Title: Implementing global virtual teams to enhance cross-border transfer of knowledge in multinational enterprises: a resource-based view

Authors: Andre L. Araujo

Addresses: Mason School of Business, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA

Abstract: Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) face major impediments to transferring firm-specific advantages given their relatively low capacity to absorb knowledge from internationally dispersed units. In a world where workers| expertise is increasingly internationally distributed, global virtual teams hold the promise of enabling geographically, temporarily and functionally dispersed groups to overcome distance and time barriers with the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). This study offers a theoretical framework that explains the potential benefits of global virtual teams to MNEs by explicitly examining the effects of technology, demographic dissimilarity and absorptive capacity on the cross-border transfer of knowledge in MNEs. It also presents a set of propositions distilled from empirical evidence and theoretical considerations to guide future research in this area.

Keywords: global teams; virtual teams; culture; multinational enterprises; MNEs; absorptive capacity; organisational knowledge; information technology; communications technology; ICT; cross-border knowledge transfer; demographic dissimilarity; teamwork; resource-based view; RBV.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2009.022973

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2009 Vol.6 No.2, pp.161 - 176

Published online: 05 Feb 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article