Internationell kunskapsöverföring inom multinationella företag - från globala innovatörer till lokala tillämpare

Sammanfattning: Building upon the knowledge-based view of the firm, this paper examines how expatriates view their work in bridging the international relational gap for an effective knowledge transfer in multinational corporations. Increasing globalization and focus on the knowledge management in multinational corporations puts an even greater importance on using resources more efficiently. With earlier research focusing on structural barriers to effective knowledge transfer, we aim to research how expatriates, on an individual level, minimize the biggest barriers identified by theory - the organizational and cultural distance. By a qualitative and multiple case design focusing on knowledge transfer from Sweden to emerging markets, with an emphasis on expatriates working from Sweden towards Ethiopia, we examine how multinational corporations and expatriates work to minimize these barriers on an individual level. With an analysis based on a conceptual model created by an integration of knowledge management and communication theory, we conclude that expatriates effectively bridge relational barriers by an interplay with implementers, in which they receive knowledge back that they can use to instantly adapt to the local context. Our findings show that this explains how expatriates make international knowledge transfer more effective. Furthermore, our finding, integration, provides dynamics to our developed framework, and may be of great use for further analyzing expatriates' work in multinational corporations. Lastly, we discuss limitations, implications and suggestions for further research.