IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/worbus/v37y2002i2p108-118.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate global culture as competitive advantage: learning from Germany and Japan in Alabama and Austria?

Author

Listed:
  • Apfelthaler, Gerhard
  • Muller, Helen J.
  • Rehder, Robert R.

Abstract

As cross-border corporate mergers and acquisitions find organizations outgrowing their cultural boundaries, transnational companies may try to capture the strengths of the best talent and technology that cultures offer. The Daimler Chrysler (DC) transatlantic merger foreshadows how industrial corporations may change 21st century work relationships and it raises questions about the complexities of cross-cultural collaboration to achieve competitive advantage. We analyze the cultural components of Mercedes-Benz's experiment that developed the award winning M-Class sports utility vehicle, initiated before the merger, originating in a "learning field" managerial philosophy. Originally manufactured in Alabama and soon extended to Austria, the M-Class, unexpectedly, became an early point of possible joint learning for DC but to date is a missed opportunity to further learn how to draw upon culture to enhance competitive advantage.

Suggested Citation

  • Apfelthaler, Gerhard & Muller, Helen J. & Rehder, Robert R., 2002. "Corporate global culture as competitive advantage: learning from Germany and Japan in Alabama and Austria?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 108-118, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:37:y:2002:i:2:p:108-118
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951602000706
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. ,, 2001. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(6), pages 1157-1160, December.
    2. Anil K. Gupta & Vijay Govindarajan, 2000. "Knowledge flows within multinational corporations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 473-496, April.
    3. Andrew C. Inkpen, 2000. "A note on the dynamics of learning alliances: competition, cooperation, and relative scope," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(7), pages 775-779, July.
    4. ,, 2001. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(5), pages 1025-1031, October.
    5. Very, Philippe & Schweiger, David M., 2001. "The acquisition process as a learning process: Evidence from a study of critical problems and solutions in domestic and cross-border deals," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 11-31, April.
    6. Luo, Yadong, 2000. "Dynamic capabilities in international expansion," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 355-378, January.
    7. Pil, Frits K. & MacDuffie, John Paul, 1999. "What makes transplants thrive: managing the transfer of "best practice" at Japanese auto plants in North America," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 372-391, January.
    8. Peter B. Doeringer & Christine Evans-Klock & David G. Terkla, 1998. "Hybrids or Hodgepodges? Workplace Practices of Japanese and Domestic Startups in the United States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 51(2), pages 171-186, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lee, Sung-Jun & Kim, Joongwha & Park, Byung Il, 2015. "Culture clashes in cross-border mergers and acquisitions: A case study of Sweden's Volvo and South Korea's Samsung," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 580-593.
    2. Park, Byung Il & Choi, Jiyul, 2014. "Control mechanisms of MNEs and absorption of foreign technology in cross-border acquisitions," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 130-144.
    3. Lee, Sang-Gun & Trimi, Silvana & Kim, Changsoo, 2013. "The impact of cultural differences on technology adoption," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 20-29.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Park, Byung Il & Ghauri, Pervez N., 2011. "Key factors affecting acquisition of technological capabilities from foreign acquiring firms by small and medium sized local firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 116-125, January.
    2. Wang, Daojuan & Hain, Daniel S. & Larimo, Jorma & Dao, Li T., 2020. "Cultural differences and synergy realization in cross-border acquisitions," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3).
    3. Ludivine Chalençon, 2013. "Le Contrôle de Gestion dans les Fusions-Acquisitions Internationales : un Outil d'Intégration ?," Post-Print halshs-00864098, HAL.
    4. Popli, Manish & Akbar, Mohammad & Kumar, Vikas & Gaur, Ajai, 2016. "Reconceptualizing cultural distance: The role of cultural experience reserve in cross-border acquisitions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 404-412.
    5. Fuad, Mohammad & Gaur, Ajai S., 2019. "Merger waves, entry-timing, and cross-border acquisition completion: A frictional lens perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 107-118.
    6. Pierre-Xavier Meschi & Emmanuel Métais, 2007. "Expérience, oubli organisationnel et motifs de désinvestissement des acquisitions internationales:le cas des acquisitions françaises aux États-Unis (1988-2004)," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 10(4), pages 73-109, December.
    7. Reddy, Kotapati Srinivasa, 2015. "Extant Reviews on Entry-mode/Internationalization, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Diversification: Understanding Theories and Establishing Interdisciplinary Research," MPRA Paper 63744, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2015.
    8. Mehmet Demirbag & Ekrem Tatoglu & Keith W. Glaister, 2008. "Factors affecting perceptions of the choice between acquisition and greenfield entry: The case of Western FDI in an emerging market," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 5-38, February.
    9. Dariusz Wójcik & Eric Knight & Vladimír Pažitka, 2018. "What turns cities into international financial centres? Analysis of cross-border investment banking 2000–2014," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 1-33.
    10. Choi, Soon-Gwon & Johanson, Jan, 2012. "Knowledge translation through expatriates in international knowledge transfer," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 1148-1157.
    11. Antonios Georgopoulos & George Argyros & Giota Boura, 2008. "Which Targets Stimulate Cross-border Acquisitions? An Empirical Investigation of Industrial Organization and Trade Factors within a Competition Framework of International and Domestic Acquisition Targ," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 55-72, March.
    12. Arup Barua & Alexandra Ioanid, 2020. "Country Brand Equity: The Decision Making of Corporate Brand Architecture in Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-24, September.
    13. Bernad, Cristina & Fuentelsaz, Lucio & Gómez, Jaime, 2010. "The effect of mergers and acquisitions on productivity: An empirical application to Spanish banking," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 283-293, October.
    14. Ebru Reis, 2015. "The Determinants of Acquirer Returns in the Turkish Stock Market," Bogazici Journal, Review of Social, Economic and Administrative Studies, Bogazici University, Department of Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 21-39.
    15. Shimizu, Katsuhiko & Hitt, Michael A. & Vaidyanath, Deepa & Pisano, Vincenzo, 2004. "Theoretical foundations of cross-border mergers and acquisitions: A review of current research and recommendations for the future," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 307-353.
    16. Ahammad, Mohammad Faisal & Glaister, Keith W., 2013. "The pre-acquisition evaluation of target firms and cross border acquisition performance," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 894-904.
    17. Alen Sacek, 2015. "The Scope Of Due Diligence In Cross-Border Acquisitions In Central And Eastern Europe," European Journal of Business and Economics, Central Bohemia University, vol. 10(1), pages 5741:10-574, June.
    18. Durand, Muriel, 2016. "Employing critical incident technique as one way to display the hidden aspects of post-merger integration," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 87-102.
    19. Xing, Yijun & Liu, Yipeng & Tarba, Shlomo & Cooper, Sir Cary L., 2017. "Servitization in mergers and acquisitions: Manufacturing firms venturing from emerging markets into advanced economies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 9-18.
    20. Reddy, Kotapati Srinivasa, 2015. "Determinants of Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions: A Comprehensive Review and Future Direction," MPRA Paper 63969, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2015.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:37:y:2002:i:2:p:108-118. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620401/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.