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Knowledge transfer is an important global leader (GL) competency, given their role as knowledge brokers and capacity builders. However, knowledge transfer skills and the transfer process itself have received scant attention from both global mobility and leadership scholars. Similarly, multinationals have seldom systematically collected and utilized repatriate knowledge, despite the competitive advantage it represents in a global knowledge economy. To fill this gap, an exploratory qualitative study employing critical incidents and interviews with a multi-country sample of 47 German, Japanese, and US repatriates identified variables that facilitate knowledge transfer attempts to the work unit. Our findings corroborate the proposed variables in a conceptual model of the transfer process and articulate the transfer skills that help explain their ability to transfer. Most importantly, our findings introduce an interactive transfer model that explicates the microprocess of transfer in the repatriate–work unit relationship. We conclude with implications for global leadership research and HRM practice.

Presents a German viewpoint of the approach chosen by large Japanese enterprises to recruit and develop future managers. After a short introduction to the Japanese educational system, presents the different stages of the selection of up‐and‐coming managers in Germany and Japan. Provides an overview of the basic personnel development strategies. Discusses the question of whether and in which way Japanese methods of junior staff development are applicable to enterprises in western, more individualistic cultures.