Globalization for Knowledge Management and E-Business Systems, Essay Example

Globalization affords both challenges and opportunities for knowledge management and e-Business systems. The language barrier is the first challenge that I foresee: operating internationally will require my organization to provide its websites in other languages. As Thierauf and Hoctor (2006) explained, all too often American companies operate their e-businesses “as though their country is the only one,” with a website “written in English, marketed with an American mentality, and priced in U.S. dollars only” (pp. 67-68). My company will have to work with translators and businesspeople from the countries in which it wishes to operate in order to construct versions of all of its sites tailored specifically to the language, culture, customs, mentalities, currency, and laws of each country in question. Due to globalization, the online customer base is a very diverse one, and my company will need to ensure that it appreciates this—and seizes the opportunities. Thierauf and Hoctor recommended that companies establish “appropriate company facilities that tie-in with their trading partners,” ensuring that “all parties can reap the financial benefits of optimization on a global basis” (p. 68).

As Davenport and Prusak (2000) explained, one of the challenges that globalization poses for knowledge management is that the knowledge and assets a company requires—or even owns—might be distributed across countries (p. 17). The sheer size and “geographic dispersion” of such an organization may make knowledge management very difficult (p. 17). As the example of Caterpillar Inc. demonstrates, one solution is to connect employees and all members of the value chain worldwide by means of a single learning technology infrastructure (Turban et al., 2010, p. 295). Another example is that of BP Exploration (BPX), “the division of BP that finds and produces oil and gas”: under John Browne, BPX became, in his words, “’a federation of assets,’” wherein each unit has “the freedom to develop processes and solutions appropriate to their particular problems” (Davenport & Prusak, 2000, p. 19).