Competence Assessment and Agile Method for Cross-Border Cooperation: A Study of Industrial Sino-German Cooperation with Private Companies

Cooperation with partners who have a different linguistical and cultural background increase the chance of corporate challenges. The influence of economic and political factors as well as the current worldwide pandemic multiply these challenges with partners from afar. The fourth industrial revolution and the will to work beneficially on the worldwide transformation together results in multifarious cross-border activities. Industrial Sino-German cooperation with private companies builds the central point of research in this study in order to develop an assessment and a suitable toolbox supported by selected methods. The focus of the assessment development is the individual cooperation competence in order to realize the aim of an efficient and successful cooperate activity. The assessment is created and optimized based on a literature review and practical experience. On the basis of an agile method, tools are provided to reduce possible risks coming along with multicultural teamwork. The questions how to develop a suitable assessment tool to measure cooperation competence and how agile methods can deploy the improvement potential of cooperative activities will be answered in this study. The industrial input provides a valuable contribution for practical application.