Article ID: | iaor20082175 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Volume: | 5 |
Issue: | 3 |
Start Page Number: | 161 |
End Page Number: | 172 |
Publication Date: | Aug 2007 |
Journal: | Knowledge Management Research & Practice |
Authors: | Kalling Thomas, Jonsson Anna |
Keywords: | retailing, manufacturing industries |
The aim of this article is to increase the understanding of how institutional forces and organizational context, in parallel with cognitive issues, impact knowledge sharing within multinational corporations (MNCs). Furthermore, the aim is to elaborate on differences between industries by comparing and contrasting a retail firm with a manufacturing firm. The focus is on IKEA and SCA Packaging and their efforts to share knowledge across national and intra-organizational boundaries. Despite differences between these two MNCs, the case studies illustrate that the will to share and absorb knowledge is very much influenced by institutional forces, as well as by the ways in which organizations are structured and controlled.