Knowledge transfer from expatriates

Globalization has had many effects on the world of§business. One of these effects is an increase in§employees that are relocated on assignments abroad.§An important issue of expatriate management is the§repatriation of expatriates. This is a major but§often neglected issue. This study investigates how§expatriates experience that their knowledge gained§from international assignments is transferred and§exploited by the MNC. The results from 93§expatriates from eleven Large Cap companies suggest§that knowledge is not exploited trough formal§mechanisms. Instead informal mechanisms of knowledge§transfer such as networks and own initiatives seem to§be a more common way of transferring and exploiting§knowledge in the investigated MNCs. The findings§indicate that the knowledge that the expatriates that§failed their mission abroad gained is not exploited§to the same extent as the expatriates that§successfully completed their assignments.§This analysis should be especially interesting for HR§managers and expatriates that wish to gain a deeper§understanding of knowledge transfer and learning§within MNCs.