Kuka, Putzmeister or Kiekert- it is increasingly the case that Chinese firms acquire German enterprises. One of the main investment motives for these takeovers is the access and transfer of knowledge. How this process is organized on the firm-level is investigated by the recently in the Journal of Asian Business Management online published research article “The organization of knowledge transfer in the context of Chinese cross-border acquisitions in developed economies” by Timon Haasis, Ingo Liefner and Ritam Garg.
The research results demonstrate that engaging in several activities (e.g., establishment of R&D centers, joint ventures, and staff deployment, etc.), Chinese enterprises ultimately aim for stimulating the interaction between the acquired target and the parent company. The absorptive and disseminative capacities of both partners, along with the knowledge characteristics, and the intercultural issues, moderate the effectiveness of knowledge transfer. Challenging the conventional wisdom, knowledge transfer also happens reciprocally.
Haasis, T.I.; Liefner, I.; Garg, R. Asian Bus Manage (2018) 17: 286. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41291-018-0041-y
