Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Kwanjai, Nantawan Noi
Author-Email: kwanjai@merit.unu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT
Author-Name: Hertog, J. Friso den
Author-Email: f.denhertog@merit.unimaas.nl
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University
Title: Multinationals are Multicultural Units: Some Indications from a
	 Cross-Cultural Study
Abstract: This paper makes a case for the value of looking at culture and 
	 multinationals from a management and organizational perspective because 
	 it is one which could direct greater attention towards culture as a 
	 significant factor in future investigation on multinational 
	 corporations. We attempt to illustrate that multinationals are 
	 fundamentally multicultural units in more ways than one. This paper is 
	 based on selected materials from a qualitative study of culture and 
	 learning in organizations and management. The study investigated four 
	 selected Dutch firms in Thailand using evidences collected through 
	 observations and open-ended interviews. All evidences were analysed 
	 under grounded theory procedure. Parts of the evidences and theorization 
	 from the study are presented in this paper, which begins with two 
	 cultural riddles from one of the cases as a backdrop for subsequent 
	 discussions. Following the riddles is an abridge version of the key 
	 finding of the study-a grounded theory of cross-cultural intelligence. 
	 Then the two riddles are revisited, this time to illustrate how the 
	 proposed theory could illuminate an understanding of their covert 
	 meanings vis-à-vis culture and learning in multinationals. Last, we 
	 reinstate how our study and its theoretical and empirical findings can 
	 elucidate the central thesis that multinationals are essentially 
	 multicultural units.
Classification-JEL: F23, M14
Keywords: case study, culture, corporate culture, cultural intelligence,
	 multinationals, Netherlands, Thailand
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 2008
Number: 018
File-URL: http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2008/wp2008-018.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2008018