Managerial Communication Competences for Knowledge Hybridization and Innovations: A Framework for Effective Knowledge Transfer in MNE Hotel Operating in Athens, Greece

The research investigates the role of managerial competences (MC) and knowledge dynamics for effective knowledge transfer (EKT) in an international market during the Greek economic crisis of 2007-2010. Like other economies, Greece faced a serious recession in 2009, which submerged the country into a major funding crisis and resulted in austerity measures. A Troika fund was obtained with the aim of precluding Greece from economic failure. The paper focuses on the managers’ perspectives as to how new products and local opportunities are exploited via EKT in subsidiaries of multinational enterprise (MNE) hotels operating in Athens, Greece. Semi-structured interviews with 15 general managers and practitioners of subsidiaries operating in Athens are used representing a range of different activities and sizes. The results identify how managerial communication competences underpin the process of inter- or intra-organizational KT between and within subsidiaries. The research highlights that there is a call to cultivate communication abilities, flexibility, a greater level of autonomy, and open door strategies with the purpose of turning knowledge into commercial ends, through organizational innovation and new product developments. Recently, there has been little focus on the practice influence of managerial and communication skills on the management of MNEs hotels in a competitive host country, of most previous studies estimating the call for competences rather than the genuine owning of these among managers and practitioners. This article sheds the light on a great number of promising activities to utilize inter/intra-organizational KT. Specifically, the managerial communication competences model operates as an initial toolkit for managerial decision-making when facing severe competition in the host country in terms of utilizing, communicating, or seeking to apply the best internal/external KT practices. 

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