Do L-1 visas have caps? Why not hire oversees for a year and bring them in after that as a L-1 visa holder?
However, USCIS has recently released a new L1B adjudications policy for public feedback (http://www.uscis.gov/news/uscis-posts-updated-l-1b-adjudicat...) where they clearly define the "specialized knowledge" category. Maybe this will help companies to properly understand what's needed to demonstrate the specialized knowledge in the future, but I really doubt it.