Multinational Company

Managing knowledge in multinational companies (MNCs) has been of critical importance not only because of the need to overcome the ever-present competition in globalised market, but also due to the need to tap local knowledge and diffuse global knowledge. Global presence for MNCs means an opportunity to learn from local markets, exploit worldwide experiences, and induce innovation. It is only through globally effective management of knowledge that such opportunity can be realised. A deliberate knowledge management (KM) strategy needs to be incorporated along with relevant governance mechanisms to ensure KM benefit realisation. This paper examines how the governance of KM can lead to successful KM implementation particularly in an MNC. Through a case study of Siemens based on secondary data, it is argued that KM governance evolves towards changes in KM strategy to ensure that KM benefits are realised. While the enablers of successful KM have been discussed in the literature, little research has been done in examining how governance mechanisms assist in realising KM benefits in a multinational setting. The paper suggests that cross-cultural management and a relevant approach to incentive schemes are critical in considering how KM governance can lead to successful KM implementation in MNCs.

Budgets have long been the dominant instrument for management control. In recent years however, alternative approaches to management control such as the Balanced Scorecard have been launched. It has even been suggested that organizations should drop the ...

National labour markets of today have been profoundly affected by globalization. Therefore, organizations and workforce must be able to respond flexibly to changing labour market conditions and demands. As a European Union and NATO member country, the Slovak Republic has been one of the attractive destinations for its stable economic and political situation, common European currency, and skilled and educated labour force. The purpose of the current paper is to identify processes through which multinational companies operate in Slovakia recruit and select new employees for the position of a first-line manager and compare them with those being most widely utilized by Slovak enterprises. This pre-research will serve as a basis for a follow-up comprehensive and comparative research to be made in cooperation with colleagues from the Universidad de Valencia and Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir in Spain. Following this, the methods of questionnaire, literature research m...

The following article attempts to answer the question about the role transnational corporations (TNCs) play in the modern world. The issues discussed in this article have been presented in two main parts. The first part focuses on the world's largest TNCs according to the following criteria: the value of the revenues, market capitalization and foreign assets. The discussion in the second part focuses on defining the role that transnational corporations play in the world economy. A number of different characteristics reflecting the economic potential of TNCs have been used in this article such as: asset value, employment rate, sales volume and research and development potential, which are linked to selected parameters describing the volume of international production. The analysis of TNC development and their present position has been presented from a historical perspective, which made it possible to identify the conditions of as well as the major changes in the process of enterprise internationalisation. The following article highlights the dynamic development of corporations in developing countries and the ever more common phenomenon of state-owned enterprises or enterprises with a state’s capital playing a role on the international stage.

Keywords: transnational corporations (TNCs), multinational firms, international business , foreign direct investment (FDI), global economy.

J E L Classification: F21, F23

BANDUNG 2011 PENGELOLAAN FUNGSI-FUNGSI LOGISTIK PADA PERUSAHAAN MULTINASIONAL ABSTRACT Tujuan -Tujuan dari makalah ini adalah untuk meninjau dan menganalis literatur logistik dan aplikasinya terhadap pengelolaan fungsi-fungsi logistik pada perusahaan Multinasional khususnya yang ada di Indonesia. Selain itu makalah ini juga ingin melihat bagaimana business performance yang dihasilkan dari pengelolaan logistik perusahaan tersebut. Permasalah yang diangkat -Bagaimana struktur dan pemilihan fungsi-fungsi logistik pada perusahaan Multinasional di Indonesia dan gambarannya terhadap performance perusahaan. Desain / metodologi / pendekatan -Makalah ini membahas dan menyajikan dalam bentuk tabel, ikhtisar, literatur akademis tentang fungsi-fungsi logistik dan aplikasinya ke dalam perusahaan Multinasional yang ada di Indonesia. metode yang digunakan dalam makalah ini adalah studi literatur melalui pengumpulan data sekunder. Aplikasi Praktis pada Industri -Makalah ini menggambarkan applikasi sistim pengelolaan logistik di Indonesia pada perusahaan Multinasional dan permasalahan-permasalah yang muncul di dalamnya. Kontribusi Orisinal tulisan Makalah -Makalah ini menyajikan sebuah gambaran kondisi dan permasalahan logistik di Indonesia dan aktivitasnya pada sebuah perusahaan Multinasional yang ada di Indonesia sehingga memberikan pengetahuan tentang faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi kelancaran proses logistic dan permasalahan-permasalah dalam integrasi fungsi-fungsi logistik.

The focus of this study is an investigation of the relationship between organisational culture and organisational commitment in a South African motor manufacturing organisation. The empirical study involved the participation of 371 respondents in an organisation. A survey was conducted using the organisational commitment scale and the organisational culture questionnaire to determine the relationship between organisational culture and organisational commitment. The results suggest that organisational culture has an eff ect on organisational commitment. Recommendations are made to successfully implement both organisational culture and organisational commitment change initiatives.

Рад се бави односом националне и организационе културе у пред-ставништву мултинационалне компаније "Ernst & young у Србији" (у Београду). циљ овог истраживања је утврдити како вредности, ставови и облици понашања запослених које они усвајају у току свог одрастања и социјализације у Србији (национална култура) могу да утичу на доживљај прокламованих вредности организације за коју раде (органи-зациона култура). oсновни теоријски оквир у вези са утицајем нацио-налне на организациону културу представља истраживање димензија националне културе холандског социјалног психолога Герта Хофштедеа. Поред ових претпоставки културе, издвојено је још шест особина "на-рода у Србији". Све карактеристике су објашњене и сагледане уз помоћ етнографских примера, прикупљених током мог обављања радне праксе у седишту компаније. У том смислу, анализирана је и моја двојна истра-живачка позиција не само као истраживача већ и практиканта који је имао радна задужења и обавезе.
This paper will examine the national and organizational cultural relations in the corporate environment of the multinational company Ernst Young in Serbia (Belgrade). The aim of this research is to determine how employees’ values, attitudes and behaviors have adopted during their enculturation and socialization in Serbia (national culture), as well as how it can affect the perception of their organizations’ proclaimed values. The general theoretical framework used in this research is connected with the national cultural influence on organizational culture from the work of Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede- National Culture Dimensions. Among these cultural assumptions, six characteristics of the “people in Serbia” were also taken part. All of them were shown through ethnographic examples, gathered during my internship at the company. In that sense, my position was not only analysed as an anthropologist but as well as a full-time intern at the company.

This study aims to reveal multinational company managers' perceptions of cultural difference management. For this purpose, data was collected by means of structured questionnaires and question forms, and the findings were analysed. The research universe covers the multinationals operating in Ankara. The companies in the research sample are: Coca Cola, MAN Türkiye A.Ş., Siemens, Real, Metro, CarrefourSA, Media Markt, IKEA, and Bauhaus. The research findings suggest that multinational company managers are aware of cultural differences, along with their advantages and disadvantages, that they believe in their significance for the advantages, and that they have the skills to turn cultural differences into advantages.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the impact of industrial revolution on international business. The world of IR4.0 not just revolves around smart and connected machines and systems, but it fused the interaction of these technologies with physical, digital and biological domains. Industrial revolution has changed in manufacturing and transportation which began from fewer products being made by hand and more are being made using machines in a large-scale facility. Data for this study were obtained from existing literatures on industrial revolution in multinational companies. The methodology heavily relied on existing previous literatures on the subject being dealt with. The findings indicate that the increasingly inaccessible discourse on technological advancement is making it harder for the public and for governments to mitigate the externalities of automation and other changes. It also dictates the impact of globalization towards the economy is inevitable for companies worldwide; they would have to resort to IR4.0 to sustain and thus stay relevant in the business world. Therefore, companies will have to adopt IR4.0 in their management, implement and strategize to keep their stand in the competitive world.

When the multinational firms employ human resources from different countries they have to submit to the restrictions concerning cultural differences. The paper is an attempt to show how the human resource management administrates these cultural differences.

El propósito del presente artículo es hacer un breve recorrido histórico tratando de rastrear la incursión y el desarrollo de las empresas multinacionales-EMN-en la ciudad de Cali, desde su primera oleada, en la década del 40 del siglo XX, hasta nuestros días. Este intento no se puede hacer sin tener en consideración las dificultades con que cuenta este ejercicio ya que existe mucha dificultad para acceder a fuentes documentales que permitan configurar de manera más o menos amplia y precisa una historia empresarial de la región, lo cual es en cierto sentido una deuda intelectual con la misma. El presente ejercicio de análisis documental hace parte de una investigación más amplia que indaga por la trayectoria laboral y social de profesionales insertos en EMN de la ciudad de Cali.

East Asian trade and investment policies have attracted US investment into the region, but these policies should be fine-tuned for the region to compete effectively for US investment inflow and increase their global share of US foreign direct investment. The changes should consider the needs of the US investors and East Asia's own economic development. Bilateral free trade agreements with the US are the likely channel for these changes, but the question is whether East Asia is ready for a comprehensive and deep liberalization. East Asia should work toward a regional investment policy framework to facilitate and expand the regional production network developed by the US foreign direct investment.

A business institution and the individuals who are involved is often faced with a situation where business partners have the cultural background from different countries. How to manage communications for good business relationship in such situations? This research examines the strategies undertaken by the client service department in an Indonesian local advertising agency in managing business relationships with multinational client from one of Europe countries. Using the case study method by interviewing clients and client service persons as well as observing the situation in the agency’s work environment, researchers found that in building relationships, client service department applies the strategy of macro-micro contexts. In the macro-context, client service department builds the inter-institution relationships and communications by understanding both the industrial and the country-of-origin cultures behind the client’s corporate organizational culture whereas in the micro-conte...

The focus of this study is an investigation of the relationship between organisational culture and organisational commitment in a South African motor manufacturing organisation. The empirical study involved the participation of 371 respondents in an organisation. A survey was conducted using the organisational commitment scale and the organisational culture questionnaire to determine the relationship between organisational culture and organisational commitment. The results suggest that organisational culture has an eff ect on organisational commitment. Recommendations are made to successfully implement both organisational culture and organisational commitment change initiatives.

Em um contexto de globalização, as prerrogativas tradicionalmente estatais foram, em parte, trans- feridas às Companhias Multinacionais (CMN), que assumem maior autonomia e influência frente aos próprios Estados, visto que a economia global contemporânea, em grande medida, dependente de IDE’s e fluxos financeiros. Paralelamente, com o transbordamento da globalização da esfera econô- mica para a esfera da informação, graças a avanços tecnológicos do fim do século XX, essas mesmas CMN que adquiriram recentemente maior auto- nomia, se vêem constrangidas pela capacidade de mobilização de informações da sociedade civil, e passam a buscar uma maior legitimidade na go- vernança global que agora exercem. Como estudo de caso, o presente artigo visa demonstrar de que maneira essa adaptação à nova configuração do SI se deu com a Monsanto, empresa multinacional dos setores de agricultura e biotecnologia.

The aim of this paper is to identify and explain how different forms of local linkages vary across different patterns of global workflow interdependence in MNC subsidiaries' product development activities. Both global workflow interdependence and local linkages are essential for innovating and longterm success of a subsidiary. This paper's theoretical approach differs from previous MNC research in that we combine the tightly coupled (or rational) network model with the more common loosely coupled (or differentiated, federative) network model. Empirical data was obtained from subsidiaries in Brazil using web-survey design. Our findings show a positive relationship between local outsourcing linkages and global workflow interdependence in product development provided local cooperative linkages are low. Furthermore, results suggest empirical support for the tightly coupled model and its extension, the adaptively rational model proposed by Astley and Zajec [Astley, W.G., Zajac, E.J., 1991. Intraorganizational power and organizational design: reconcilling rational and coalitional models of organization. Organization Science 2 (4), 104-113.]. Accordingly, our study implies that the more subsidiaries create dependent and counter-dependent relationships, the better they will be positioned within their MNC innovation network and the more pronounced their innovative activities shall be.

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the impact of taxes other than income taxes on both the level and the location of FDI using a large panel of German multinationals. With regard to the level of FDI the results confirm an impact of the cost of capital but also indicate some further significant adverse effects of sales taxes and taxes on skilled labor. The analysis of location decisions reveals no significance of sales taxes or taxes on skilled labor. Apart from corporate income taxes, location decisions are only found to be affected by import duties, which exert a positive impact.

The subject of this paper is the issue of the transfer of performance-related pay, as HRM practices, from the parent company to its subsidiaries. The aim of this paper is a comparison of performance-related pay between local companies and the branches of IC. For this purpose, research was carried out in the Slovak Republic in which the existence of statistically significant differences between the subsidiaries of multinational companies and local companies in selected aspects of performance-related pay was tested, such as the subject of performance-related pay, the time horizon of providing performance bonuses, and the composition of the performance fee (the proportion of fixed and variable components rewards). There were three hypotheses tested by using the Student's t-test. The research results have shown the existence of differences in two of these studied aspects.

Aims To investigate the prevalence and factors associated with high job strain among office workers of a multinational company in Malaysia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in November 2007 among 470 eligible workers. Respondents self-administered the Job Content Questionnaire downloaded from the company's intranet. A median-split procedure was applied to create four groups according to the Job Demand-Control Model: active, passive, high and low job strain. Logistic regression models were used to investigate the associations between socio-demographic, occupational and psychosocial factors and high job strain. Results A total of 356 questionnaires were received (response rate 76%). Twenty-one per cent of respondents were in the high job strain group, 35% were in the passive group, whereas 26% and 17% of workers were in the low strain and active groups, respectively. After controlling for confounders, three factors were found to be associated with high job strain: male workers (adjusted OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.04-3.64), working > 48 h per week (adjusted OR 2.51, 95% CI 1.44-4.39) and job insecurity (adjusted OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.27). One protective factor for high job strain was the scale 'created skill', which is part of skill discretion (adjusted OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.57-0.86). Conclusions About one in five workers in this study experience high job strain. Work improvement measures include reducing long working hours and job insecurity and giving workers the opportunity to learn, use creativity and develop abilities.

National labour markets of today have been profoundly affected by globalization. Therefore, organizations and workforce must be able to respond flexibly to changing labour market conditions and demands. As a European Union and NATO member country, the Slovak Republic has been one of the attractive destinations for its stable economic and political situation, common European currency, and skilled and educated labour force. The purpose of the current paper is to identify processes through which multinational companies operate in Slovakia recruit and select new employees for the position of a first-line manager and compare them with those being most widely utilized by Slovak enterprises. This pre-research will serve as a basis for a follow-up comprehensive and comparative research to be made in cooperation with colleagues from the Universidad de Valencia and Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir in Spain. Following this, the methods of questionnaire, literature research m...

Social networks based on ICT (Information and Communication Technology) are nowadays one of the most popular services based on the Internet infrastructure. They are global phenomenon that greatly affects the modern way of life. Contrary to the widespread opinion, which assumes that social networks are interesting only for private users, these networks can produce added value in companies as well. The corporate social network is a system based on the web technologies that enables agile collaboration and information exchange within company. According to the method of making connections, social networks can be divided into two groups: implicit and explicit networks. While in explicit social networks a person herself defines another person to connect with, implicit networking is determined by a person's interests and by the level of communication and collaboration with other persons. This paper addresses the question of developing implicit corporate social networks. Based on the analysed communication performed through several communication channels (i.e. e-mail, file transfer, telephone calls and instant messaging) between the employees of a multinational company, we propose an algorithm for building the social network graph. Our algorithm calculates the level of connection between employees based on the level of communication between them. We verified the proposed algorithm on our prototype test application, the FER CSN Analysis.

No matter in which language we communicate, we have to communicate, whether we like it or not. It is very important to make oneself understood, therefore we have often to communicate in the company's language. The larger meaning of communication is by looking at the communication from an intercultural perspective in a multinational company. The concept of corporate communication is in business administration and communication studies identified by the totality of all communicati on tools and communication activities of a company that will be used to represent the company and its services in all relevant target groups. For a company it is not only important to have a positive corporate culture and to voice it, but also, to check it regularly out. In this context it should be noted that a corporate culture is subject of changes, whether they are social changes or other kind of changes, like learning a foreign language.

The decision to make or buy" an input is usually studied with reference to the home country. However, since the offshored input is produced in a host country, there is a strong reason to believe that the host country factors would also influence the organization decision of offshore production. In this paper, we modify the Antràs (2005) model to explore the affect of the host country human capital on the organization of offshore production. We propose that the offshored input cannot be produced in a host country without incurring training cost on the host country labor. This training cost would in turn depend on the human capital gap between the home and the host country. We find that:

This work is a qualitative, exploratory study, on how the organizational culture is communicated in a Multinational Mexican company (CEMEX). It specifically analyses the creation of common meanings—culture—through formal communication. Based on an interpretative symbolic approach and using a non‐obtrusive method, as is the analysis of documents (nine annual reports, two speeches by the CEO and a corporate video), a

Managing knowledge in multinational companies (MNCs) has been of critical importance not only because of the need to overcome the ever-present competition in globalised market, but also due to the need to tap local knowledge and diffuse global knowledge. Global presence for MNCs means an opportunity to learn from local markets, exploit worldwide experiences, and induce innovation. It is only through globally effective management of knowledge that such opportunity can be realised. A deliberate knowledge management (KM) strategy needs to be incorporated along with relevant governance mechanisms to ensure KM benefit realisation. This paper examines how the governance of KM can lead to successful KM implementation particularly in an MNC. Through a case study of Siemens based on secondary data, it is argued that KM governance evolves towards changes in KM strategy to ensure that KM benefits are realised. While the enablers of successful KM have been discussed in the literature, little re...

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the impact of taxes other than profit taxes on both investment and location decisions of multinationals. Besides effects of corporate income taxes, the results confirm significant adverse effects of nonprofit taxes such as property taxes, sales taxes and VAT, and import duties on the level of FDI. However, once country-specific fixed effects are included, most of the effects of nonprofit taxes vanish. This is supported by the analysis of location decisions, where taxes other than corporate income taxes are not found to exert any adverse effects on the location probability in a setting with country-specific fixed effects.

National labour markets of today have been profoundly affected by globalization. Therefore, organizations and workforce must be able to respond flexibly to changing labour market conditions and demands. As a European Union and NATO member country, the Slovak Republic has been one of the attractive destinations for its stable economic and political situation, common European currency, and skilled and educated labour force. The purpose of the current paper is to identify processes through which multinational companies operate in Slovakia recruit and select new employees for the position of a first-line manager and compare them with those being most widely utilized by Slovak enterprises. This pre-research will serve as a basis for a follow-up comprehensive and comparative research to be made in cooperation with colleagues from the Universidad de Valencia and Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir in Spain. Following this, the methods of questionnaire, literature research method, method of comparative analysis, and synthesis were used.

Aims To investigate the prevalence and factors associated with high job strain among office workers of a multinational company in Malaysia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in November 2007 among 470 eligible workers. Respondents self-administered the Job Content Questionnaire downloaded from the company's intranet. A median-split procedure was applied to create four groups according to the Job Demand-Control Model: active, passive, high and low job strain. Logistic regression models were used to investigate the associations between socio-demographic, occupational and psychosocial factors and high job strain. Results A total of 356 questionnaires were received (response rate 76%). Twenty-one per cent of respondents were in the high job strain group, 35% were in the passive group, whereas 26% and 17% of workers were in the low strain and active groups, respectively. After controlling for confounders, three factors were found to be associated with high job strain: male workers (adjusted OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.04-3.64), working > 48 h per week (adjusted OR 2.51, 95% CI 1.44-4.39) and job insecurity (adjusted OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.27). One protective factor for high job strain was the scale 'created skill', which is part of skill discretion (adjusted OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.57-0.86). Conclusions About one in five workers in this study experience high job strain. Work improvement measures include reducing long working hours and job insecurity and giving workers the opportunity to learn, use creativity and develop abilities.