The Internationalisation of PTT Telecom: A Cultural Perspective - Free

The central question in the third step is: What kind of individual strategiesdo the employees of PTT TELECOM use in reaction to the restructuring of thetelecom market? The answer to this third question is descriptive in nature and isrelated to the interactional and individual levels of the multi-level model. Ittherefore requires a detailed study of the daily activities of the employees andtheir individual strategies in coping with uncertainty, fear, change andturbulence in different cultural contexts.The fourth and last step in the phased approach is to achieve a detailed andaccurate picture reflecting the daily practice of cross-cultural cooperation ofPTT TELECOM and its employees.The central question in the fourth step is: What cross-cultural experiencesdo PTT TELECOM and its employees have with international alliancepartners? To answer this question an analytical approach is needed and thusdemands an evaluation of the cross-cultural experiences of PTT TELECOM andits employees. By selecting distinct cases an understanding of the differencesand similarities in cross-cultural management is accomplished. Moreover, theinfluence of cultural processes on the process of internationalisation can bebetter understood. The tendency of PTOs to focus on ex-colonial countries inparticular needs further attention. Do relationships with ex-colonial countriesfavour European PTOs in starting up business overseas? Within this fourth stepthe international experiences of PTO employees and the experiences of theinternational alliance partners are taken into account.A first case for studying cross-cultural cooperation is selected from thestrategic alliance AT&T-Unisource. PTT TELECOM started Unisource togetherwith Swedish Telia in 1992. Later Swiss Telecom, AT&T and Telefónica joinedthe strategic alliance. For five years Unisource was the major strategy ofinternationalisation of PTT TELECOM. The cooperation in the strategicalliance AT&T-Unisource however, proved to be very difficult. The AT&T-Unisource alliance fell apart with the leaving of Telefónica and AT&T and PTTTELECOM’s alliance with the American Qwest. The wide cultural diversity andthe difficult cross-cultural cooperation make the AT&T-Unisource case a mustfor exploring the cross-cultural experiences of PTT TELECOM. Two monthswere used to study cross-cultural cooperation in the Unisource alliance.The second case consists of a comparative study of two strategic allianceswith PTOs in the Dutch ex-colonies, the Netherlands Antilles and Indonesia. Acomparison of both experiences could give answer to the question as to whetherrelations with ex-colonies favour in starting up business overseas. Theacquisition in the Netherlands Antilles occurred in the early 1990s when theorganisation had almost no experience with cross-cultural cooperation. Culturaldifferences have played an important role in the failure of this acquisition. In thecontemporary strategy of PTT TELECOM the Netherlands Antilles no longerplay a role. In contrast, the acquisition of a share in an Indonesian GSMoperator, which took place in 1995, was a success. For purposes of this study, aninside understanding of the daily cross-cultural management was obtainedthrough participant observation for a period of three months in both theNetherlands Antilles and Indonesia.9