Knowledge Creation and Transfer in a Cross-Cultural Context-Empirical Evidence from Tyco Flow Control

The capability of multinational corporations (MNCs) to create and efficiently combine knowledge from different locations around the world is becoming increasingly important as a determinant of competitive advantage and will be more and more critical to their success and survival. Consequently, cultural differences and cross-cultural contexts play an essential role for and significantly influence global knowledge creation and management. This paper presents a case study resulting from a current empirical research project on knowledge management and the transfer of knowledge within organizations of MNCs. We describe and analyze the efforts of global market leader Tyco Flow Control (TFC)'s Japanese subsidiary KTM to transfer relevant-and often highly tacit-knowledge to a newly acquired production site in Taiwan. Challenges and difficulties encountered in the process of global knowledge management- in this case the transfer of knowledge from Japan to Taiwan-as well as the creation of new knowledge locally and its feedback-are illustrated and carefully examined. Finally, we discuss our findings and highlight practical implications for managers and international corporations in a global business environment. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.