 In this topic, we are going to talk about knowledge transfer in multinational corporations. We are talking about the concept of knowledge in organizations and in the previous topics, we have discussed about what is knowledge, what is organizational knowledge, what is transferred and what are the channels of transfer. In this topic, we are going to talk about the concept of knowledge transfer and what are its dimensions, like in multinational corporations, what are the dimensions of knowledge transfer in these entities. So, the first dimension of knowledge transfer is the nature of knowledge. What is the nature of knowledge? What kind of knowledge is transferred from one place to the other, particularly within the organization from subsidiary to subsidiary? And also from the environment to the subsidiaries. So, the first dimension is whether the knowledge is explicit or tacit knowledge. This is something that we have discussed already, what is the difference between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge you can refer to that particular topic. So, whether if explicit knowledge has to be transferred, it is something which is very much clear, it is something which is structured and easy to transfer. Whereas tacit knowledge is something which is difficult to transfer because it cannot be codified into language or it cannot be codified into text. Then another dimension is whether the knowledge is internal knowledge or whether it is external knowledge. Now, what is internal knowledge? Now, internal knowledge is that particular knowledge which is held by the company itself. It lies at the core of the company's knowledge structure. So, the organizations, basic technology, organizations, systems, its processes, its structures, all of them they are based on the internal knowledge which is held by the people of the organization. It is held by the human capital of the organization. So, it is something which lies internally within the core of the organization and it is developed through interaction with its units. So, the internal knowledge is something which is developed internally and it is held by the units and developed by the units. Now, the other aspect is that of external knowledge. External knowledge is that which lies outside the core of the organization. It is largely derived from specific problems and needs of other parties. So, the external knowledge is what you need to manage your external networks. So, for example, the knowledge about your customers, the knowledge about your clients, the knowledge about your environment, the knowledge about your society, about the culture, that is the external knowledge which is linked with what is happening outside the organization. So, that is something which is related with the inputs and outputs of the organization and internal knowledge is something which is related with the processes of the organization with the conversion of inputs into outputs. That is something which is done by internal knowledge and inputs and outputs are related with the external knowledge and that is related with knowledge of the local dynamics. And for an organization, internal knowledge may be the same for a multinational organization throughout their subsidiaries, whether they are operating in America or they are operating in Europe or in the Middle East, wherever they are, their internal knowledge is something which is which can be unified, which can be replicated. Whereas external knowledge is something which is different for each and every place and context. So, wherever you go, the local context, the local dynamics, they will always vary. In some context, they will vary more, in some context, they will vary a little bit less, but they will vary and therefore, on the basis of that, you need to manage according to the external knowledge that you get from the environment. So, this is the difference. Internal knowledge is something which lies at the core, it is something which can be controlled, it is something which can be developed, it is something which can be transferred, replicated, etc. Whereas external knowledge is something which is localized, it is something which is related with the context, it is something which is related with the local dynamics. It is something which cannot be replicated and it may not be useful to replicate it because when the context changes, the local dynamics changes, the way you handle those situations and the way you handle that particular context, that also changes. So, the utility of external knowledge may not be as much as it is in one context than the other. So, one aspect is the nature of knowledge. After that, another dimension of knowledge transfer, whether the knowledge transfer will be more or less, another thing that affects it, that is, absorptive capacity. Absorptive capacity, you must have guessed from the word that how much capacity you have to absorb. So, the capacity to absorb is determined by many things. First of all, the absorptive capacity that is that depends on the ability to recognize the value of new external information, assimilate it and apply it to commercial ends. So, it is the ability whether you are sensitive to the information which you are getting, you are able to recognize that information, you are able to absorb that information and knowledge and then after absorbing that knowledge and information, you are able to convert that into some commercial and profitable ends in your particular context. So, all of this depends on your ability, how much capacity you have. You can come from the multinationals and establish all the systems, give you all the technology but if you do not have absorptive capacity, if you do not have the skills or prerequisite knowledge, then it will be difficult for your, because you do not have the absorptive capacity. So, it is something which is going to hinder the process of transfer of knowledge from the multinationals to the subsidiary. One of the most significant factors in internal knowledge transfer is the absorptive capacity. So, whether you are going to transfer the internal knowledge from one subsidiary to the other or from headquarters to the subsidiary, it is going to depend on your absorptive capacity. So, this is one of the most important and significant factors. Then another factor is within the absorptive capacity is your motivation. So, if you are, if you do have the ability, skills, knowledge, prerequisite skills, everything is there. But if willingness and motivation is not there, then also the transfer of knowledge in the multinational will be affected by this particular prerequisite. So, willingness of the subsidiary staff and their motivation is another decisive factor in knowledge transfer within the multinational corporation. It is something which is very important. If people in the subsidiary, they are not ready to accept the knowledge from the headquarters or from the multinational, the knowledge transfer is not going to take place. And why wouldn't they want to do that? Motivation? New knowledge always brings some kind of new learning. It brings some kind of change of circumstances. It brings change in processes. So, new knowledge may disrupt an organization's current practices and working routines. So, for example, if your organization wants you to shift from manual recording documentation to computerized documentation, it is something which is definitely more beneficial. It is something which is efficient. It is something which is going to reduce the cost. It is easier to do. But we see that whenever some kind of change is brought about, which is related with learning and knowledge transfer, people are reluctant to do that. Why? Because it needs a specific amount of significant amount of time and effort to change that work routine. So, a person who is habitual of working on a register in a manual paper pencil style, it is difficult for that person to leave that paper pencil style and convert and shift to a computerized system. Although it is something which is definitely more beneficial. So, this is something which is difficult to, knowledge transfer is difficult to take place because motivation is not there and motivation is not there because resistance happens because it is something which is difficult to let go of. And therefore, that leads to the concept of internal stickiness. Stickiness to previous processes, stickiness to previous practices, stickiness to so many different things. So, the factors that impede transfer of knowledge within a company, they are something which constitute the internal stickiness of the organization. So, that includes motivational factors. They also include the knowledge-related factors and particularly in the knowledge-related factors, the stem from the tacit, context-related, ambiguous knowledge which is difficult to transfer from one location to the other. So, for example, if you are talking about knowledge transfer which is related with converting from paper and pencil manual documentation to computerized documentation, it is something which is very much structured and easy to implement. Even then it is something which is difficult to implement because of the motivational factors, but it is something which is explicit, which constitutes explicit knowledge. But things which constitute tacit knowledge, for example, leadership and management skills, management practices, teamwork and all these things, they are difficult to replicate because they constitute context-related, tacit knowledge which is, first of all, it is difficult to display, it is difficult to role play, it is difficult to communicate. And secondly, people are more resistant to taking it up because it is ambiguous and there is no clear communication and transformation of that. So, these are the different factors which affect the transfer of knowledge in the multinational corporations, whether it is the nature of knowledge or it is the absorptive capacity or is it the internal stickiness of the organization, all of these things, they affect how the knowledge is going to be transferred in the multinational.