The importance of intercultural competence in supply management
O'Donovan Jürgens, Thea Aoife (2018)
O'Donovan Jürgens, Thea Aoife
Saimaan ammattikorkeakoulu
2018
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 1.0 Finland
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018112718376
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018112718376
Tiivistelmä
The objective of this thesis is to highlight a consequence out of the trend to aim for partnerships in supply management: the importance of intercultural competence in supply management and to present measures that are undertaken to ensure that supply departments are equipped with intercultural competence.
This thesis consists of two major parts; a literature review and an empirical research part. Existing literature and models on partnership relationships in supply management, intercultural competence, recruitment in supply management and the intercultural competence in human resources management form the theoretical framework. The literature was mostly gathered from academic journals but also books and a magazine’s internet website has been used. Based on the literature review, a job advertisement observation and an interview with a professional in the field of supply management has been conducted. While the job advertisement observation data is from the German job advertisement website stepstone.de, the interview data is from a 40-minute, semi-structured face-to-face interview. All parts of the thesis are connected in a discussion and conclusion.
Main findings are that intercultural competence is crucial for well-performing supply management. Companies need to focus on this attribute and support further development of intercultural competence. Through well-considered job advertisements, employing different nationalities and coaching employees through actual training, companies are currently ensuring intercultural competence. Putting all information together, it can be assumed that intercultural competence will be focused on even more in the future.
This thesis consists of two major parts; a literature review and an empirical research part. Existing literature and models on partnership relationships in supply management, intercultural competence, recruitment in supply management and the intercultural competence in human resources management form the theoretical framework. The literature was mostly gathered from academic journals but also books and a magazine’s internet website has been used. Based on the literature review, a job advertisement observation and an interview with a professional in the field of supply management has been conducted. While the job advertisement observation data is from the German job advertisement website stepstone.de, the interview data is from a 40-minute, semi-structured face-to-face interview. All parts of the thesis are connected in a discussion and conclusion.
Main findings are that intercultural competence is crucial for well-performing supply management. Companies need to focus on this attribute and support further development of intercultural competence. Through well-considered job advertisements, employing different nationalities and coaching employees through actual training, companies are currently ensuring intercultural competence. Putting all information together, it can be assumed that intercultural competence will be focused on even more in the future.