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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    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. Luo, Yadong, 2000. "Dynamic capabilities in international expansion," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 355-378, January.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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, 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.

    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. Griffith, David A. & Yalcinkaya, Goksel & Calantone, Roger J., 2010. "Do marketing capabilities consistently mediate effects of firm intangible capital on performance across institutional environments?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 217-227, July.
    3. Hitt, Michael A. & Li, Dan & Xu, Kai, 2016. "International strategy: From local to global and beyond," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 58-73.
    4. Paul Miesing & Mark Kriger & Neil Slough, 2007. "Towards a model of effective knowledge transfer within transnationals: The case of Chinese foreign invested enterprises," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 109-122, April.
    5. Emre Yildiz, H. & Murtic, Adis & Klofsten, Magnus & Zander, Udo & Richtnér, Anders, 2021. "Individual and contextual determinants of innovation performance: A micro-foundations perspective," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    6. Najafi-Tavani, Zhaleh & Giroud, Axèle & Andersson, Ulf, 2014. "The interplay of networking activities and internal knowledge actions for subsidiary influence within MNCs," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 122-131.
    7. Christine M. Chan & Lei Shi & Jingtao Yi, 2024. "Home country’s economic and political institutions: firms’ ownership decisions in cross-border acquisitions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 55(8), pages 1020-1037, October.
    8. Florian Becker-Ritterspach & Christoph Dörrenbächer, 2011. "An Organizational Politics Perspective on Intra-firm Competition in Multinational Corporations," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 533-559, August.
    9. Zhang, Feng & Jiang, Guohua & Cantwell, John A., 2015. "Subsidiary exploration and the innovative performance of large multinational corporations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 224-234.
    10. Bertermann, Britta & Virgillito, Alfredo & Naegele, Gerhard & Wilkesmann, Uwe, 2015. "Werkzeugkasten Wissenstransfer: Entwicklung einer praktischen Handlungshilfe für Betriebs- und Personalräte," Study / edition der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf, volume 127, number 291.
    11. Andersson, Ulf & Dasí, Àngels & Mudambi, Ram & Pedersen, Torben, 2016. "Technology, innovation and knowledge: The importance of ideas and international connectivity," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 153-162.
    12. Ghasem Zaefarian & Constantine S. Katsikeas & Zhaleh Najafi-Tavani & Matthew J. Robson, 2025. "Unpacking when and how customer involvement as co-developer affects supplier new product performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 876-906, May.
    13. Forman, Chris & van Zeebroeck, Nicolas, 2019. "Digital technology adoption and knowledge flows within firms: Can the Internet overcome geographic and technological distance?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    14. David G. Sirmon & Michael A. Hitt, 2003. "Managing Resources: Linking Unique Resources, Management, and Wealth Creation in Family Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 27(4), pages 339-358, October.
    15. Xin Liu & Lin Zhang & Abhinav Gupta & Xiaoming Zheng & Changqi Wu, 2022. "Upper echelons and intra‐organizational learning: How executive narcissism affects knowledge transfer among business units," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(11), pages 2351-2381, November.
    16. 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).
    17. repec:osf:socarx:95xbj_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Yi-Ju Lo & Tung Hung, 2015. "Structure offshoring and returns on offshoring," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 443-479, June.
    19. Chien-Hsing Wu & Shu-Chen Kao, 2016. "Appraisal of Knowledge Object Use via a Three-Phase Flow Profile," Journal of Information & Knowledge Management (JIKM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 15(02), pages 1-22, June.
    20. Quan Anh Nguyen & Gillian Sullivan Mort, 0. "Conceptualising organisational-level and microfoundational capabilities: an integrated view of born-globals’ internationalisation," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-23.
    21. Ziggers, Gerrit Willem & Tjemkes, Brian, 2010. "Dynamics in Inter‐Firm Collaboration: The Impact of Alliance Capabilities on Performance," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 1(2), pages 1-16.

    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.