Refs. [2, 4], investigation into what constitutes appropriate knowledge management processes within emerging/developing markets remains limited. Many Western-based organisations seeking to enter emerging economies (such as those in South East Asia) have achieved mixed success, which in part has been attributed to the inherent limitations of transferring extant Western-based knowledge management processes to new international contexts (see Refs. [5–7]). Such attempts can be seen in the highly competitive Chinese hotel sector, which has become an important investment platform for leading multinational hotel groups including, but not limited to Marriott International, Accor, Inter-continental and Shangri-La (see Ref. [8]). Despite the heavy investment of these Western hotel groups, their ability to compete effectively in China remains an issue of ongoing concern (see Refs. [8–10]). As a result, Refs. [11–14] have called for a finer-grained understanding of what constitutes 'effective knowledge management' by Western firms in the highly competitive Chinese hotel sector. Focussing on one major Western hotel chain operating in China (i.e. Marriott International), this chapter presents an empirical exploration into the issues inherent to knowledge management processes in the Chinese hospitality industry. In addition, the potential implications identified during this exploration have been used to prepare and present an agenda for future research into knowledge management practices within the Chinese hospitality industry.
