• What kinds of tacit knowledge are transferred?
 Are there barriers affecting the transfer
process?
 How are such barriers overcome in the
knowledge transfer process?
 What new knowledge results from a successful
sharing of tacit knowledge?
Research Questions…
• Are there identifiable barriers to the social
network dynamics of an organization?
• How does networking contribute to or affect the
transfer of knowledge for the organizations?
• How can organizations leverage on their social
network dynamics?
VI. Possible applications of the findings…
•
•
•
•
•
As a comparative study
As an aid for FDI decisions
As an aid for governmental national policies
HR selection of staff and training
Basis for training programs / education
Thank You!
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.cmariec.com