E-ISSN 2281-4612 ISSN 2281-3993 Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies www.richtmann.org Vol 11 No 1 January 2022 180 . Research Article © 2022 Vukatana et al. This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Received: 15 July 2021 / Accepted: 23 September 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022 Knowledge Transfer through Computer-based Systems in Manufacturing Networks: A Study on Albanian Plants Kreshnik Vukatana Elira Hoxha Kozeta Sevrani Department of Statistics and Applied Informatics, Faculty of Economy, University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania DOI: https://doi.org/10.36941/ajis-2022-0016 Abstract This study shows a general view about knowledge transfer between manufacturing plants in developing countries like Albania, which are part of multinational companies’ network (MCN). Part of this goal is the study of computer-based systems from conference calls and intranets to more advanced ones like data warehouses, management information systems (MIS) and executive information systems (EIS), as enablers of knowledge flow and absorptive capacity. The paper examines four case studies based on semi-structured interviews, where the data collected highlight a good coverage of computer-based systems in function of knowledge sharing. In half of the cases, this is done internally in the plant and not over the network of plants. We propose to upgrade where possible the systems used in a distributed way to have data and information connections across the network. In some cases, emerge barriers such as lack of time, lack of tolerance for errors, or the need for assistance. Conclusions show that staff training related to computer-based systems in the optics of knowledge enablers is important for the companies, while the incentives are not considered as a key factor for knowledge transfer. Keywords: knowledge transfer, multinational companies’ network, computer-based systems, manufacturing plant 1. Introduction Nowadays many of the manufacturing companies with headquarters (HQ) located in European Union (EU) countries, are expanding their branches and plants in emerging countries, including the Balkans. This growing trend can be explained by different factors such as payments of lower-wage employees, strategic location, climate, environmental conditions, etc. Previous analysis of researchers has suggested that the process of Knowledge Transfer (KT) becomes a crucial element in organizational competitiveness and those knowledge assets, considered as economic goods are key to learning, especially within a network of plants (Argote & Ingram, 2000). Since KT is a combination of transmission, absorption and use of knowledge, it is closely related to the characteristics of the persons involved in the process and is often transformed and adapted in the receiving unit. So, one of