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Managing the Multinational Enterprise > Global Knowledge Management > Flashcards

Global Knowledge Management Flashcards

1
Q

What is global knowledge management?

A

Management of innovation, which, in many firms, would be under the responsibility of their R&D function

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2
Q

What does global knowledge management encompass?

A

1) Trends in globalisation of R+D of MNCs
2) Differentiating national subsidiary roles
3) Creation of centres of excellence
4) Barriers to effective GKM
5) Mechanism to develop GKM capabilities

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3
Q

What are the different types of R+D?

A

Imported R+D - conducted in the US by companies with HQs in other countries

Domestic R+D - conducted in the US by companies HQ’d in the US

Exported R+D - conducted in other countries by companies HQ’d in the US

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4
Q

What is the regional ranking for corporate R+D?

A

1) Asia (driven by China and India)
2) North America
3) Europe

World’s biggest innovators conduct parts of their R+D abroad

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5
Q

What do imported R+D trends in China show?

A

US leads spending in China

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6
Q

What are the trends in Indian R+D?

A
  • Growth in corporate R+D 115% 2007-2018
  • Powered by imported R+D
  • Software R+D is the largest investment area
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7
Q

Why do MNCs move TO Asia?

A
  • Access to technical talent that was close to regional customers
  • Tech centres in India give around-the-clock capability to develop due to time difference in the US (accessing talent)
  • Labour cost
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8
Q

What are the R+D trends in the US?

A
  • R+D exports increased, rise in imports greater
  • European companies have provided 63% of US R+D in 2015
  • High cost country but close to markets, access to talent and technology, culture of innovation e.g Silicon Valley
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9
Q

Which company is the most visible in Silicon Valley?

A

TESLA - main offices and factory

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10
Q

What are the European trends in R+D?

A

They spend less R+D at home

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11
Q

What are the differentiating national subsidiaries’ roles?

A
  • HQs starting to treat subsidiaries as a differentiated network rather than uniform subservient outlets
  • Strategic leader, black hole, contributor, implementer
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12
Q

What is a strategic leader in terms of differentiating subsidiary roles?

A

High strategic importance of local environment, high competence of local organisation

  • Detecting signals of change
  • Partner to HQ
  • Analyses threats and opportunities and develops responses
  • e.g UK subsidiary of Phillips in building position in the teletext TV business
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13
Q

What is a contributor in terms of differentiating subsidiary roles?

A

Low strategic importance of local environment, high competence of local organisation

  • Valuable expertise
  • Channelled toward projects of corporate importance
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14
Q

What is an implementer in terms of differentiating subsidiary roles?

A

Low strategic importance of local environment, low competence of local organisation

  • No access to critical info, scare resource control
  • Lack potential to become contributors
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15
Q

What is a black hole in terms of differentiating subsidiary roles?

A

High strategic importance of local environment, low competence of local organisation

  • Objective is to manage out of this position
  • Local presence is important but has little impact
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16
Q

What are the managerial implications of subsidiary roles?

A

HQ should set a common strategic direction - important where tasks are differentiated and responsibilities are dispersed

HQ should build a differentiated network - allocate subsidiary roles and include in decision making

HQ should direct the process - ensure that roles are coordinated and that the distribution of responsibility is controlled

17
Q

What factors represent potential sources of innovation and learning for a company?

A
  • Customer preferences
  • Competitive behaviour
  • Government demands
  • Sources of technological info
18
Q

How can companies capitalise on sources of innovation and learning?

A
  • Be responsive in absorbing info
  • Recognise national companies as sources of expertise
  • Cooperative effort works better than centralised direction
19
Q

What is a centre of excellence?

A

Unit of an org that embodies explicitly recognised (important for value creation) capabilities to leverage/disseminate into other parts of the firm

20
Q

What is an example of COEs?

A

Siemens has an R+D lab in Bangalore, India which develops software for 30 areas of business for India and worldwide markets

21
Q

What is Deloitte’s Future of Work CoE?

A

A singapore CoE to create solutions and anticipate market disruptions, address the skills mismatch challenge and identify future job requirements

  • Local and global talent
  • Looking at data science, HR analytics, actuarial science and natural language processing
22
Q

What are some examples of COEs in terms of the top R+D spenders?

A

Google (Alphabet) cloud computing COE
VW COE for battery cells
Samsung’s marketing COE
J+J 3D printing COE

They provide research, best practice, support and training for a key area

23
Q

What are the conditions under which a COE emerges in MNCs?

A

Parent firm investment

Performance: profitability, innovation, learning and knowledge transfer, competitiveness

Inter-unit relationships: links to sources of competence, subsidiary autonomy, good connections

External factors: strength of local diamond, link to sources of competence

24
Q

What is Porter’s National Diamond?

A 
Relationship between:
- Firm strategy and rivalry
- Demand conditions
- Related and supported industries
- Factors conditions
and the impact of government policy and change on how to achieve competitiveness in an industry
25
Q

How does Porter’s diamond relate to performance?

A

The superior capabilities and greater-than-unit locus of exploitation for these capabilities drive out positive performance on:

  • Profitability
  • Competitiveness
  • Innovation and learning
26
Q

How does performance impact COEs?

A

It influences the COE formation process e.g by inducing greater levels of firm investment in the unit

27
Q

What are the COE functional areas and how do they impact different performance indicators compared to non COE centres?

A

3 functional areas; research, development and manufacturing centres

Performance indicators: corporate

  • Business volume
  • New product introduction
  • Profitability
  • Competitiveness

All have more impact on performance indicators than non COE

28
Q

What are the barriers to effective global knowledge management?

A

Organizational level factors: source of the knowledge and recipient of the knowledge

Nature of knowledge

29
Q

How do organizational level factors hinger GKM?

A
  • Unwillingness to seek input and learn from others ‘Not invented here’
  • Inability to seek and find expertise ‘needle in a haystack’
  • Unwillingness to help ‘hoarding of expertise’
  • Inability to work together and transfer knowledge - tacit knowledge ‘stranget’
30
Q

How is the nature of knowledge a barrier to GKM?

A

Tacit vs Codified

Codified knowledge can be made independent from knowledge carrier whereas tacit is difficult to articulate in a meaningful and compete way

Cross cultural distance

31
Q

What are the mechanisms for developing GKM capabilities?

A

Addressing barriers:

  • Leadership
  • HR procedures
  • Lateral cross-unit mechanisms

Measures to develop collaboration are costly but important, need to diagnose and address the source

32
Q

How can an organisation address unwillingness to seek input and unwillingness to help?

A
  • Demonstration of leadership behaviours
  • Articulation of shared valuer
  • Develop unifying goal
  • Recruitment, promotion, compensation
33
Q

How can an organisation address unable to find expertise?

A
  • Informal networks: strong professional relationships, connectors
  • Information systems: knowledge management databases, benchmark systems
34
Q

How can an organisation address unable to transfer knowledge?

A

Formal lateral mechanisms - cross unit groups

Informal networks - connectors, strong professional relationships

35
Q

What are the concluding remarks on GKM?

A
  • GKM enhances performance
  • HQ mentality imperative
  • Transnational learning capability is challenging and a long term initiative
  • Protectionist pressures worldwide are impacting global R+D

Managing the Multinational Enterprise (7 decks)

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