Facilitating Knowledge Sharing in Russian and Chinese Subsidiaries: The Importance of Groups and Personal Networks

The unprecedented escalation in the number of organisations that have decided to internationalise their operations in the last two decades, and the international movement of labour that has accompanied such expansion, has meant that understanding the process of knowledge sharing within subsidiary operations has become an issue of increasing importance. Where the cultural distance between home and host nations is great, as it is between Western industrialised economies and the transition economies of the (former) Communist nations, there is even greater saliency for achieving effective knowledge sharing if its potential value for gaining organisational competitive advantage is to be harnessed. In examining knowledge sharing in Russia and China, this paper specifically addresses how group membership and personal networking in these countries facilitate and impede knowledge sharing. Ultimately, the paper provides important insights for Western managers about how to optimise knowledge sharing in their subsidiary operations in Russia and China.