"I felt like a lonely person in the desert" a case study on factors moderating interunit communication in multinational headquarters-subsidiary relationship

One of the biggest challenges for internationalizing businesses is to develop and maintain efficient internal communication processes across national and cultural borders. This thesis aims to examine what are the most important organizational structures and communicational practices for a successful...

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Main Author: Bagdasarov, Riina
Other Authors: Humanistis-yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kieli- ja viestintätieteiden laitos, Department of Language and Communication Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylän yliopisto
Format: Master's thesis
Language:eng
Published: 2017
Subjects:
Online Access: https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/55436
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author Bagdasarov, Riina
author2 Humanistis-yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Kieli- ja viestintätieteiden laitos Department of Language and Communication Studies University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylän yliopisto
author_facet Bagdasarov, Riina Humanistis-yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Kieli- ja viestintätieteiden laitos Department of Language and Communication Studies University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylän yliopisto Bagdasarov, Riina Humanistis-yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Kieli- ja viestintätieteiden laitos Department of Language and Communication Studies University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylän yliopisto
author_sort Bagdasarov, Riina
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description One of the biggest challenges for internationalizing businesses is to develop and maintain efficient internal communication processes across national and cultural borders. This thesis aims to examine what are the most important organizational structures and communicational practices for a successful multinational headquarters-subsidiary relationship, and what do the communicational practices, such as the mechanics of language use and interunit knowledge-transfer, imply about the efficiency of global co-operation. This study considers the experiences of one case company’s Finnish headquarters and Dutch subsidiary on internal communication in a crucial phase of internationalization. The data was collected by interviewing Finnish and Dutch managers and employees working in different positions in the case company. This method enabled an in-depth focus on the perceptions of interunit communication between the globally dispersed units. A qualitative, inductive research method was used in this study to allow the results to naturally emerge from the data while interpreting the phenomenon of interunit communication within a real-life setting of one company. The findings supported the prior research highlighting the multinational company as a knowledge-based network, and brought forth the importance of efficient knowledge-transfer processes as a competitive advantage of multinational companies. Contrary to prior research, the issue of cultural differences was not experienced as a significant risk for either interunit communication nor the headquarters-subsidiary relationship in this case company. However, diversity in languages and communicational practices was seen to hinder the interaction between the units. The results indicated that language and communication management were required specifically in the early phase of internationalization of the case company to be able to build a successful interunit relationship when aiming for both local responsiveness and global integration. Yksi yritysten kansainvälistymisen suurimmista haasteista on luoda ja ylläpitää tehokasta viestintää yrityksen eri maiden yksiköiden välillä. Tämä opinnäytetyö pyrkii selvittämään, mitkä ovat tärkeimmät organisatoriset rakenteet ja viestintäkäytännöt onnistuneessa monikansallisessa emo- ja tytäryhtiön välisessä suhteessa sekä mitä eri viestintäkäytänteet, kuten kielten käyttö sekä sisäisen tietämyksen ja osaamisen siirto, osoittavat globaalin yhteistyön tehokkuudesta. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan yhden yrityksen suomalaisen emoyhtiön ja hollantilaisen tytäryhtiön kokemuksia sisäisestä viestinnästä kansainvälistymisen ratkaisevassa vaiheessa. Tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin haastattelemalla suomalaisia ja hollantilaisia, eri asemissa työskenteleviä henkilöitä. Tämä menetelmä mahdollisti perusteellisen paneutumisen maantieteellisesti hajallaan olevien yksiköiden käsityksiin sisäisestä viestinnästä. Tutkimuksessa käytettiin kvalitatiivista, induktiivista tutkimusmenetelmää, jonka avulla tulokset nousivat luonnollisesti esiin aineistosta tulkittaessa sisäisen viestinnän ilmiötä yhden yrityksen oikeassa ympäristössä. Tulokset tukivat aiempaa tutkimusta korostaen monikansallista yhtiötä tietopohjaisena verkostona ja tuomalla esille tehokkaiden tiedonsiirtoprosessien merkityksen monikansallisten yritysten kilpailuetuna. Aiemmasta tutkimuksesta poiketen, tässä tapaustutkimuksessa ja kulttuurierojen kysymystä ei havaittu merkittäväksi riskiksi sisäisessä viestinnässä tai emo- ja tytäryhtiön välisessä suhteessa. Kielten ja viestintäkäytäntöjen moninaisuuden havaittiin kuitenkin rajoittavan yksiköiden välistä vuorovaikutusta. Tulokset osoittivat, että kielen ja viestinnän hallintaa vaadittiin erityisesti yrityksen kansainvälistymisen varhaisessa vaiheessa, jotta pystyttiin rakentamaan onnistunut sisäinen suhde, kun tähdätään sekä paikalliseen reagoivuuteen että globaaliin integraatioon.
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spellingShingle Bagdasarov, Riina "I felt like a lonely person in the desert" : a case study on factors moderating interunit communication in multinational headquarters-subsidiary relationship multinational company (MNC) interunit communication headquarters subsidiary diversity internationalization kulttuurienvälinen viestintä Master's Degree Programme in Intercultural Communication Tapaustutkimus 3134 kansainväliset yritykset viestintäkulttuuri sisäinen tiedotus emoyhtiöt tytäryhtiöt vuorovaikutus kansainvälistyminen kielitaito
title "I felt like a lonely person in the desert" : a case study on factors moderating interunit communication in multinational headquarters-subsidiary relationship
title_full "I felt like a lonely person in the desert" : a case study on factors moderating interunit communication in multinational headquarters-subsidiary relationship
title_fullStr "I felt like a lonely person in the desert" : a case study on factors moderating interunit communication in multinational headquarters-subsidiary relationship "I felt like a lonely person in the desert" : a case study on factors moderating interunit communication in multinational headquarters-subsidiary relationship
title_full_unstemmed "I felt like a lonely person in the desert" : a case study on factors moderating interunit communication in multinational headquarters-subsidiary relationship "I felt like a lonely person in the desert" : a case study on factors moderating interunit communication in multinational headquarters-subsidiary relationship
title_short "I felt like a lonely person in the desert"
title_sort i felt like a lonely person in the desert a case study on factors moderating interunit communication in multinational headquarters subsidiary relationship
title_sub a case study on factors moderating interunit communication in multinational headquarters-subsidiary relationship
title_txtP "I felt like a lonely person in the desert" : a case study on factors moderating interunit communication in multinational headquarters-subsidiary relationship
topic multinational company (MNC) interunit communication headquarters subsidiary diversity internationalization kulttuurienvälinen viestintä Master's Degree Programme in Intercultural Communication Tapaustutkimus 3134 kansainväliset yritykset viestintäkulttuuri sisäinen tiedotus emoyhtiöt tytäryhtiöt vuorovaikutus kansainvälistyminen kielitaito
topic_facet 3134 Master's Degree Programme in Intercultural Communication Tapaustutkimus diversity emoyhtiöt headquarters internationalization interunit communication kansainväliset yritykset kansainvälistyminen kielitaito kulttuurienvälinen viestintä multinational company (MNC) sisäinen tiedotus subsidiary tytäryhtiöt viestintäkulttuuri vuorovaikutus
url https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/55436 http://www.urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-201709253813
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