یک تحقیق چند سطحی از پروژه های بازاریابی بین المللی : نقش دانش تجربی و خلاقیت بر عملکرد

This study, using a sample of Korean multinational corporations, focuses on testing the relationships between the constructs of experiential knowledge, creativity, and performance in the context of international marketing projects. Relying on a multi-level conceptualization of experiential knowledge and creativity, our findings suggest that process-based creativity is enhanced when the team members have a higher level of experiential knowledge, but outcome-based creativity is not significantly influenced by either team- or firm-level experiential knowledge. It is concluded that, in the context of international marketing projects, the domain-relevant knowledge of the actors (i.e., the team-level experiential knowledge in the foreign markets) largely governs the level of their process-based creativity. The findings also suggest that project performance is directly influenced by firm-level experiential knowledge and process-based creativity, and is indirectly influenced by team-level experiential knowledge through the mediation of process-based creativity.

In the area of marketing management, the major body of emerging studies has not taken a comprehensive look at the management of knowledge and innovation in international markets. Particularly, the study of creativity has received little attention in the literature of international marketing management. Although it is known that an absence of innovativeness is a critical reason for marketing failure (e.g., Griffiths-Hemans and Grover, 2006, Im and Workman, 2004, April and Sethi et al., 2001, February), the previous body of work has largely ignored the specifics of the international market setting. As a reflection of the growing reality wherein multinational corporations (MNCs) are increasingly leveraging their competencies of knowledge and innovation in ever-competitive global markets, we suggest that further research should focus on the importance of knowledge and innovation in the context of the international markets. This work primarily tries to respond to this need. This work, investigating knowledge and innovation in the international market setting, also focuses on MNCs' marketing processes at the project team level. A review of the literature reveals that, with a few exceptions (e.g., Sethi et al., 2001), the major emphasis has been on the macro-level, focusing largely on organization-wide phenomena and externalities to the MNC, such as research devoted to the network context or the organizational structure of MNCs ( Gupta and Govindarajan, 1991 and Holm et al., 1995). In other cases the issue of knowledge and innovation has been discussed within the limited area of the MNC's internationalization process. New knowledge concerning a common set of habits, customs, priorities, and approaches that produce new insights frequently emerges from teams (Brown & Duguid, 2001). Nevertheless, the team as a vital locus of intellectual capital has received limited attention in the study of the MNC's marketing management. The need for studying the team's role in the creation of knowledge becomes apparent in view of the reality that firms are increasingly moving toward more of a team-based structure in response to growing competition (Nijstad & De Dreu, 2002). The project is the most common form of team undertaking in a firm. A project is defined as “any undertaking with a defined starting point and defined objectives by which completion is identified; in practice, most projects depend on finite or limited resources by which objectives are to be accomplished” (PMI Standards Committee, 1996). Projects have become an increasingly common way of working for MNCs, and project teams represent an important type of organizational form as their organizational capacity to exploit the firm-specific knowledge by sharing it within the firm comprises a key competitive advantage (Hung, Naidu, Cavusgil, & Yam, 2002). The issues of the management of a project or the project team, however, have rarely been discussed in the international context, where the MNCs use projects to acquire capabilities in foreign markets. The present study investigates the nature of team-level knowledge and creativity in international projects. Against these backdrops, we feel that causal connections between knowledge, creativity, and performance of a project team should be established more firmly in the international marketing setting. Although a few researchers have investigated the consequences of knowledge management in the MNC (e.g., Luo, 1999) and it is shown that creativity and productivity are highly correlated (e.g., Suh, 2002 and Tierney et al., 1999), the causal relationships between knowledge, creativity, and performance have never been examined together in a structured model regarding the marketing project in the international market. This study, therefore, attempts to fill in the research void by (1) establishing a research model at the project-team level; (2) centering on the crucial factors concerning experiential knowledge and creativity for the success of the international project; and (3) constructing a structural model encompassing the multi-level relationships between the explaining factors and project performance.

This study is able to provide two main guidelines for managing international marketing projects. While our study has only tapped the surface of the complicated nature of knowledge management in international markets, the findings are related to (or possibly developed into) more complex issues in the different managerial orientations. The first guideline is about how to solve the “performance-learning dilemma.” The dilemma implies that the more emphasis is given on performance, the less organizational learning may take place. Our findings provide a couple of ways out of the dilemma. The second involves performance enhancers in international marketing projects. This study uncovered firm-level, market-based knowledge and process-based creativity to enhance project performance. First, the performance-learning dilemma is omnipresent in business activities, particularly for a situation with more uncertainty such as international marketing project. Often, it would be unrealistic for a firm to try to achieve at the same time both good financial performance and valuable organizational learning from an international project. To solve this dilemma a firm might control the level of loose coupling behavior to routine international projects by maintaining the variance of behaviors within the project team (Mezias & Glynn, 1993). According to March (1991), opportunities for acquiring new and potentially beneficial information are enhanced by maintaining variance in the organization's knowledge base; for instance, when all employees do not share exactly the same knowledge. Based on this tactic of variance in behaviors, it is recommended that an international project team include both experienced and inexperienced members. As inexperienced members enjoy both direct experience and vicarious learning, experienced members could be more performance-focused being unbound from prerequisite learning in the project. While a theory cannot foresee which formation ratio will be most effective, it should be judged on a project-by-project basis in which both financial performance and organizational learning can be best achieved in balance. Another area might be the notion that marketing project performance is derived from multiple levels of experiential knowledge (either directly or indirectly). Thereby, knowledge learning can be recognized as an important part of competitive advantage resulting in better performance of future projects to nullify the performance-learning dilemma. It needs well-prepared, multiple criteria in assessing projects to integrate this notion into international project management. The notion also adds to our understanding of how firms acquire knowledge for new product development. For instance, the assumption that knowledge is obtained within the organization or often from geographically close organizations is merely limited (Ganesan, Malter, & Rindfleisch, 2005). The organizational framework for learning should be structured loosely and in various ways to gain different types and sources of knowledge. Second, for better performance of a project there are two important factors, according to our results: firm-level experiential knowledge and process-based creativity. MNCs should accumulate the domain-specific knowledge at the firm level and encourage creative behavior by nurturing supportive environments and organizational culture (Amabile et al., 1996). In terms of the experiential knowledge, knowledge accumulation would preferably focus on developing routines and structures to manage operations since such routines and processes are not sensitive in terms of geographic application (Eriksson et al., 1997). Process-based creativity is another key to better performance in international marketing. Summarizing the literature (Amabile et al., 1996, Andrews and Smith, 1996, Ganesan et al., 2005, October, Griffiths-Hemans and Grover, 2006, Im and Workman, 2004, April and Sethi et al., 2001, February), the following actions will prove beneficial for better process-based creativity: Encourage employees to express their ideas openly; provide help in developing ideas; provide time for individual efforts; encourage risk taking and initiative; provide freedom for employees to enable them to do things differently; provide a non-punitive environment with a low level of supervision; encourage team members to interact and participate with other groups besides their own; maintain an optimal amount of work pressure; provide realistic work goals; encourage the delegation of responsibilities; demonstrate confidence in the workforce with a climate of mutual respect; allow individuals to be part of the decision-making process; and, encourage management to provide immediate and timely feedback to team members. Creativity will suffer in the absence of a supportive context that provides developmental feedback, displays interactive justice, and is trustworthy (George & Zhou, 2007). Thus, the role of project managers providing such a context is important.