Abstract
With the increased tendency of multinational corporations (MNCs) to disperse their
research and development (R&D) activities over various countries, the integration
of the dispersed R&D knowledge via knowledge transfer across cultural borders becomes
crucial for understanding and managing MNCs. The chapter describes an
investigation of knowledge transfer processes between R&D facilities of Akzo Nobel
Car Refinishes (ANCR) in The Netherlands, the United States, and India. It inspects
the barriers involved by hypothesizing and testing how specific scores on dimensions
of national culture affect particular aspects of knowledge transfer. The main objective
of the research is, via the situation of ANCR, to explore the information value and
workability of linking culture and knowledge transfer as described previously. The
research confirms the notion that cross-cultural knowledge transfer can be and very
often is problematic, but it also provides that notion with a more positive outlook.
The research shows that cultural differences are not just barriers to knowledge transfer,
but may also provide a stimulus to learn from and with others in other cultures.
Contrary to what is commonly suggested in the literature, the case study shows that
cultural differences increase the difficulties of transferring explicit knowledge but the
increase is smaller for those associated with the transfer of tacit knowledge.
