Introduction to Knowledge Society, Culture, and Information Systems Minitrack

Our minitrack focuses on various cultural aspects of Knowledge Management and Information Systems within organizations. First two papers in our minitrack investigate cross-cultural issues and challenges in managing knowledge within a global firm. The first paper of in this minitrack by Frygell, Hedman, and Carlsson, “Implementing CRM System in a Global Organization National vs. Organizational Culture” study Customer Relationship Management (CRM) implementation in China, Poland, Russia, Middle East, Dubai, Pakistan, Iran, Korea and Japan within one global company. Frygell et al. conclude that implementation of CRM was not a complete success. Based on their findings from longitudinal case study, authors emphasize the importance of understanding the difference between the organizational culture in which the CRM system is developed and the national culture in which the system is implemented. The second paper “International Firms’ Market Orientation and Use of Knowledge: Implications for Market Information Systems” by Pehrsson explores market orientation in international industrial firms. Pehrsson states that “an understanding of the importance of knowledge of foreign markets and use situations will facilitate the design of market information systems that include creation and sharing of knowledge within international industrial firms.”