Investigation of Knowledge Sharing Practices Among Expatriates in Thailand

In the knowledge economy landscape, successful global consulting firms are the ones putting focus on effectively and efficiently organizing and managing the highly distributed diversified knowledge in the organization. In order to sustain their competitive advantage, knowledge-companies need to harness knowledge and to analyze knowledge sharing mechanisms and learning in the whole private or non-governmental organization. There are a number of research works investigating the role of expatriates in sharing knowledge from their headquarters to local subsidiaries or vice versa. However, very little research work has been performed in order to explore the knowledge sharing process among the expatriates from different organizations. This paper investigates how expatriates are sharing knowledge in order to facilitate their implementation in Thailand, one of the fastest growing and very promising markets in South East Asia. There are several trade association networks in Thailand that aim to bring to the expatriates an exchange platform in order to exchange crucial knowledge needed for a successful settlement either for a short or long term assignment. This paper presents an ongoing research work. The first step aimed at understanding the concept of knowledge sharing amongst expatriates. Therefore, our approach of study is based on in-depth interviews with several Expatriates and managers of 2 network associations such as the Chamber of commerce. Based on the outcomes of theses interviews we plan to design a survey instrument that will be sent to a larger number of expatriates. The present paper focuses mainly on discussing the finding from the interviews. It focuses on identifying factors that inhibit or facilitate knowledge sharing among expatriates through the various trade and cultural association networks.