The Returnees Manager Knowledge Transfer

Under the circumstance of economic globalization in the world,MNCs,as main participants of global direct investment,has been the core organizer of international economic activities.Knowledge is the essential source of corporate competitive advantage.Thus,powerful competitiveness would emerge by effective knowledge transfer between the MNCs' headquarters and oversea subsidiaries,which will make sure MNCs' survival in the fierce competition.With the deep development of MNCs in China,the cross-border knowledge transfer has become more and more sophisticated.Culture differences have been barriers in the process of knowledge transfer between MNCs' headquarters and China subsidiaries or joint ventures,which would have negative influence for the process. Returnee managers,who have oversea study or working experiences,may take the "bridge" roles in culture communication in MNCs' subsidiaries and joint ventures due to their double-culture background.They're also supposed to release the culture shock and promote the process of knowledge transfer and absorption.This paper set off from the Theory of Plan-Behavior and constructs the influential model of returnee managers in the process of MNCs' knowledge transfer between the headquarters and subsidiaries to analyze the role of returnee managers. By the means of empirical statistics and analysis,the paper found that returnee managers,who have different oversea background,time,diploma,job types and rating,present various personal characteristics in the aspect of the knowledge transfer. Meanwhile,the effectiveness of knowledge transfer between the MNCs' headquarters and China subsidiaries is notably influenced by the participate willingness of returnee managers,knowledge transfer channel and organizational distance.Finally,the research concludes the role of returnee managers in the MNCs on the basis of both empirical analysis and interviews with several returnee managers.Some suggestions for improve the effectiveness of MNCs' knowledge transfer are also presented.