Article: Knowledge Transfer: Suggestions for Developing Countries on the Receiving End

... While developing countries and various funding agencies use the armies of consultants standing ready to provide the products of their expertise, few of these countries acquire knowledge through teaching services. ... To effectuate this knowledge transfer, the China Project employs a teaching mode, a consulting mode, and a combination of the two. ... In terms of certain factors, knowledge transfer by teaching is likely to cost more than knowledge transfer by consulting. ... The recipient of knowledge transfer must compare and identify both the costs and the benefits of teaching and consulting. ... The specific factors that are likely to render consulting cheaper than teaching include the: (1) time necessary to transfer the knowledge; (2) level of expertise; (3) degree of risk and personal commitment required of the transferees in achieving the knowledge transfer; (4) loss of autonomy and power during the process; and (5) cost of monitoring the knowledge transferor. ... Second, the lower the transferor's discretion to determine the form, content, substance, quality, and quantity of the transferred knowledge, the lower the monitoring cost for the transferee. ... This is because once the consultant is gone, there is a danger no one will be able to answer questions and provide help, and permanent consulting may cost more than temporary consulting or teaching. ...