Cross-cultural Management Practices and Competitive Advantage at Total energies Marketing Kenya PLC

Abstract

The management of cross-cultural practices continue to challenge global firms which are keen to extend their businesses operations due to rapid globalization and technological advances. Lower labor costs and free movement of professionals has highlighted the importance of managing cultural diversity at the workplace. Thus, the need for managers of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) to put in place management practices leading to a diverse culture could be a source of sustained competitive advantage. The first objective of this research was to determine the cross cultural management practices adopted by TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya PLC. The researcher used an interview guide with open ended questions to collect primary data. The findings revealed that training and skills development, results orientation, recognition and rewarding, work life balance, managing individual differences and cultural learning through intercultural competence leadership were the cross-cultural management practices adopted by the TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya PLC. The second objective was to establish the influence of cross-cultural management practices on competitive advantage at TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya PLC. The results showed that training and skills development, results orientation, recognition and rewarding, and work-life balance significantly influenced competitive advantage of TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya PLC. From the findings of this study, cross cultural management practices influence organizational competitive advantage. This provides a strong indication that TotalEnergies Marketing PLC Kenya must adopt cross cultural management practices within its area of operation to have a high chance of remaining competitive. The findings of this study therefore provide recommendations to managers of TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya PLC, the need for adopting cross-cultural management practices that will improve the overall organization competitiveness. The major limitation of the study was that the study only focused on one multinational company operating in the oil and gas sector. The study recommends that further research needs to be done to other organizations within the same or different sectors to validate the findings of this present study.