Page 95 - Crossing Cultural Boundaries - Cees den Teuling

As argued by Cohen and Leventhal (1990, p. 149) “The empirical analysis of investments in research and development suggested that companies are in fact sensitive to the characteristics of the learning environment in which they function”. As a conclusion, ACAP appears to be a part of a firm’s decision modus in allocating and implementing resources for innovations. Despite these findings, since ACAP is intangible and its benefits are indirect, there is an uncertainty about the appropriate level, not to mention the optimal level of any investment into it. However, if the organisation is eager to acquire and implement knowledge not related to the present direction of activity, it must deliberately invest in the acquisition of additional ACAP. This can be done by stimulating the present staff to gain additional knowledge by education and training and/or include additional staff with experienced ACAP, to be able to absorb the requested knowledge from other domains.
As argued by Ndiege, Herselman, and Flowerday (2012), organisations, (regardless the size) need to have properly developed abilities in external knowledge attainment and assimilation, as well as knowledge transformation and exploitation within the organisation, in order to maintain their competitiveness. As a result, ACAP has become highly relevant not only for large organisations but also for SME’s. There are some obstacles SME’s meet while trying to include a full scale ACAP into their organisation. Domination of owners/managers and/or major shareholders, results in distinct leadership roles and styles. Leadership is really influential and plays important roles in the in and outflow of information. A “not-invented-here” attitude of an authoritarian management style is able to prevent the necessary external acquisition of knowledge.
2.7.5 Russian and Western perspectives on culturally ingrained transfer of management knowledge
From the 1990’s, hundreds of training courses, from one-day seminars to full-size MBA and EMBA Programs, have been developed to educate and to train Russian managers in the transitional economy of that decade and beyond. A number of programmes did not consider the pitfall of the prevailing cultural norms and attitudes in Russia, neglecting the historical fact that in the Soviet period training programmes were dedicated to emphasise procedures and regulations and to discourage initiative, creativity and innovation. As argued by May et al. (2005, p.25) “Effective transfer of (Western) management knowledge requires trainees/managers to engage in a four-stage process
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