Prerequisites for a beneficial knowledge transfer between manufacturing plants

Abstract

The paper aims at exploring the prerequisites for a beneficial knowledge transfer between manufacturing plants of multinational companies (MNCs), by taking the characteristics of the knowledge sending and knowledge receiving plant into consideration. This research seeks to understand how efforts undertaken by manufacturing plants, and how collaborative tools and coordination mechanisms influence a successful knowledge transfer. The study includes thirteen case studies conducted in manufacturing plants from four different European countries (i.e., Switzerland, Romania, Albania, and Macedonia). Given the exploratory nature of this study, the authors used a qualitative research approach. The main method of data collection involved multiple semi-structured interviews at manufacturing plants, uniformly applied in each country in order to observe general patterns across different cases. Their results show that the personal interaction between knowledge sending and receiving plants is more important for a successful knowledge transfer than information systems or prior related knowledge.