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Multinational companies require from mechanisms to capture and apply new knowledge that could be used in their current operations in order to be competitive. One of the objectives of this knowledge is the generation of innovations. In this paper, we try to show how the degree of internationalization is related to the generation of innovations. For this purpose, many companies demand knowledge management processes that capture and apply information from local and international markets. This transferred knowledge could be combined with the internal and external knowledge from their social capital structure. Our results show that this process of learning fosters the generation of innovations on the local headquarters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational innovation is one of the main tools for attaining a competitive advantage. Multinational corporations operate in different countries may capture new knowledge from diverse markets, customers or suppliers. This paper focuses on the knowledge transfer from the subsidiaries to the headquarters (knowledge transfer reverse). Furthermore, we try to analyse how this transferred knowledge facilitates the generation of innovations. Its study has demanded the analysis of the mediator role of absorptive capacity. Our results show that reverse knowledge influences indirectly on the headquarters' innovation trough the existence of an absorptive capacity. Several conclusions and managerial implications are derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]