Knowledge that Transforms

Do headquarters influence the subsidiaries' arrangements of vocational training in foreign countries? Our analyses of the amount of training offered to employees by organizations in 14 countries in which different training systems prevail (either continuing vocational training or initial vocational training) show that the cultural models of training diffuse between training systems in both directions. Independent from their own location, headquarters have the power to export their expectations concerning the training of employees to their subsidiaries that are located in countries with training systems different from those of the headquarters. This result is in accordance with the country-of-origin effect.

This Perspective brings together the remarks written by the authors (or designates) of 16 new JIBS Decade Awards, given in 2009 to the most influential articles published in the journal for 1970 through 1985. The authors briefly discuss the core insights of their articles and assess the relevance of their work for today's scholars. A short history of the JIBS Decade Award precedes these mini-retrospectives.