KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING IN STRATEGIC COOPERATIVE VENTURES Murat Yücelen İstanbul Bilgi University, Turkey ABSTRACT By means of a questionnaire conducted on a cross-sectional segment of strategic cooperative ventures in Turkey, this paper examines the factors affecting knowledge transfer between alliance partners. Conceptually, tacit knowledge transfer occurs in an environment characterized by ambiguity which in turn, has knowledge tacitness, asset specificity and complexity, prior experience, partner protectiveness, and cultural and organizational distance as antecedent variables. Regression analyses are conducted in order to determine which factors are influential on knowledge transfer processes. Research results are analyzed from a viewpoint of consistency with academic literature in the field of strategic management. The findings of the study highlight means and strategies to be pursued by Turkish companies aiming at effective knowledge acquisition through strategic cooperation in order to improve organizational learning capabilities and gain competitive strength. INTRODUCTION Knowledge is increasingly being perceived as an indispensable source of competitive advantage in contemporary strategic management literature. During the past decade, the importance of the effective management of knowledge has been a matter of scrutiny on the part of scholars and professionals alike. The literature on knowledge as a crucial asset in creating sustainable growth and competitive strength ranges from the analysis of the creation and transfer of knowledge among individuals, organizational units and companies, to theories on the means of individual and organizational learning. One specific area of interest to researchers has been knowledge transfer in strategic alliances. It is generally understood that although alliances may be established for many different purposes, the transfer of knowledge (or know-how) between alliance partners presents fundamental issues deserving investigation. Alliance strategy is one of the most effective means for contemporary firms to obtain valuable know-how in areas in or outside their expertise, without having to renounce their already existant knowledge base and competences. On the other hand, the transfer of “tacit” knowledge is a key factor in the success of the alliance, but due to its unquantifiable nature, it is also difficult to express and complicated to examine. Among other things, the effective transfer of knowledge between alliance partners is heavily dependent on the absorbtive capacity and the nature of the knowledge stock of the respective firms. According to one approach, firms search for new knowledge which is the same or similar type as their knowledge stock, thus making it easier to absorb the new knowledge. Another approach contends that firms search for new knowledge which would be complementary to their existing knowledge base, and this is mainly true for international cooperative ventures. Some researchers who examined knowledge transfer in cooperative ventures have drawn attention to the inertness of knowledge and internal stickiness, two notions which impair the mobility of knowledge between firms. Although there are a multitude of approaches and theories regarding the effective transfer of knowledge among alliance partners, one common understanding is that knowledge is structurally ambiguous. Thus, the state of ambiguity concerning the factors which will increase (or decrease) organizational performance plays an important role on factor mobility, strategic decision making and subsequently organizational learning and this is called “causal ambiguity.” The aim of this research paper is to examine the effectiveness of knowledge transfer between alliance partners operating in Turkey, by means of a questionnaire conducted on a cross-sectional segment of strategic cooperative ventures. For the purposes of this research paper, the term knowledge ambiguity (or shortly ambiguity) refers to causal ambiguity, the inertness of knowledge, the difficulty/ease of knowledge transfer, and the difficulty of imitation of knowledge by outside parties. Therefore it will be hypothesized that knowledge ambiguity is presupposed to be inversely related with effective knowledge transfer among alliance partners. Conceptually, tacit knowledge transfer occurs in an environment characterized by causal ambiguity which in turn, has knowledge tacitness, asset specificity and complexity, prior experience, partner protectiveness, cultural and organizational distance as antecedent variables. The relation between these antecedent variables and ambiguity will be examined through separate regression analyses in order to