Managing adoption by cultural development: Exploring the plant-level effect of a company-specific production system in a Norwegian multinational

Abstract

Purpose: Company-specific production systems (XPS) are standardised improvement programmes, devised by and adjusted to a particular firm, generally a multinational corporation (MNC). A pertinent issue concerns the possibilities and constraints of putting them into practice in plants in different countries. This paper describes and analyses to what extent and how a Norwegian MNC succeeded in adopting an XPS in its local plants. Design/methodology/approach: Brazilian, Chinese, and Norwegian plants of a Norwegian electro-chemical company were studied from 2017 to 2019. Our data consist of the results of the plants’ XPS assessment programmes, combined with interviews and observations at different organisational levels. Findings: The MNC largely managed to adopt the XPS in these plants. This was made possible by creating a strong corporate culture, shaping the managers’ basic assumptions, and persuading lower-level management and operators to adopt the improvement programme. The corporate culture was the result of several initiatives, including the deployment of different human resource management practices, supported by top management teams and using the Norwegian plant as a laboratory visited by operators and managers. Originality/value: This paper is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to study the actual use of an XPS intra-organisationally. It highlights the role of culture development and the basic assumptions for achieving global adoption. Global improvement programmes require constant managerial attention and actions at several levels in order to be adopted globally.