Boundaries and knowledge sharing - a case study of two multinationals

This case study examines how a major multinational food manufacturer, Master Foods, and a major office technology supplier, Fuji Xerox, cope with the problems of developing, sharing and maximising the use of knowledge in their organisations. The paper sets out a typology of analysing organisational knowledge management, developed by the authors, and applies that model to the two companies under study. It draws extensively upon material gathered in interviews with three middle managers from Master Foods Australia and four middle managers from Fuji Xerox Australia, providing a rich picture of two very different approaches to knowledge management in a multinational setting.