Knowledge Transfer in the Transition Phase: Review of the Literature and Implications for Digital Business Strategy and Agility

Krancher, Oliver (2020). Knowledge Transfer in the Transition Phase: Review of the Literature and Implications for Digital Business Strategy and Agility. In: Beulen, Erik; Ribbers, Pieter M.A. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Managing Digital Outsourcing (pp. 177-202). Routledge

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Any outsourcing or offshoring project initially goes through a so-called transition phase, ie, the phase during which the service is handed over to a new service delivery unit (SDU), which can be a vendor or a captive centre [1, 2]. The key challenge in transitions is to enable the new SDU to take over the service as quickly as possible. This requires the transfer of critical resources, including hardware [3], software [4], and knowledge [5]. In many cases, the most difficult of these transfers is the transfer of knowledge, or knowledge transfer (KT). While KT was rather unproblematic in earlier domestic outsourcing arrangements in which clients transferred their IT staff, along with their knowledge, to vendors [6], staff transfer is not an option anymore in the age of offshoring. Engineers will not accept being relocated to another country while earning a fraction of their former salaries. Thus, in many contemporary sourcing arrangements, transitions involve a KT process during which the new SDU acquires knowledge from the incumbent SDU, ie, the unit that provided the service thus far.

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