The process of developing themes
| Illustrative codes from interview data | Memos | Themes |
|---|---|---|
| “Some projects need to be completed within a short period of time and in that case we subsidiaries need to deliver the know-how to the parent company, so that is not an easy thing to do. It requires certain abilities to make sure that the parent company understands it completely.” “We never feel like working in a subsidiary. The parent company always maintains a team spirit and we always feel a part of the team like others with no hierarchical problems.” | The subsidiaries need to play a role in spreading new knowledge through RKT. The parent company prefers to create an environment for effective RKT from the subsidiaries | 1 Role of the parent company and subsidiary in RKT |
| “Regular daily meetings and communication happen via digital platforms, and we only meet in person for particular projects that require personal interaction.” “Sometimes we need to communicate with the headquarters. This is due to the type of know-how we share. If the skill cannot be expressed through online platforms, then we have to make it through personal interactions.” | Both digital and face-to-face communication channels are used for RKT | 2 RKT communication channel |
| “Most employees can speak fluently in English, but sometimes minor misunderstandings appear during the conversations because of differences in the pronunciation of different words.” “We share knowledge while working together. However, the subsidiary’s work attitude cannot synchronize with ours. And this could prevent us from learning.” “Since we run operations in different time zone areas, direct response is almost impossible while emails cannot express the whole intended meaning” | Language, cultural difference, and geographical distance are the main constraints of RKT | 3 RKT constraints |
| “More collaboration leads to more trust and attachment with the parent company, and as a result, it enables us to share more and more knowledge and ideas without any hesitation.” “There is a big difference in the cultures of both countries of subsidiary and parent company. But our parent company is very receptive, so we never feel that difference, and it helps a lot.” “Non-disclosure agreement signed before project initiation and company virtual network or machine used for communication only.” “We have an open policy to extend all types of knowledge with the parent company where required, which enables new opportunities to benefit from past information.” | Collaboration or internal networks, understanding of cultural differences, precautions taken for information exchange, and understanding the relevance of knowledge sharing from subsidiaries can mitigate the constraints of the RKT process | 4 Factors mitigating RKT process constraints |
| “We took this idea from an Indian subsidiary, and implemented it across the MNC by reducing the number of people in the confirmation for shipments process, so it now takes the company only a few hours to confirm a particular shipment with less resource utilization.” “We can’t share everything we know. This would eliminate our knowledge strengths. Therefore, we can only provide the parent company with certain knowledge for short periods, rather than showing them everything we have” | RKT have positive consequences for MNEs, but RKT can also make the subsidiaries feel vulnerable in MNEs’ global operations | 5 Implications of RKT for MNEs |
| Illustrative codes from interview data | Memos | Themes |
|---|---|---|
| “Some projects need to be completed within a short period of time and in that case we subsidiaries need to deliver the know-how to the parent company, so that is not an easy thing to do. It requires certain abilities to make sure that the parent company understands it completely.” | The subsidiaries need to play a role in spreading new knowledge through RKT. | 1 |
| “Regular daily meetings and communication happen via digital platforms, and we only meet in person for particular projects that require personal interaction.” | Both digital and face-to-face communication channels are used for RKT | 2 |
| “Most employees can speak fluently in English, but sometimes minor misunderstandings appear during the conversations because of differences in the pronunciation of different words.” | Language, cultural difference, and geographical distance are the main constraints of RKT | 3 |
| “More collaboration leads to more trust and attachment with the parent company, and as a result, it enables us to share more and more knowledge and ideas without any hesitation.” | Collaboration or internal networks, understanding of cultural differences, precautions taken for information exchange, and understanding the relevance of knowledge sharing from subsidiaries can mitigate the constraints of the RKT process | 4 |
| “We took this idea from an Indian subsidiary, and implemented it across the MNC by reducing the number of people in the confirmation for shipments process, so it now takes the company only a few hours to confirm a particular shipment with less resource utilization.” | RKT have positive consequences for MNEs, but RKT can also make the subsidiaries feel vulnerable in MNEs’ global operations | 5 |
Source(s): Own elaboration
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