Determinants of transnational new product development capability: Testing the influence of transferring and deploying tacit overseas knowledge

Based on a survey of 90 transnational product introductions, we find that t he transnational product development capabilities of organizations signific antly depend upon their ability to transfer and deploy tacit knowledge conc erning overseas markets. Specifically, we find that organizations which use cross-national teams, teams with members who have prior overseas experienc e, or teams whose members communicate frequently with overseas managers in order to acquire information about tacit differences among countries have g reater transnational product development capabilities. This study contribut es to our understanding of how organizations transfer and deploy knowledge across borders for competitive advantage and makes an important contributio n to the literature on global strategy. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Son s, Ltd.