Knowledge Assimilation at Foreign Subsidiaries of Japanese MNCs through Political Sensegiving and Sensemaking

Abstract

We analyse political sensegiving and sensemaking by expatriates and host country employees through exportive, contestative and integrative stages of knowledge assimilation at two China-based subsidiaries of different Japanese MNCs. Comparative case study analysis indicated that efforts by expatriates and HQ-based experts to convey, routinize and standardize home country practices during the exportive and contestative stages, while involving traditional ‘one way’ knowledge transfer, can provide a foundation for a subsequent integrative stage, during which host country employees’ locally embedded knowledge is assimilated despite geopolitical asymmetry between home and host countries. Without this foundation, knowledge assimilation can remain ‘frozen’ at the contestative stage, with host country employees resisting importation of good practices from the HQ, and expatriates marginalizing host country employees’ contributions unless these are exceptionally compelling.

A geographic relational perspective on the internationalization of emerging market firms

“…As an EMF acts in complicated environments, research opportunities can be identified by understanding how contextual relations are developed and processed over time and space. To capture the essence of the sense-making processes concerning how EMFs learn and grow through interactions with business networks and local communities (Hong, Snell, & Mak, 2016), we need to understand areas beyond institutional contexts, including ''aesthetic preferences, attitudes toward power, beliefs about the free market, and even religious differences'' (Khanna, 2014: 61). As contexts change over time, there are different phases and dimensions in the internationalization process.…”

Expatriate utilization, subsidiary knowledge creation and performance: The moderating role of subsidiary strategic context

“…Assigning expatriates also facilitates the creation of a common frame of reference that is necessary for the collaboration between HQ and subsidiaries (Belderbos & Heijltjes, 2005). In this way, expatriates participate in the knowledge creation process, and create more learning opportunities to make novel associations between internal and external knowledge from different sources (Hong et al, 2016;Gonzalez & Chakraborty, 2014). It should be noted that local employees are also important in knowledge creation in subsidiaries because they act as important sources of local tacit knowledge.…”

“…However, more explicit forms of knowledge transferred from other MNC units may reduce the need for subsidiary knowledge creation if it is readily reusable. In addition, expatriates play an important role in enhancing the absorptive capacity of a subsidiary by identifying, assimilating and applying knowledge relevant to the subsidiary context (Hong, Snell, & Mak, 2016).…”

Sensemaking, sensegiving and absorptive capacity in complex procurements

“…In this case, they engage in sensegiving -where they attempt to persuade others about the merits of an alternative viewpoint or interpretation (Gioia and Chittipeddi, 1991;Hill and Levenhagen, 1995;Maitlis and Lawrence, 2007). To this end, managers often engage in a deliberate narrative that often involves storytelling, the use of metaphors and/ or through the routinization of different practices (Fiss and Zajac, 2006;Hong, Snell, and Mak, 2016;Monin, Noorderhaven, Vaara, and Kroon, 2013). It is for these reasons that sensegiving is often closely associated with organizational change.…”