Improving Collaborative Learning and Global Project Management in Small and Medium Enterprise

Globalization needs Collaboration. In a multi-national setting traditional issues of collaboration are exacerbated because of language and culture. This problem is particularly felt by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) , which are traditionally not “natural born globals”. For example in Germany, which is dominated by SMEs, experience skill shortages as a result of demographic changes and a declining amount of students in engineering and informatics disciplines are becoming a major challenge. To investigate this situation, develop, and implement solutions, the research project “InterComp SME 2.0” was created. We present models and knowledge management methods to improve the training lifecycle of multi-national SMEs using interactive virtual 3-dimensional worlds such as Second Life. We focus on the case of an already globalized, medium-sized German publishing software firm. Existing training offers are modeled using business process management methods and modularised to improve execution and learning in an intercultural setting. Additional support for our approach is provided by our recent teaching experiences in a practice supervision course at the Berlin School of Economics and Law.