Barriers and facilitators to knowledge management in multi-national companies : the case of Nissan

Abstract

Financial markets are in crises mode due mainly to the American credit crunch, based on the sub-prime lending fiasco. Due to globalisation and the global economy, the diverse impacts of the crises are felt almost everywhere. Global competition is not something that is limited to certain countries or economies – it is everywhere. This is the environment where multi-national companies operate in, on a daily basis. Organisations are exploring many possibilities in order to attain a competitive advantage in the global markets – in order to survive. KM has the capability of supplying companies with this advantage, by enabling the fast and effective transfer and sharing of important knowledge/information globally throughout the company. KM is not a new concept, yet it is perceived that KM does not yield the desired business results required to be competitively advantageous. Previous literate is used as part of this research in identifying the barriers and facilitators that have an impact on the success of KM. Simultaneously, the barriers in Nissan South Africa (NSA) are explored through focus group interviews, while the facilitators were ranked for their perceived effectiveness (by NSA employees) through the completion of an online questionnaire. Applying the case study research method, this study aims to identify the lingering barriers to successful KM that exist in NSA. Further, the study will categorise these barriers into main categories for future action. This study will also rank facilitators to KM for their perceived affectivity in breaking the identified barriers. As outcome, this research provides a view of the barriers to KM that currently exist in a multi-national company, as well as an indication towards the possible methods (and their perceived importance) that can be used to overcome these barriers. It is possible to attain a competitive advantage in the global economy through successful KM. Copyright