The Significant Elements of Business Knowledge in the Internationalisation Process of the Visegrad Group Corporations

The aim of this chapter is to identify the knowledge elements that are crucial in the internationalisation process of the Visegrad Group firms. It uses a two-dimensional model of business knowledge, which separates business knowledge along two dimensions: the tacit or explicit nature; and the codified or uncodified one. This model tells us that tacit and codified knowledge is the most difficult to transfer, while the explicit-uncodified part is the easiest. The five types of business knowledge were measured with a questionnaire conducted among 1124 firms from the V4 countries, including 240 Polish, 597 Czech, 113 Hungarian and 144 Slovak firms. It was found that knowledge is significantly related to the internationalisation process. The most important knowledge elements in both the decision of going international, and the intensity of internationalisation are the tacit and codified parts.