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The purpose of this paper is to address intra-organizational communication between parent firms and foreign subsidiaries and examine how such communication effectively facilitates knowledge sharing between parent firms and their subsidiaries.

This study approaches the relationship between intra-organizational communication and the effectiveness of knowledge sharing from the viewpoint of foreign subsidiaries. The data have been collected from local managers in subsidiaries operating in Japan using a questionnaire survey. The hypotheses are tested by employing a robust regression model.

This study finds that intra-organizational communication between parent firms and foreign subsidiaries is positively associated with the effectiveness of knowledge sharing. The benefits from intra-organizational communication are greater for service firms than for manufacturing firms. Subsidiaries established through acquisition are found to enjoy a greater positive effect from intra-organizational communication than those established through greenfield investment.

The results of this study suggest that multinational corporations should facilitate intensive intra-organizational communication for knowledge sharing that can lead to the effectiveness of foreign subsidiaries. In particular, service firms should appreciate the value of communication. This study also indicates that foreign subsidiaries established through acquisition should promote communication with their parent firms for successful knowledge sharing.

This study demonstrates that the effect of intra-organizational communication on knowledge sharing differs among industries and among entry modes. This is the initial step to further investigations on the industry and the entry strategy effects of intra-organizational communication.

The use of expatriates to transfer individual and organizational know-how and knowledge is a practice widely used by multinational enterprises (MNEs). However, for service firms, the mobility of employees across national borders depends on the commitments made by countries under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). In particular, the Mode 4 form of supply under GATS can limit the ability of professionals to enter a particular country and can restrict the intra-organizational transfer of knowledge in multinational service firms. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how MNEs attempt to overcome these barriers and transfer knowledge through their global network.

Using Nonaka and Takeuchi’s SECI model of knowledge transfer, the authors study the intra-organizational knowledge transfer practices of an Indian multinational service firm. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 key informants involved with the organization.

The company uses global teams to transfer tacit knowledge and facilitates inpatriation through an internship program that helps the firm overcome nationality requirement that restricts the movement of their managers to other countries, which in turn limits their ability to transfer knowledge in the intra-organizational setting. The company uses the services of a not-for-profit youth organization that helps recruit interns for the program and also facilitates the relationship with the Indian Government, which provides support for this initiative by reducing barriers to entry for the interns.

This study takes the unique approach of studying barriers to movement of professionals and a firm’s strategic response. It identifies the pressures and barriers that companies face in the global economy and highlights the role of government agencies and other stakeholders in facilitating or restricting the transfer of knowledge within a firm’s international network. The paper articulates the implications for policy and practice, and a future research agenda.

Recent research on intra‐organizational knowledge‐transfer showed that new capability development within multinational corporations shifts from parent companies to foreign subsidiaries. This paper seeks to identify antecedents and barriers for reverse capability‐transfer in multinational corporations.

The paper adopts a multiple case study approach based on active interviews at six subsidiaries of a multinational manufacturing company.

The results suggest that subsidiary autonomy, environmental heterogeneity, and managerial initiatives are all necessary antecedents of unique capability development at the subsidiary level, but that companies do not utilize foreign subsidiary‐originated capabilities in their home‐country operations. The results also show that person‐to‐person communication is required for intra‐MNC capability‐transfer in any direction, and that other forms of communication seem to be inefficient.

A logical next step is the investigation of the phenomenon at the headquarters level with the goal to identify specific barriers for reverse capability‐transfer.

The findings support the idea that managers of multinational corporations should recognize that new unique capabilities originate not only at the parent company level but also at the foreign subsidiary level, and that it could be beneficial for the company as a whole to transfer these new capabilities back to the home country operation.

The study shows that in‐depth interviews provide the richest form of data for this type of research. Moreover, it provides a counter‐intuitive perspective on intra‐organizational knowledge and capability‐transfer in multinational corporations.

This paper aims to investigate three different orientations of recruitment (profession-sensitive, language-sensitive and interculture-sensitive recruitment) and their effect on the foreign subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs).

This study examines the relationship among three different orientations of recruitment and knowledge transfer from parent firms to foreign subsidiaries. Data are collected from local managers in MNCs’ subsidiaries operating in Japan using a questionnaire. The hypotheses are tested by using ordinary least squares resression (OLS).

The results of this study indicate that each of the three orientations of recruitment positively influences the knowledge transfer of MNCs. In particular, the positive effect of profession-sensitive recruitment is enhanced when foreign subsidiaries are established through acquisition. The positive effect of interculture-sensitive recruitment on knowledge transfer is also strengthened by offering professional training.

This study is subject to several limitations. The sample size is small, and the data were collected from a single country. In addition, the respondents’ positions in an organizational hierarchy have not been taken into account. Despite these limitations, this study can be considered the first step toward future research on the relationship between different orientations of recruitment and intra-organizational knowledge transfer.

The results of this study indicate that not only profession-sensitive recruitment but also language-sensitive and interculture-sensitive recruitment are important for intra-organizational knowledge sharing. This study suggests that local employees with intercultural competence have the potential to improve subsidiary performance through knowledge sharing with parent firms if they are provided with professional training.

This study has empirically examined the complex mechanism of the three important factors (professional, language and intercultural competence) in recruitment and their influence on knowledge transfer. In particular, this study emphasizes language-sensitive recruitment and interculture-sensitive recruitment, which have received less attention than profession-sensitive recruitment in international business research. Moreover, this study focuses on the relationship between recruitment and knowledge sharing in a cross-border setting, which few studies in the human resource management area have examined.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate, using survey data, how a firm may be able to leverage innovation or processes specifically developed for one customer across its entire customer network using on-site, or implanted, employees.

Data collected from a survey of 309 implanted logistics service provider (LSP) representatives are analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The findings show that intra-organizational task interdependence and face-to-face communication can lead to a greater understanding of firm processes developed for specific customers and greater diffusion of these new processes to other customers. Rather than separating customers that require implanted employees, these implants can be a conduit of valuable information and process enhancements that can positively impact a firm’s customer network.

The current research shows how LSPs can effectively use their customer networks to provide process improvements for multiple customers. Specifically, transferring processes between customers can lead to efficiencies and contribute to supply chain robustness not possible without process diffusion.

This article builds on data from case studies of two companies in two different industries to show how local and tacit notions of what is knowledge determine what types of intra‐organizational mechanisms for knowledge transfer are preferred in a given company setting. The article proposes that these tacit and informal views about knowledge constitute a knowledge culture which may in turn be used to assist managers in making informed choices with respect to knowledge management tools. A number of other conceptual and practical management implications are derived from this comparative case study.

This study aims to investigate whether the absorptive capacity, learning intent of the recipient, the attractiveness of the knowledge source and the relationship quality between the recipient and the source in high-technology sectors in emerging markets influences the nature of the intra-organizational knowledge being transferred.

A total of 180 completed survey responses from all cellular network providers operating in Pakistan were analyzed. This study uses multiple regression analysis to empirically tests the above relationships using data from the cellular network sector in Pakistan.

The findings highlight how the highly educated workforce and the motivation to learn has an impact on the effective cross-border sharing of knowledge, both technological and marketing knowledge.

This study is one of the few to test the factors that influence the effective and efficient transfer of knowledge from developed to emerging markets.

The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the question ”given all that we know about knowledge transfer in organizations, why do problems persist?” This is achieved by examining the challenges confronting organizations in developing an effective knowledge transfer strategy.

A questionnaire was administered to a Fortune 500 company actively engaged in pursuing a knowledge management strategy that emphasizes intra‐organizational knowledge transfer. Data were analyzed using a hierarchical regression to assess the relative importance of reputation, culture, and incentives to organizational efforts at knowledge transfer.

It was found that culture and reputation have significant positive effects on knowledge transfer. However, the study found no support for the role of incentives. The findings lend credence to the notion that knowledge transfer is a social activity in which employees must willingly engage and is one that cannot be incentivized.

More research is needed on issues related to knowledge transfer. While this study did not exhaust all possible factors affecting knowledge transfer, it does note that identity, knowledge structures, and the upsurge in contingent employment need to be researched because they may play a role in knowledge transfer.

The findings reinforce the idea that knowledge transfer is not a socially neutral process. It is a social activity occurring within a social context, the success of which is largely influenced by who employees see as their partners in this process, how well do they know one another, and whether or not they view knowledge as something to be shared with their colleagues. Therefore, managers need to pay careful attention to the social context within which knowledge transfer efforts are taking place.

The study uses an interesting framework of social information processing theory on which to base the arguments presented here. Moreover, it provides a look at a unique set of factors that, we think, are assumed away when dealing with knowledge transfer issues.

Inter-organizational knowledge transfer (IOKT) is important especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Organizations need external knowledge to improve learning capabilities and their own competitiveness. SMEs are important for every nation’s economy. IOKT can enable SMEs’ learning and innovation and consequently its contribution to the national economy. This study aims to examine the factors that influence the IOKT process in Omani SMEs.

This study uses qualitative methodology. Participants were ten Omani SMEs from the information and communications technology sector, a knowledge-intensive sector. The study is based on face-to-face semi-structured interviews and content analysis.

The results confirmed that inter-organizational knowledge is considered to be important to SMEs. This research also showed that IOKT is affected by many factors related to the donor organization, recipient organization, nature of the knowledge and inter-organizational dynamics. The core factor to IOKT in SMEs is risk and trust.

Literature shows that there is an emphasis on the importance of studying knowledge management in SMEs; however, there is little work that has been done. Such study is even more important for Omani SMEs to improve their learning, innovation and contribution to a national diversified economy. This study provides valuable insights to establish an effective foundation for IOKT in Omani SMEs.

The purpose of this study is to deal with the performance consequences of business units that adopt varying knowledge roles within the internal multi-business network. Multi-business firms are distributed knowledge systems in which business units are extensively involved in internal knowledge transfer processes. Business units play different roles within their respective corporate knowledge networks as knowledge providers, knowledge receivers, both or neither.

Survey data from a sample of 225 business divisions were analyzed using a multivariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

Results indicate that divisions which occupy knowledge roles that reveal the possession of unique knowledge (knowledge signaling) or guarantee the accumulation of new knowledge (knowledge learning) outperform those divisions that have access to spilled knowledge (knowledge depreciation) or have no access to any kind of knowledge (knowledge insulation).

Four knowledge roles are distinguished according to the extent to which a business division provides the rest of the corporation with knowledge or receives knowledge from the rest of the corporation, thus exploring the issue of internal knowledge transfer from an integrated perspective that takes the directionality of knowledge flows and the position within the knowledge network into account.

This study contributes to existent research on knowledge transfer and performance outcomes by demonstrating the usefulness of the knowledge role as an integrating concept within this literature. It also extends the four-role framework to the prescriptive domain and tests its normative implications in an intensive internal knowledge transfer setting which has to date gone relatively unnoticed, as is that of multi-business firms.