Purpose: Our purpose is to study how language proficiency and cross-cultural adaptation affect ethnically diverse teams in their cross-cultural communication competence. Methodology: The data was collected through six interviews of team members working in a product development project in a multinational company. The interviews were conducted in March of 2012. The data analysis followed an interpretative thematic analysis inspired by Boyatzis (1998). To analyze the data we have utilized some steps of the thematic analysis. With the analysis it was identified that ethnically diverse teams build language proficiency and cross-cultural adaptation. Findings: The findings from this research indicate that cross-cultural adaptation and language proficiency should be considered as important dimensions of cross-cultural communication competence within ethnically diverse teams. Language proficiency remains a challenge for many ethnically diverse teams and should be included in studies related to communication. Employees’ ability to adapt to the current environment and culture has an essential impact on team communication. Research limitations/implications: The research was done in a Multinational company based in Sweden within one team at Electrolux AB, therefore implications from our study may not be applicable to all ethnically diverse teams in Multinational companies globally.

The last two centuries have been distinguished by technological innovation, liberalization and globalization of the world economy. Out of this environment the multinational enterprises (MNEs) have arisen -seeking the best profit opportunities around the world without consideration to poverty and equality in the host countries. This has raised the interest of the present study where the objective is to assess the impact MNEs have on the host country in terms of transferring know-how. By testing two hypotheses, the study attempts to analyze whether MNEs entail a transfer of skills and also identifies the extent to which MNEs are a potential source of skill-upgrading. The research is realized by a qualitative minor field study in Dakar where 24 semi-structured interviews are carried out at three MNEs and three Senegalese enterprises. The interviews are jointly analyzed with a theoretical framework in order to determinate if there are significant differences between the two types of enterprises concerning the wage-setting, working conditions as well as transfer of know-how. The result shows that MNEs have more training opportunities then local enterprises, the working conditions do not differ significantly. Further there is no evidence found for MNEs paying higher wages then local enterprises judged by the general attitude of the interviewees. It is therefore assumed to be some labor mobility, implying that the training contributed by MNEs might work a source of skill-upgrade for the workforce in Dakar.

Multinational Corporations (MNCs) are facing the paradox of globalization and localization in entering each new market. Generally, there are two perspectives which regard to how a MNC configure its cross-border activities: The first is global convergence perspective, which focuses on leveraging corporate resources and attaining global synergies. The second is international diversity perspective, which lays more emphasis on local adaptation and harnessing diversities. Both perspectives have their pros and cons, a balance between international standardization and local adaptation is vital. For the major Auto Giants in the world operating and competing worldwide, the significance of China market is as clear as day to everyone. This paper focuses on how the major Auto Giants balance the paradox of globalization and localization in the China market. In other words, how the MNCs deal with the dilemma of globalization and localization under different strategic contexts? We adopt a model which divides their activities in China into 6 stages and which includes criteria with regard to the dilemma of localization and globalization.

With the increasing trend of globalization, the impact of globalization has lead to a fast changing environment the boundaries for business is diminishing day by day so is the movement of people between different countries and cultures. The requirements of multinational organizations like expansion plans in international market has continuingly increased the need to understand the cultural dimensions of different countries to achieve better results. Therefore the companies are required to understand a national culture’s impact on areas like communication in multicultural teams in different countries which has a high degree of effect on team performance. So our research question revolves around this topic as “How does culture influence communication in multi cultural teams”. This thesis makes an attempt to investigate the influence of national cultures on communication in project teams in China and India by focusing on construction industry based on a number of factors including Hofstede’s (1980) cultural dimensional framework. The researchers intend to explore the cultural factors having major impact on communication in multicultural project teams of both countries. Throughout our research and study, useful lessons on national cultures impact on communication can be drawn for multicultural project team in China and India. It can provide a better insight for the project teams to have concern for and understand why people from different countries and cultures react or respond to various situations in a different manner, giving high emphasis to communication process. To support our thesis a total of 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers in different companies from construction sector. An empirical qualitative research using semi-structured interviews was conducted from a total of 12 project team members from multinational companies in China and India based on their experiences on cultural influence on team communication when working in project teams. The research revealed that there are significant differences and similarities in communication styles of Chinese and Indian teams, and the differences are mostly attributed to have strong links with cultural aspects. Specially with increasing economical changes the traditional patterns of behavior in communication are changing with time. The results also addressed number of similarities; especially in both the countries, culture continues to dominate most aspects of communication. The major implication is that the knowledge of the cultural differences and similarities would facilitate better team performance. Therefore, by keeping in mind the importance as well as the impact of various national cultures and presenting each member with a better understanding and knowledge about social background of the team mates within the multicultural teams, arguments and conflicts arise due to misconception and pre-judgment can be reduced. Hence it will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the teams working in multicultural environment.

The era of Globalization fastens the pace of corporation internationalization. National boundaries are no longer limitations for the quick transportation of people, commodities or capital all over the world. Under such circumstances, ¡§global mobility¡¨ equals ¡§competitiveness,¡¨ and the concept of ¡§Third-country Expatriation¡¨ takes place coordinately. The utilization of ¡§Third-country Nationals (TCNs)¡¨ within Multinational corporations (MNCs) stands for maturity in global development. It means MNCs already possess several well-developed overseas subsidiaries which are adequate to providing competent expatriates to become TCNs. Third-country Expatriation not only assists MNCs in expanding overseas sites, accelerating regional development, building regional talent pool, but also can be used as strategic management for MNCs to foster global talents or even business successors. Nevertheless, it¡¦s indeed a pity that there are very limited researches related to Third-country Expatriation both among domestic and foreign researchers. Both practitioners and academics have treated lightly the unique role of TCNs in the international workforce. With the growing international development of domestic MNCs and newly emerging overseas markets, the importance of Third-country Expatriation related issues is definitely about to enhance. This research adopts the exploratory quantity method, and conducts the in-depth interview with three domestic and foreign MNCs. Through the examination of their Third-country Expatriation practices, this research is able to come up with a more complete and integrated study on each human resource management activities, including: the planning for Third-country Expatriation system ¡V (1) reasons for third-country expatriation, (2) types and positions for third-country expatriation, (3) the main role of third-country expatriation system¡¦s planning, and the human resource management for Third-country Nationals ¡V (1) TCNs¡¦ selection (including decision-making and selection standards), (2) TCNs¡¦ education and training, (3) TCNs¡¦ compensation management, (4) TCNs¡¦ performance management, (5) TCNs¡¦ repatriation, (6) TCNs¡¦ oversea life support system, (7) other TCNs¡¦ management practices issues. On the other hand, based on the research results, this research also provides some essential suggestions and advices for domestic Taiwanese companies who plan to develop Third-country Expatriation system in the future.

Contemporary studies in international management field conceptualize subsidiaries as semi-autonomous entities. By involving in entrepreneurial undertakings and strategic activities, subsidiaries could contribute strategic value to parent multinational corporation (MNC). Distinguishing from previous researches derived from entrepreneurship theory and done by Birkinshaw and his colleagues, this study incorporated human capital theory and knowledge-based view (KBV) to fulfill the existing research gap and enlarged our understanding of subsidiary entrepreneurship. This research proposed two models to unlock and testify the underexplored phenomenon of subsidiary entrepreneurship. In the first model, this research incorporated human capital management in MNCs context and testified that not merely top management team (TMT) entrepreneurial leadership and subsidiary entrepreneurial culture were critical antecedents of subsidiary¡¦s strategic initiative, but the human resource management (HRM) practices of subsidiary talent management played an important mediator to generate the entrepreneurial system. In the second model, this study demonstrated the cross-field integration and synthesis of entrepreneurial literatures, human capital theory and knowledge-based view and expressed a more comprehensive illustration of strategic entrepreneurship. This study certified that absorptive capacity could facilitate subsidiary¡¦s entrepreneurial culture and further enhance subsidiary¡¦s strategic initiative. Moreover, subsidiary¡¦s practices of talent management could facilitate its absorptive capacity and further contribute to subsidiary¡¦s strategic outputs. By analyzing the empirical data collected from 202 MNCs¡¦ foreign subsidiaries in Asian area, this study testified that the subsidiaries which could contribute strategic value creation for parent MNCs should equip multilayer of initiative-takings: the local distinctive capability, market initiative and knowledge outflow. Furthermore, the HRM practices of talent management in subsidiary played critical mediating role on both the development of organizational capability, improvement of absorptive capacity and the enhancement of subsidiary strategic initiative. TMT entrepreneurial leadership was the core engine which could activate subsidiary¡¦s mechanisms to facilitate the activities of strategic value creations.

Abstract The management and development of corporation is typically of its own periodical stage. Growth is quite the primary strategy goal for most corporation groups. In addition, the ¡§internationalization¡¨ and ¡§globalization¡¨ are also the aim for each corporation aspiring for growth to serve as the required strategy options necessarily. When this world has entered the new millennium, the management will also step into the new era with the huge tidal wheel rotating inexorably. Besides, the technology also keeps on innovating. With the rise of information technology and Internet, such conditions will make what was impossible dream before come true. As for the knowledge management, it plays the most important part among the currently existent corporation entities. Also, the knowledge workers will be generally the major sources from knowledge and people are the main originality of knowledge creation with the increasingly significant role within the operation of knowledge management. Furthermore, the so-called international competence means, under the global trend, the corporation will meet with the opportunities and the response against the upcoming challenge. If the corporation wants to successfully survive, it cannot merely restrict its management and development realm on the specific region. The corporation must be equipped with the global vision with the available profit basement to create the success among the international communities. This research is experimented to practically investigate the characteristics of international corporation and globalization arrangement for resource allocation and the correlation with international competence. Furthermore, this article is also aimed to discuss the impact for the role playing of human resource during the implementation of knowledge management, together with the resource allocation for global arrangement and role playing of human resource management with the influence against the international competence. After the experimental investigation, the major finds of this research are¡G 1.Difference Analysis¡G (1)The difference for the various corporation characteristics among the global arrangement. a. If the technology characteristics of multinational corporation are under growth stage or maturity stage, it will exist in remarkable difference among the global resource arrangement strategically. b. The internationalization process of the multinational corporation, under the global resource arrangement, it will exist no remarkable difference among the global resource arrangement strategically. (2)The difference of the international competence caused by various corporation characteristics a. If the technology characteristics of multinational corporation are under growth stage or maturity stage, it will exist in no remarkable difference among the international competence strategically. b. The internationalization process of the multinational corporation, under the international competence, it will exist no remarkable difference strategically. (3)The difference of the various corporation characteristics caused by knowledge transfer. If the technology characteristics of multinational corporation are under growth stage or maturity stage, it will exist in remarkable difference among the knowledge transfer strategically. 2. Impact Analysis¡G (1)The different implementation stages of the knowledge management process within corporation will remarkably impact the role playing of human resource management. (2)The different roles of human resource management within multinational corporation will exist in no remarkable influence onto the international competence. (3)The different strategic resource allocation for global arrangement within multinational corporation will exist in no remarkable influence onto the international competence.

With the emergence of China market, MNCs are so attracted by it on one hand, and so afraid of the high failure ratio of entering the Mainland China market. During the process of chasing the Mainland China market, MNCs usually rely on the subsidiaries of Taiwan for support, and utilize it to enter Mainland China. However, with the marker of Mainland China turning bigger and bigger, lots of MNC Taiwan subsidiaries seem to face the threat of substitution of China Subsidaries, and come up with the question weather Taiwan subsidiaries should be continued or not. This study has focused on the subsistence of Taiwan subsidiaries and the relationships between the Cross-Strait subsidiaries. This research is under the observation of Taiwan subsidiaries¡¦ value, Cross-Strait subsidiaries¡¦ resource asymmetry, and the nature of value activities, to explore how these variables influence the subsistence of MNCs¡¦ Taiwan subsidiaries. By Use of the strategic role of MNC subsidiaries, subsidiaries¡¦ dependence on MNCs, resource based view, and subsidiary¡¦s network characteristics, this research probe into the independent variable that influence the subsistence of Taiwan subsidiaries and the relation between Taiwan and China subsidiaries. This research uses questionary survey to collect data. The population is the list of foreignenterprises in Taiwan published by Dun and Bradstreet, 1999 / 2000. The subsidiaries belong to manufacturing industry and non-financial service industry and are owned by foreign MNCs. The scale of these subsidiaries is above 30 people and still under operation by now. We use multi-regression analysis, ANCOVA analysis, and binominal logistic regression analysis to examine the effects of independent variables on Taiwan subsidiaries¡¦ threat of subsistence. After analyzing 59 MNCs¡¦ Taiwan subsidiaries, the results reveal that the importance of Taiwan subsidiary, the resource and capability of Taiwan subsidiaries, the integration of Taiwan subsidiaries with MNCs, the local responsiveness of Taiwan subsidiaries , the industrial embracement of Taiwan subsidiaries, the similarity of value activities between Taiwan and China subsidiaries, do have influence on Taiwan subsidiaries¡¦ subsistence. In addation, different kinds of relation between Taiwan and China subsidiaries have its specific combination of dependent variables, and imply different degree of threat of subsistence.

With global competition on the rise, all enterprises must try to develop and keep their own core competitive advantage. To compete with other global business, the role of the research and development department is becoming more important. Innovative techniques or products have the ability to become an advantage. Therefore, improvement of the R&D department becomes a significant issue in the Global Business Management field. Enhancing the creative ability of R&D employees to increase the departments performance while confronting multi-national management issues raises some interesting problems. When a foreign-based company relocates to Taiwan, or foreign R&D employees are introduced to a local company, will they bring different cultures, and new approaches to the R&D department? In either case, does the R&D department try to adjust and blend different cultures to improve performance? When culture clashes occur, does the company try to apply some strategic control to match the new culture in the business? In order to solve the above questions, this research will focus on organizational culture, operational strategy and R&D performance. Including the classification of different organizational cultures and operational strategies,. Finally, analyzing the relationship among the organizational culture, operational strategy and the R&D performance and how they influence each other. After organizing the reference research and gathering the survey results from multi-national corporations of the top 500 businesses in Taiwan, we get the following results. 1. When a business leans toward a development culture, it helps to improve the global integration of the operational strategy and to further enhance the R&D performance. 2. When a business leans toward a rational culture, it is helpful to raise the local level of the operational strategy. 3. When a business leans toward a bureaucratic culture, the nature of bureaucracy lends itself to inefficiency. 4. When a business leans toward a development culture or a cohere culture, it is helpful to increase the number of patent rights, published essays from R&D, development of new products and the shift in technique 5. Global integration in multi-national corporations is directly proportional to R&D performance. Key words: multinational corporations, organizational culture, operational stratagem & R&D performance.

To Invest in Mainland China becomes Taiwan corporations¡¦ high priority by virtue of China¡¦s vast internal consumer market, the trade liberalization after joining WTO, low labor cost, and easy communication in Chinese language. However, the special relationship between Taiwan and China induces Taiwan corporations¡¦ investment risks due to political uncertainties. The establishment of information and communication network between headquarters in Taiwan and their mainland subsidiaries enables the governance and coordination between two sides. However, bearing these special relations, it is a nontrivial question to ask any unique information infrastructure and system that Taiwan corporations adopt which may be consistent with or different from prior literatures in multi-national corporations. This thesis develops a conceptual framework to identify the relationship between the factors and IT configurations, and then proposes propositions to explain findings from three Taiwan companies, which have subsidiaries in China. This study asserts that the political uncertainties that influence the IT configuration of Taiwan companies with subsidiaries in China are common with multinational firms whose headquarter and subsidiaries have normal relationship. The major contribution of this study is to explore the factors that affect Taiwan companies¡¦ IT governing practice toward their China subsidiaries.