
This comment is based on Jo-Chun Chieh’s Dissertation written under the supervision of Prof. Michael Czinkota at the University of Birmingham, UK.
The study investigated the perspective of Taiwanese managers, thereby examining the impact of national and organizational culture differences and International Strategic Alliance (ISA) practices on ISA performance. Four findings can be concluded as follows.
1, National culture differences partly influence ISA performance, especially in the uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation dimensions. This finding corresponds to one of the cultural functions proposed by Schneider (1989). He states that culture serves two functions, to solve external adaptation and internal integration problems. Uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation especially impact on external adaptation. In other words, Taiwanese managers in the high-technology industry emphasize and are good t coping with opportunities and threats from the external environment, as well as being good at developing ISA strategies with foreign alliance partners. on the other hand, power distance, individualism and masculinity influence employee relationships within an organization.
2, Organizational culture differences also partly influence ISA performance, especially in professional and pragmatic (market -oriented) dimensions. Kasper (2001) associates corporate culture and market orientation, claiming that “market oriented organizations are open, employee-oriented, results-oriented, pragmatic, professional…”. This finding reflects that Taiwanese managers in the high-technology industry emphasize the importance of building objectives and obtaining new knowledge when cooperating with ISA foreign partners. Kasper (2001) also associates innovation, stating that customer contacts and customer participation in the R&D procedure are the basis of innovation. This notion implies that Taiwanese managers have high consciousness about global competition and pay attention on balancing innovation and market orientation.
Stay tuned for two more conclusions on our next Birmingham Insights on Asia.