Tacit knowledge, the life cycle and international manufacturing transfer

Abstract

The ease with which a firm can tranfer its manufacturing capability is strongly affected by the transferability of the manufacturing processes involved. A key determinant of transferability is the nature of the knowledge that has accumulated in the transmitting firm. The life cycle model can provide the basis for a discussion of knowledge accumulation, and home for manufacturing process tranferability over time. Drawing upon ideas of tacit knowing, the authors chllenge the assumption that a manufacturing process necessarily becomes more tranferable as it matures. Data drawn from six case studies are used to illustrate how tacit knowledge can aflect the transfer process. The paper concludes with a typology of tacit knowledge in the manufacturing environment, and sugests steps which a firm might take to improve its transfer capability.