Knowledge transfer processes in Romanian multinational companies

The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge transfers taking place between multinational companies and their locally dispersed subsidiaries. Focusing on the Romanian market it will shed some light on the way multinational companies - which have opened their subsidiaries rather recently in Romania - exploit the organizational knowledge stock and know-how in order to train their new employees. The Romanian economy and market characteristics have changed dramatically along the last decade, partly due to the penetration on the market of a series of multinational companies. For supporting knowledge creation in the Romanian subsidiaries, the headquarters should share and transfer knowledge to the newly created organizational entities characterized by separation through time, space, culture and language. It is also important to be aware of the specific cultural setting of the Romanian market. The case study performed on a multinational company, Nobel Romania, will analyze the way knowledge transfer was performed between headquarters and subsidiaries’ sales departments. Arguments will be drawn upon theory in knowledge management and related fields and an insider view of the process will be provided, along with in-depth interviews with people directly involved in transferring the know-how from headquarters to subsidiaries and people who have absorbed, combined and internalized the knowledge in the work process.knowledge management; knowledge transfer processes; multinational companies in Romania.

Do redistributive schemes reduce inequality between individuals?

Redistribution schemes (taxes or benefits) are generally performed at the household level. The issue is to know whether intra-household inequality magnifies or hampers the redistributive effect of the transfers, when the policy-maker focuses on the inequality at the individual level. Depending on the type of the transfer, three properties capturing the idea that the more wealthy the household is, the more unequally it behaves, have been shown to matter. In the moving away approach, the deviation with the equal split make a difference, in the star-shaped approach, the average share counts while the marginal share is relevant for concavity. We complete the analysis by showing how these properties of the intra-household allocation may be recovered through a bargaining model of the household. Then, the DARA and DRRA properties of the utility function emerge as the key conditions for the recovery.Inequality, Intra-household Allocation, Household bargaining, Lorenz curve, Taxation schemes.

The Impact of Knowledge Behavioural Factors on Tacit Knowledge Retention: Empirical Study in Oil and Gas Industry

Organisation need be more effective in retaining the tacit knowledge (know-how and know-what) and made it accessible for another staff to be more productive and enable management to make better decisions. Relying on explicit knowledge and old-style training courses is simply no longer effective to transfer or retain knowledge; therefore, understanding the role of tacit knowledge retentions as part of knowledge management is becoming increasingly more important to fulfil the organisation strategic goals. To attain the aim, theoretical and empirical study using (275) samples from different international oil and gas companies have quantitatively assessed three main factors; the strategic impact of tacit knowledge loss, the impact of knowledge and organisational behaviour at the individual level on knowledge retention within the organization. Based on the study results, both knowledge and organisational behaviour shows direct impact in knowledge retention enhancement. What knowledge and whose knowledge should be emphasised to reduce the impact of crew change. Knowledge management implementation to be the most important factor as Learning and sharing knowledge is affected by the cognitive processes and the way the organisation practice and implement the knowledge share such as mini-workshops, short assignment and community of practice (CoP). The last factor is positive individual attitude, which reflected in more effectiveness knowledge share and transfer. These factors improve tacit knowledge retention and fulfil the strategic goals such as competitiveness advantage and improve the performance, productivity and employee’s effectiveness. Keywords: Oil and Gas, Knowledge Retention, Tacit knowledge, knowledge behaviour, organisational behaviour

Improving local participation in the garment industry of Cambodia

More than 90% of investment in the garment industry is foreign direct investment from Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea. The share of Cambodian owned factories is about 5%. After 20 years there has been no progression, and except for provision of low-wage employment to an unskilled labour force, the industry operates like an enclave. Local investment is undermined. Technology transfer of know-how from Chinese owners is non-existent. Japanese investors however, are more likely to improve local participation in developing industry. Government intervention favouring development of industry and human resources is called for

Know-how transfer in an entrepreneurial ecosystem

Universities have a very important role in entrepreneurial education. University students are not only trained in their specific areas, but they are also trained in entrepreneurial skills to lead teams and to develop leading innovations that will be applied into different markets. Since 2012, the entrepreneurial ecosystem from Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain), StartUPV, has implemented several education programs for its community, creating a whole learning roadmap with specific training for each stage of the startup. For instance: hypothesis validation, sales funnel, finance, etc. However, one of the main challenges was how to transfer the know-how generated by each startup to the entire ecosystem. Beyond mentoring some projects altruistically, the need was detected to create a framework in which the entrepreneurs themselves could share their knowledge with the rest of their colleagues in the ecosystem. To this end, StartUPV Academies were created in 2015. These sessions consist of small training pills, led by a member of one of the startups in the ecosystem, on a variety of topics: a new programming language, tips for creating marketing campaigns on social networks, how to negotiate with investors, etc. More than 200 entrepreneurs have attended the StartUPV Academies, and an average of 8 sessions have been held per year. In this paper we analyze these programs, including the main conclusions of more than 5 years of implementation

Model Partnerships for Impact: The Weingart Foundation and Moms Orange County

This is one of a series of case studies that grounds IS' larger post-Threads power dynamic work by providing the cornerstone for a set of prototype tools to help aid the transfer of healthy behaviors, practices, and conditions from one relationship to another. This case study reflects a number of transferable behaviors, practices, and conditions, including but not limited to:Investment in organizations, not programs or projects. Weingart's commitment to building more effective organizations gave MOMS the flexibility to determine what that meant to them. They were able to leverage this flexibility not only to expand their reach, but also to conduct scientific research to validate their model.Grounded in shared vision and goals. Both organizations want to see improved lives for vulnerable populations in Southern California. For MOMS, that is a specific focus on atrisk mothers and babies and for Weingart, it is ensuring MOMS has the internal capacity to achieve that goal.Focusing on the desire to learn. MOMS and Weingart share the understanding that the desired goals specified in each engagement are a baseline for learning rather than a basis for punitive assessment.No cap on how long funding will last. As long as an organization can meet Weingart's criteria, they are open to funding them. Effective organizations never stop building or strengthening their capacity.Retaining a nonprofits' right to be responsive to issues in the communities in which they are working. Weingart's measure of success is the extent to which it has increased an organization's effectiveness in serving its community. Providing grantees flexibility allowed MOMS to adapt to the changing needs of their communities. This means trusting the organization to know how to achieve its goals.Developing grant strategies and programs that are responsive to the real needs of nonprofits. Weingart believes that funders are most effective when they solicit and incorporate feedback from grantees and applicants into their grantmaking plans. Weingart develops an annual program plan that is informed by engaging the nonprofit to better understand its needs, challenges, and opportunities

Public governance as a key determinant of FDI : a comparative analysis of sub-saharan Africa and south-east Asia host countries

The World Bank (2000), in its report on Quality of Growth emphasises the importance of public governance as the keystone of a country's development. Studies examining determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) are also increasingly taking account of such fundamentals as institutional and political factors. Thus, rule of law, bureaucratic corruption, educational attainment or quality of physical infrastructure are now included in econometric analyses next to more common variables such as market size, labour costs or trade openness. In other words, good governance appears to be a key condition for attracting FDI. For instance, Lehmann (1999), shows that a country like India could increase its share of US affiliates' physical investment by 50% if it were to eliminate all political uncertainty. For a developing country, the stakes for improving its public governance are high. Beyond an increase in its growth rate, a favourable business climate is likely to attract more FDI and enhance their alleged spillovers. More FDI means more financial resources for the host country, whereas it is likely that the technological intensity of these investments and the transfer of foreign know-how to domestic firms will largely depend on the quality of public governance. This article has three goals. First, to clarify why public governance is likely to influence FDI inflows. Second, to propose a new evaluation of public governance through the construction of quantitative, relatively objective, easily replicable and sample-specific indicators. The public governance of two geographic zones will be assessed through this method: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South-East Asia (SEA). As shown in table 1.1, the former attracts much less FDI than the latter. Third, to test econometrically whether public governance explains the diverging abilities of SSA and SEA to attract FDI

Knowledge Transfer and Intra-Firm Trade

Using a unique sample of foreign affliates in Sub-Saharan Africa, we study the relationship of the extensive and intensive margins of their intra-firm trade with knowledge transfer to them from their parent companies. We find that the engagement of foreign affliates in intra-firm trade and their share of intra-firm trade are positively associated with the probability of these receiving crucial parental assistance in the use of patents, trademarks, and brand names, technology and know-how, access to foreign supplier network, and access to global markets. Foreign afiliates which engage in intra-firm trade and those with a higher share of this type of trade also receive more important overall parental assistance. The positive associations between intra-firm trade and knowledge transfer in the form of patents, trademarks and brand names are weaker in countries with relatively strong legal rights than in countries with relatively weak legal rights. Our findings point to the interplay between property rights and intangible assets theories of the multinational firm by suggesting that the joint role of knowledge ows in production and of multinational firm boundaries as facilitators of transfers of tangibles and intangibles is crucial

How merger and acquisition affect firm performance and its quality

Purpose: Mergers and acquisitions are forms of corporate restructuring. This study was conducted to examine the firm's performance after the company carried out a merger and/or acquisition during the period 2010-2014. Design and Methodology: The variables used in this study are financial ratios such as Gross profit margin ratio, Operating profit margin ratio, Net profit margin ratio, Return on capital employed, Earning per share, Return on assets, Return on equity and Return on net worth. This study also focuses on how the quality of firm earnings changed following a merger and/or acquisitions to know whether the changes in firm profit will also affect the quality of profit. The sample was selected using a non-probability purposive sampling method. Data is analyzed using a descriptive statistical test, outlier test, normality test and hypothesis test (t-test). This study used paired sample t-test to analyze two different paired samples using the SPSS program. Findings: The results from this study show that the firm’s performance has decreased after mergers and acquisitions, but the quality of earnings after mergers and acquisitions have insignificant increases. Practical Implications: Management must discipline themselves to ensure good corporate governance, develop a good approach to the management of assets and liabilities, and pay attention to the knowledge transfer and technology transfer that the company gets for the benefit of the company to be able achieve the synergy of acquisition in order to increase profitability. The Significance of The Study: Statistical evidence found that company profitability will be declining significantly after a merger and acquisition occurred. But separately, this decline also makes the profits that are generated of better quality. This also means that the decrease of profitability is also increasing the better quality of their earnings.peer-reviewe

“Transfer Talk” in Talk about Writing in Progress: Two Propositions about Transfer of Learning

This article tracks the emergence of the concept of “transfer talk”—a concept distinct from transfer of learning—and teases out the implications of transfer talk for theories of transfer of learning. The concept of transfer talk was developed through a systematic examination of 30 writing center transcripts and is defined as “the talk through which individuals make visible their prior learning (in this case, about writing) or try to access the prior learning of someone else.” In addition to including a taxonomy of transfer talk and analysis of which types occur most often in this set of conferences, this article advances two propositions about the nature of transfer of learning: (1) transfer of learning may have an important social, even collaborative, component and (2) although meta-awareness about writing has long been recognized as valuable for transfer of learning, more automatized knowledge may play an important role as well