The Multinational Corporation as a Third Space: Rethinking International Management Discourse on Knowledge Transfer Through Homi Bhabha

SMEs, IT, and the Third Space: Colonization and Creativity in the Theatre Industry

“…In this article we build on the metaphor of the third space created by Bhabha (1994) and successfully extended by Frenkel (2008). Although both were discussing knowledge transfer, we use their conceptualizations to specifically characterize and explore the transfer process of culture (and thereby best IT practices and good management lessons) to and from small and medium-sized nonprofit professional theaters to and from large, commercial theatre productions.…”

“…In a liberating insight, that serves to free researchers and others from rigid interpretations of "essentialism" and "naturalization" (Frenkel, 2008) of what happens in the exchanges between colonizers and colonies, Bhabha comes forth with a creative construction of what he calls the "third space." In the metaphor of the "third space of inbetween," (Bhabha, 1996) we find that there are no absolutes, and certainly no absolutes that pre-destine the direction of influence.…”

“…In the case of hybridity, Bhabha departs from other colonial and post-colonial theorists. Frenkel (2008) reminds us, "In Bhabha's terms it is used to problematize the naturalized and ahistorical conceptualization of nationhood in general and of national culture in particular," (p. 926). Bhabha instead claims that, according to Frenkel, "nations and cultures must be understood as "narrative" constructions that arise out of the hybrid interaction of competing national and cultural constituencies," (p. 927).…”

“…If we adopt the use of the third space Bhabha, 1994) and Frenkel (2008), we are examining the relationship of the Broadway Theatres and the nonprofit professional theatres in the third space of mutually influential post-colonial exchanges. The use of the third space metaphor can help us understand more deeply the shaping that is going on between commercial Broadway productions and nonprofit professional theatres as they exchange ideas about the successful IT practices concerning scripts, actors, directors, forms of plays, and production design.…”

“…We examine how small and medium-sized, professional, nonprofit performing arts theatres in the US can improve the strategic use of information technology (IT), as well as other aspects of theatre management for large, commercial theatre productions in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York City. In this article we use the epistemology of the third space developed by Bhabha (1994) and extended by Frenkel (2008). Although both authors were discussing knowledge transfer, we use their conceptualizations to characterize and explore more deeply the transfer process of culture (and thereby useful practices and worthwhile lessons) from small and medium-sized professional, nonprofit theaters to large-scale commercial theatres.…”