Learning before Doing

Responding to increasingly competitive environments, it has become commonplace for multinationals to enter into cross-border partnerships, ventures and alliances to gain know-how, manage costs and grow revenue. The results from these activities however, have not always delivered on their promise. Part of the reason lies in the challenges of transferring knowledge compounded by an international setting. The degree of difficulty in knowledge transfer increases for multinational managers and their counterparts because cultural differences influence information processing, management styles and sense making. In addition, most knowledge transfer projects do not take the time to allow partners to develop the rapport and trust pivotal for project commitment and successful learning to occur. This chapter explores a failed knowledge transfer project between two distinct cultures and, using literature on cross-cultural knowledge transfer and communication theory as well as anecdotes from the actual process, offers a process for creating and engaging a more successful design.