Managing Knowledge Transfer in MNCs: he Roles of Firm Characteristics, Knowledge Attributes, and Management Involvement on Knowledge Transfer Performance

The main purpose of this research is to study the effects of parent and subsidiary characteristics, knowledge attributes and management involvement on knowledge transfer performance. Parent characteristics are including knowledge stock and transfer capacity. Subsidiary characteristics are including slack resource, absorptive capacity and exploration capability and exploitation capability. Knowledge attributes can divide to tacit and explicit knowledge. Management involvement is from parent to subsidiary.ased on past studies, this thesis establish research framework and propose propositions. The MNC parent’s knowledge stock, transfer capacity are positively related to knowledge transfer performance. The MNC subsidiary’s slack resource, absorptive capacity and exploration and exploitation capability are positively related to knowledge transfer performance. When management involvement is higher, the positive relationship between subsidiary’s slack resource, absorptive capacity and knowledge transfer performance will be stronger. When tacit knowledge is transferred, the positive relationship between subsidiary’s exploration capability and knowledge transfer performance will be stronger. When explicit knowledge is transferred, the positive relationship between subsidiary’s exploitation capability and knowledge transfer performance will be stronger.