Strategizing, Structuring, and Innovating Around the World -10

Because knowledge management is central to how well a firm functions, it is important to know that knowledge is:

• critical to the firm only if it is explicit knowledge.

• implicit if it can be written down to be transferred.

• explicit if its acquisition requires hands-on practice.

• harder to transfer and learn if it is implicit.

Which of the following is a key idea regarding the reciprocal relationship between strategies and structures within MNEs?

• The fit between strategies and structures is crucial.

• The relationship is typically one way.

• Strategies and structures are static.

• A good strategy cancels the effect of a bad structure.

Which of the following is TRUE regarding institutional factors that affect MNEs?

• Host-country governments encourage MNEs to operate in their own comfort zones so that they succeed.

• The external relationship with the home-country is generally guided by an informal, rather than formal, framework.

• The external relationship with the host-country is generally dominated by a formal, rather than informal, framework.

• Organizational charts are part of the formal structures that govern MNEs internally.

Subsidiary initiatives that are not consistent with corporate-wide goals:

• lead to potential chaos.

• are essential for entrepreneurship within the MNE.

• marginalize the roles of subsidiary managers.

• are characteristic of centralized MNE structures.

For MNEs pursuing a home-replication strategy, knowledge management:

• is characterized by a great deal of dependence among subsidiaries.

• develops mostly at the subsidiary level and flows upward to headquarters.

• occurs in a one-way flow from center to subsidiaries.

• leads to persistent heterogeneity of ideas.

When faced with the complexity and cost of value-added customer-focused dimensions, the textbook suggests that you:

• create new formal structures.

• simplify.

• find temporary solutions.

• decentralize.

A limited absorptive capacity leads to:

• a tendency to block inflows of knowledge.

• reductions in corporate-level overload of knowledge.

• increased efficiency in knowledge processing.

• enhanced collaboration among subsidiaries.

What is the most appropriate structure for a multidomestic strategy?

• International division

• Geographic area

• Flexible matrix

• Global matrix

A main advantage of a home replication strategy is that it:

• leverages low-cost advantages.

• maximizes local responsiveness.

• provides for significant local autonomy.

• is relatively easy to implement.

Which of the following is a solution rather than a problem in knowledge management?

• Open innovation

• Knowledge leakage

• "Not invented here" syndrome

• "Knowledge is power" approach