Topic: Knowledge Management Beyond Borders - Globalization and Cultural Identity

Internationalization is already quite prevalent for the knowledge management community.

However, cross-national knowledge transfer is no easy task. Companies are already confronted with a number of critical issues when introducing knowledge management at a national level. The introduction
of a cross-national knowledge transfer is a far more complex process
than many believe. Global companies therefore require solutions for knowledge transfer to avoid autarkic and closed business units. 

Distance is not the key problem. The language barrier, however, can cause a lot of communication problems between employees. Organizations can overcome this barrier. But for all that, there are many other problems such as the cultural background of employees that may disrupt
the mutual understanding. Different continents, different customs or the greater the distance between employees, the bigger the difference?

What does all that mean for knowledge managers?

There are already several articles in which authors place cultural aspects in communication in the centre of discussion. As the main focus of this call for papers shall be on a cross-national perspective, we kindly invite knowledge management experts from outside Germany to
participate in this call and contribute to this discussion. Therefore, please be aware: all submissions must be in English.

What experience have you made? Which requirements will be most relevant to us?  What solutions do you know?