In the post-acquisition integration process, organizations need to transfer different types of knowledge from one organization to another in order to align their operational routines, practices and culture. Our aim is to identify the critical factors that relate to knowledge transfer in terms of the different knowledge types. We conducted a qualitative case study from an exploratory perspective. We first selected a case firm operating in the knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) field and then incorporated four different acquisition cases into the study. The results focus attention on the need to understand the “soft types” of critical factors in knowledge transfer, such as valuing employees, easing interpretation, identifying employee competences, building trust, creating a safe atmosphere, and diagnosing knowledge cultures in order to avoid information-management bias. It is necessary to identify the nature of the knowledge to be transferred to the acquired companies, and to align the communication patterns accordingly.
Knowledge Transfer in Service-Business Acquisitions (412.6 KiB, 3,278 hits)
