The knowledge transfer process in Six Sigma subsidiary firms Gutiérrez Gutiérrez, Leopoldo Barrales Molina, Vanesa Tamayo Torres, Javier Six Sigma Continuos improvement Knowledge management TQM Competitive advantage "This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Total Quality Management and Business Excellence on 20 Apr 2015, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14783363.2015.1032237". Although the operative benefits of Six Sigma methodology in the business world are well accepted, the long-term benefits of the initiative are currently under discussion. This paper aims to analyze how Six Sigma methodology is related to the knowledge transfer process, a source of competitive advantage. For this purpose, we observe how team management in Six Sigma firms differs statistically from team management proposed by other quality management initiatives, and how Six Sigma team management is related to the knowledge integration and knowledge transfer processes. An ANOVA analysis and Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach were used to analyze data from 53 European Six Sigma firms, confirming the hypotheses developed. The results confirm that Six Sigma methodology offers new possibilities to companies and that implementation of Six Sigma has a positive effect on variables that influence long-term organizational performance, such as knowledge management. Relevant academic contributions and implications for practitioners are included. 2015-04-30T09:58:09Z 2015-04-30T09:58:09Z 2015 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez, L.; Barrales-Molina, V.; Tamayo-Torres, J. The knowledge transfer process in Six Sigma subsidiary firms. Total Quality Management and Business Excellence: 243-258 (2015). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/35849] 1478-3363 1478-3371 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/35849 10.1080/14783363.2015.1032237 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Taylor and Francis