This executive summary is based on an empirical study conducted as part of a doctoral research project. The related study serves the purpose of contributing to the field of international/intercultural management in Russia, thereby choosing an organisational learning perspective.

More than ten years after the breakdown of the Soviet economy Russia still presents a very complex and dynamic business environment in a status of permanent change. The characterization of this environment draws upon interdisciplinary research on transformation processes. The needs for companies' adaptations to this environment are discussed from the point of view of strategic management theory. Subsidiaries of multinational companies (MNCs) can adapt successfully to this transformation environment only by means of organisational learning. Therefore, some main ideas of organisational learning are introduced, a working definition of organisational learning is developed. Organisational learning is understood as the mutual exchange of knowledge between expatriates and local employees.

The contribution of organisational learning to the creation and improvement of organisational competences is discussed from a resource-based view. Following the concept of 'social embeddedness' it is shown that organisational learning is set into a specific social context shaping both the stock of existing knowledge (and knowledge gaps, respectively) and norms governing the handling of knowledge. In addition, the theory of organisational politics is scanned to search for explanations of how people handle knowledge. In the main part of the study the different theoretical strands are combined to analyse obstacles to learning on different organisational levels. Moreover, management tools belonging to the areas of organisation, human resources management, and corporate culture which can be used to overcome obstacles to learning, are discussed from a multiple context-perspective. The theoretical findings are underpinned by the results of a case study-based empirical study; in total more than 70 semi-structured interviews have been conducted at 22 different subsidiaries of MNCs in Moscow.

Read the executive summary (in English language) here.

Get the original doctor thesis in German language here.