Many researchers in the area of cross cultural management follow a structuralist and static conception of the culture construct. In this article, I outline a critique of this approach to culture and offer the concept of social capital as a potential corrective to the limitations of the structuralist paradigm widely in use. The social capital approach treats social relations, rather than organizations or individuals, as the unit of analysis, and focuses on the processes and mechanisms by which social relations contribute to outcomes relevant to cross cultural management. I suggest a methodology for studying social capital as a network process, focusing on the connections between actions or events.
Arenius, P. and Autio, E. (2002) ‘International Social Capital and its Effects on Resource Acquisition in Born Global Firms’ , European Academy of Management Conference, Stockholm.
2.
Barkema, H. , Bell, J. and Pennings, J. (1996) ‘Foreign Entry, Cultural Barriers, and Learning’Strategic Management Journal17: 151–166 .
3.
Bartlett, C. and Ghoshal, S. (1989) Managing across Borders: The Transnational Solution. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School .
4.
Björkman, I. and Lu, Y. (2001) ‘Institutionalization and Bargaining Power Explanations of HRM Practices in International Joint Ventures: The Case of Chinese–Western Joint Ventures’ , Organization Studies22: 491–512 .
5.
Blalock, H. (1961) Causal Inferences in Nonexperimental Research. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press .
6.
Bourdieu, P. (1986) ‘The Forms of Capital’, in J. Richardson (ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, pp. 241–258. New York: Greenwood .
7.
Branzei, O. , Vertinsky, I. , Takahashi, T. and Zhang, W. (2001) ‘Corporate Environmentalism across Cultures: A Comparative Field Study of Chinese and Japanese Executives’ , International Journal of Cross Cultural Management1: 287–312 .
8.
Burt, R. (1997) ‘The Contingent Value of Social Capital’ , Administrative Science Quarterly42: 339–365 .
9.
Chen, C. , Chen, X. and Meindl, J. (1998) ‘How Can Cooperation Be Fostered? The Cultural Effects of Individualism–Collectivism’ , Academy of Management Review23: 285–304 .
10.
Cohen, W. and Levinthal, D. (1990) ‘Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation’ , Administrative Science Quarterly35: 128–152 .
11.
Coleman, J. (1988) ‘Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital’ , American Journal of Sociology94: S95–S121 .
12.
Coviello, N. and Munro, H. (1997) ‘Network Relationships and the Internationalisation Process of Small Software Firms’ , International Business Review6: 361–386 .
13.
Dyer, J. and Singh, H. (1998) ‘The Relational View: Cooperative Strategy and Sources of Interorganizational Competitive Advantage’ , Academy of Management Review23: 660–679 .
14.
Earley, P. and Mosakowski, E. (2000) ‘Creating Hybrid Team Cultures: An Empirical Test of Transnational Team Functioning’ , Academy of Management Journal43: 26–49 .
15.
Giddens, A. (1984) The Constitution of Society. Oxford: Polity Press .
16.
Gottmann, J. and Roy, A. (1990) Sequential Analysis: A Guide for Behavioral Researchers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
17.
Gupta, A. and Govindarajan, V. (2000) ‘Knowledge Flows within Multinational Corporations’ , Strategic Management Journal21: 473–496 .
18.
Hall, E. and Hall, E. (1995) Understanding Cultural Differences. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press .
19.
Hansen, M. (1999) ‘The Search–Transfer Problem: The Role of Weak Ties in Sharing Knowledge across Organization Subunits’ , Administrative Science Quarterly44: 82–111 .
20.
Harzing, A. and Sorge, A. (2003) ‘The Relative Impact of Country of Origin and Universal Contingencies on Internationalization Strategies and Corporate Control in Multinational Enterprises’ , Organization Studies24: 187–214 .
21.
Hennart, J. and Zeng, M. (2002) ‘Cross-cultural Differences and Joint Venture Longevity’ , Journal of International Business Studies33: 699–716 .
22.
Hitt, M. , Lee, H. and Yucel, E. (2002) ‘The Importance of Social Capital to the Management of Multinational Enterprises: Asian versus Western Firms’ , Asian Pacific Journal of Management19: 353–372 .
23.
Hofstede, G. (1980) Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values. London: Sage .
24.
Hofstede, G. , Triandis, H. , Smith, P. , Bond, M. , Fu, P. and Pasa, S. (2001) ‘Special Commentary: The Study of Cross Cultural Management and Organization – Past, Present and Future’ , International Journal of Cross Cultural Management1: 11–30 .
25.
Holm, U. , Johanson, J. and Thilenius, P. (1995) ‘Headquarters’ Knowledge of Subsidiaries Network Contexts in the Multinational Corporation’ , International Studies of Management and Organization25: 97–119 .
26.
Johanson, J. and Vahlne, J. (1992) ‘Management of Foreign Market Entry’ , Scandinavian International Business Review1: 9–27 .
27.
Kogut, B. and Singh, H. (1988) ‘The Effect of National Culture on the Choice of Entry Mode’ , Journal of International Business Studies19: 411–432 .
28.
Kostova, T. and Roth, K. (2003) ‘Social Capital in Multinational Corporations and a Micro–Macro Model of its Formation’ , Academy of Management Review28: 297–317 .
29.
Lane, H. and Beamish, P. (1990) ‘Cross-cultural Cooperative Behavior in Joint Ventures in LDCs’ , Management International Review30: 87–102 .
30.
Lowe, S. (2001) ‘In the Kingdom of the Blind, the One-eyed Man is King’ , International Journal of Cross Cultural Management1: 313–332 .
31.
Luo, Y. (2002) ‘Capability Exploitation and Building in a Foreign Market: Implications for Multinational Enterprises’ , Organization Science13: 48–63 .
32.
McNaughton, R. and Green, M. (2002) Global Competition and Local Networks. Aldershot: Ashgate .
33.
Martinez, J. and Jarillo, J. (1991) ‘Coordination Demands of International Strategies’ , Journal of International Business Studies22: 429–444 .
34.
Mayhew, B. (1980) ‘Structuralism versus Individualism: Shadowboxing in the Dark’ , Social Forces59: 586–596 .
35.
Nahapiet, J. and Ghoshal, S. (1998) ‘Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage’ , Academy of Management Review23: 242–266 .
36.
Nohria, N. and Eccles, R. (1992) Networks and Organizations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press .
37.
Nohria, N. and Ghoshal, S. (1997) The Differentiated Network. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass .
38.
Park, S. and Ungson, G. (1997) ‘The Effect of National Culture, Organizational Complementarity, and Economic Motivation on Joint Venture Dissolution’ , Academy of Management Journal40: 279–307 .
39.
Parkhe, A. (1993) ‘Strategic Alliance Structuring: A Game Theoretic and Transaction Cost Examination of Interfirm Cooperation’ , Academy of Management Journal36: 794–829 .
40.
Podolny, J. and Baron, J. (1997) ‘Resources and Relationships: Social Networks and Mobility in the Workplace’ , American Sociological Review62: 673–693 .
41.
Portes, A. (1998) ‘Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology’ , Annual Review of Sociology24: 1–24 .
42.
Prakash, S. and Selle, P. (eds.) (2003) Investigating Social Capital. London: Sage .
43.
Sabel, C. (1993) ‘Studied Trust: Building New Forms of Cooperation in a Volatile Economy’ , Human Relations46: 1133–1170 .
44.
Soderberg, A. and Holden, N. (2002) ‘Rethinking Cross Cultural Management in a Globalizing Business World’ , International Journal of Cross Cultural Management2: 103–121 .
45.
Spencer, J. (2003) ‘Global Gatekeeping, Representation, and Network Structure: A Longitudinal Analysis of Regional and Global Knowledge-diffusion Networks’ , Journal of International Business Studies34: 428–442 .
46.
Staber, U. and Sydow, J. (2002) ‘Organizational Adaptive Capacity: A Structuration Perspective’ , Journal of Management Inquiry11: 408–424 .
47.
Weick, K. and Roberts, K. (1993) ‘Collective Mind in Organizations: Heedful Interrelating on Flight Decks’ , Administrative Science Quarterly38: 357–381 .
48.
Zaheer, S. (1995) ‘Overcoming the Liability of Foreignness’ , Academy of Management Journal38: 341–363 .
