The new era of knowledge economic arrived. Knowledge has become the most important strategic asset of the firms. Utilize effective knowledge management to enhance the knowledge in the organization is a key issue for firms to compete in the 21st century. How to share the knowledge among the business units in conglomerate is also the main factor of enterprise¡¦s synergy. To establish a measuring tool for performance of knowledge transfer promotes the competence of the conglomerate richly. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between the conglomerate¡¦s diversification strategies , control management system and performance of knowledge transfer. The index of the measuring tool also be established for performance of knowledge transfer in this study. The empirical results are as follows : 1. There is obviously influence between knowledge transfer performance and types of diversification strategy. 2. There is not influence between control management system and types of diversification strategy.

This thesis delves into the issues associated with the aging workforce in the capital projects industry and proposes a methodology for mitigation of the loss of experiential knowledge. In the context of the capital projects industry the thesis examines the dynamics of the aging workforce, the nature of experiential knowledge, and the risks associated with the loss this knowledge. The thesis reviews state-of-the art literature surrounding these issues, and goes on to discuss the mitigation program developed by the Construction Industry Institute’s research team RT 292, of which the author was a key investigator. The combined industry experience of the research team was used to guide the development of the program and was supplemented by interviews and surveys with industry experts. The program proposes a methodology for effectively pairing a retiree with an effective experiential knowledge transfer strategy. A broader goal of the program is to instigate a cultural shift within organizations to a more proactive approach to experiential knowledge retention. / text

Paper presented at the 15th LIASA Conference. 8-11 October 2013, Cape Town

Background: Organizational spending on marketing needs to be justified and therefore measured. New technology has enabled new ways of conducting market research. Research question: How can knowledge be transferred from a crowd of consumers to a company operating in the retail industry? Purpose: To explore the process of knowledge transfer in a new type of market research company by creating an understanding of (1) how to gather knowledge through engaging and motivating a crowd to share information, (2) how to analyze and transfer it to the clients, and in the end (3) how the clients receive the information and are able to create knowledge internally. Methodology: Qualitative single case study through semi-structured interviews with the case company and two of their clients. This was combined with secondary data and observations. Conclusions: Motivated users are important when gathering knowledge through crowdsourcing. Focusing on gathering and transferring explicit knowledge makes it more actionable and therefore more valuable when it comes to market insights. Externalization was found to only be partly possible in the case company, which strengthens established theories published after Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995). Absorptive capacity and relationships had influence on the knowledge transfer and how the results were acted upon in the client organizations.

Background: How to facilitate the knowledge transfer between projects is a field that has obtained a lot of attention in research. Despite this wide attention, many organizations still experience difficulties to efficiently transfer knowledge between their projects and thus the problems still remain, which appears contradictory. Previous research has had a tendency to assume that all knowledge can be articulated and codified, which has resulted in that solutions to these problems often have been directed towards the side in the transfer that creates the supply of knowledge. However, limited research has taken the receiver of the knowledge into consideration when analyzing these difficulties, who is considered to be equally influential to motivate a transfer. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of the challenges concerning the knowledge transfer from past to future projects, by exploring the importance of incorporating the receiver’s perspective in the analysis of knowledge transfer practices. Methodology: This study has applied a qualitative research methodology where the empirical data has been obtained through an interview-study with nine onsite interviews in two different firms, ABB and SIEMENS. Furthermore, documents were studied in order to compliment and increase the understanding of the information provided in the interviews. Conclusions: By incorporating the receiver in the analysis we can conclude that the practices applied are not efficient in actually transferring the complete knowledge. Herewith, socialization becomes vital as a complement to these practices in order to also transfer the ‘hidden’ explicit knowledge as well as tacit knowledge that the receiver is in need of. The findings thus demonstrate the importance of taking the nature of knowledge into account when investigating the challenges with current knowledge transfer practices.

How information can be transferred efficiently within a large organization has been researched for a long time but has probably never been as important as it is in today´s global corporate world, where knowledge is an important key to success. To be able to successfully gather, analyze and transfer information throughout an organization is one of a Market Intelligence department´s main purposes. Decision makers throughout an organization are highly dependent on the quality of the Market Intelligence department´s findings and its communication and interaction activities. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to investigate which critical factors that needs to be taken into consideration when a Market Intelligence department communicates its findings in order to facilitate knowledge transfer for their internal clients. A theoretical background regarding communication and knowledge transfer is provided in order to understand the context of the thesis. The theoretical framework for this study is mainly based on Szulanski´s four critical dimensions of knowledge transfer; characteristics of the knowledge transferred, of the source, of the recipient and of the context in which the transfer takes place. In order to gather relevant empirical data for this study, Volvo Cars Corporation and its Market Intelligence department was contacted. The authors collected the primary data on site at Volvo Cars Corporation´s headquarter in Gothenburg, Sweden, during November 2009. The study showed that there are several critical factors, some more important than others, that needs to be taken into consideration in order for a Market Intelligence department to communicate its findings in order to facilitate knowledge transfer for their internal clients. An MI department needs to: Consider the type of information and knowledge they intend to communicate and adjust its communication approach accordingly. Be involved in their internal clients’ projects. Be aware that today’s performance affects tomorrow’s credibility. Understand its internal clients’ absorptive skills. Schedule enough time for interaction and an oral presentation in the cases where it is needed. Focus on building a relationship with its internal clients.

The contemporary information society demands efficient knowledge management and therefore, the transfer of knowledge becomes an important issue. The purpose of this research is to contribute to the understanding of how the knowledge transfer in Science Parks takes place and which knowledge transfer supporting conditions are offered within the Science Park environment. Through the conduction of several in depth interviews with the management of Science Parks as well as the representatives of their tenant companies it can be concluded that Science Parks seem to offer favourable conditions for knowledge transfer. This is facilitated by the established structural arrangements as well as the supporting activities of the Science Parks‟ management. An important assumption is made within the scope of this study that certain favourable conditions may as well be relevant for off Science Park firms and thus, presumably making the present study interesting and valuable for a larger audience.

The purpose of this paper was to examine how cultural differences affect an MNC’s knowledge transfer of the concept employer branding, and what support subsidiaries need from headquarters for the MNC to become a global employer brand. The result is based on theoretical findings of employer branding, knowledge transfer and culture, applied to interview results at Scania. The knowledge transfer of the concept employer branding involves the implementation of a global employer branding communication platform. Findings show that Scania face challenges in employer branding awareness within the MNC, knowledge transfer internalization in subsidiaries, and balance of standardization and adaptation in connection to cultural dimensions of the markets. To overcome these challenges, Scania needs to further develop relational, social and organizational contexts for the MNC to become a global premium employer brand. The thesis has high originality since it gives implications to a specific MNC regarding the specific topic employer branding in a certain time of the implementation process.

“People resemble their times more than they resemble their parents.” How true is this arab proverb! Behind this proverb is hidden a universal concept: the concept of generation. This concept based on age implies some characteristics specific to each group.Those characteristics have long been subject to studies aiming at providing a better understanding of the intergenerational relations. Yet, few studies focus on the perceptions of the generations as a relational factor. In this thesis research, we want to focus on those perceptions and misperceptions that one generation can have of the others. Are there many differences between generations? Do they perceive the others the way they are? We will attempt to answer to those questions. We also want to give in this research an overview of the stakes represented by the combination between intergenerational relationships and the knowledge transfer in organizations. Indeed, we realize that within a decade, the mass departure of Baby boomers from the workplace will have significant consequences on the knowledge management field. Yet, what we see today is that only few companies worry about this huge human capital loss. It is time for leaders to react now if they do not want to lose their competitive advantage: knowledge transfer is a continuous process. And we hope that this work will provide some insights on the questions of intergenerational knowledge transfer to our readers.

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