A key source of competitive advantage stems from the possession and use of specialised knowledge. But to use such knowledge, firms must learn to share it both within and across appropriate departments and firm boundaries. Based on our empirical research on the key factors affecting knowledge-sharing success and our consulting work putting our findings into action, we develop a series of questions and guidelines designed to guide managers in their own knowledge-sharing efforts.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlmeidaP. and KogutB. (1999), ‘Localization of Knowledge and the Mobility of Engineers in Regional Networks’, Management Science, 45, pp. 905-917.
2.
AlmeidaP. (1996), ‘Knowledge Sourcing by Foreign Multinationals: Patent Citation Analysis in the U.S. Semiconductor Industry’, Strategic Management Journal, 17, Winter, pp. 155-165.
3.
AnandV.GlickW. and ManzC. (2002), ‘Thriving on the Knowledge of Outsiders: Tapping Organizational Social Capital’, Academy of Management Executive, 161, pp. 87-101.
4.
AppleyardM. (1996), ‘How does Knowledge Flow? Interfirm Patterns in the Semiconductor Industry’, Strategic Management Journal, 17, Winter, pp. 137-154.
5.
ArgoteL. and IngramP. (2000), ‘Knowledge Transfer: A Basis for Competitive Advantage in Firms’, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 821, pp. 150-169.
ArgyrisC. (1991), ‘Teaching Smart People How to Learn’, Harvard Business Review, May-June, pp. 99-109.
8.
ArrowK. (1971), Classificatory Notes on the Production and Transmission of Technical Knowledge, Amsterdam: North Holland.
9.
AthanassiouN. and NighD. (2000), ‘Internationalization, Tacit Knowledge and the Top Management Teams of MNCs’, Journal of International Business Studies, 313, pp. 471-487.
10.
AttewellP. (1992), ‘Technology Diffusion and Organizational Learning: The Case of Business Computing’, Organization Science, 3, pp. 1-19.
11.
AubreyR. and CohenP. (1995), Working Wisdom: Timeless Skills and Vanguard Strategies for Learning Organizations, San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
12.
BaumJ. A. C. and BertaW. B. (1999), ‘Sources, Timing, and Speed: Population-Level Learning by Organizations in a Longitudinal Behavioral Simulation’, Advances in Strategic Management, 16, pp. 155-184.
13.
BaumJ. A. C. and IngramP. (1998), ‘Survival-enhancing Learning in the Manhattan Hotel Industry’, Management Science, 44, pp. 996-1016.
14.
BirkinshawJ. and MorrisonA. J. (1995), ‘Configurations of Strategy and Structure in Subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations’, Journal of International Business Studies, 261, pp. 729-753.
15.
ChildJ. and RodriguesS. (1996), ‘The Role of Social Identity in the International Transfer of Knowledge through Joint Ventures’, in: S. Clegg and G. Palmer (eds.), The Politics of Management Knowledge, London: Sage, pp. 46-68.
16.
CummingsJ. L. and TengB-S. (2003), ‘Transferring R&D knowledge: The Key Factors Affecting Knowledge Transfer Success’, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 20, pp. 39-68.
17.
CummingsJ. L. (2002), Knowledge Transfer across R&D Units: An Empirical Investigation of the Factors Affecting Successful Knowledge Transfer across Intra- and Inter-Organizational Units, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, George Washington University.
18.
DarrE. (1994), Partner Similarity and Knowledge Transfer in English Franchise Organizations, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Carnegie Mellon University.
19.
DarrE.ArgoteL. and EppleD. (1995), ‘The Acquisition, Transfer, and Depreciation of Knowledge in Service Organizations: Productivity in Franchises’, Management Science, 41, pp. 1750-1762.
20.
DavenportT. H. and PrusakL. (1998), Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
21.
DevadasR. and ArgoteL. (1995), ‘Collective Learning and Forgetting: The Effects of Turnover and Group Structure’, in: Paper presented at Midwestern Psychological Association Meeting, Chicago: IL.
22.
DixonN. M. (2000), Common Knowledge: How Companies Thrive by Sharing What They Know, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
23.
DozY. L. (1996), ‘The Evolution of Cooperation in Strategic Alliances: Initial Conditions or Learning Processes?’ Strategic Management Journal, 17, pp. 55-83.
24.
GalbraithC. S. (1990), ‘Transferring Core Manufacturing Technologies in High Technology Firms’, California Management Review, 324, pp. 56-70.
25.
GlaserE. M.AbelsonH. H. and GarrisonK. N. (1983), Putting Knowledge to Use, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
26.
GranovetterM. S. (1985), ‘Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness’, American Journal of Sociology, 91, pp. 481-510.
27.
GrantR. M. (1996), ‘Toward a Knowledge-based Theory of the Firm’, Strategic Management Journal, 17, pp. 109-122.
28.
GuptaA. K. and GovindarajanV. (1991), ‘Knowledge Flows and the Structure of Control within Multinational Corporations’, Academy of Management Review, 164, pp. 768-92.
29.
HakansonL. and NobelR. (1998), ‘Technology Characteristics and Reverse Technology Transfer’, in: Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the Academy of International Business, October, Vienna, Austria.
30.
HamelG. (1991), Competition for Competence and Inter-Partner Learning within International Strategic Alliances, Strategic Management Journal, 12, pp. 83-103.
31.
HedbergB. (1981), ‘How Organizations Learn and Unlearn’, in: NystromP. C. and StarbucksW. H. (eds.), Handbook of Organizational Design, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
32.
InkpenA. C. and DinurA. (1998), ‘Knowledge Management Processes and International Joint Ventures’, Organization Science, 9, pp. 454-468.
33.
KhannaT.GulatiR. and NohriaN. (1998), ‘The Dynamics of Learning Alliances: Competitive, Cooperative, and Relative Scope’, Strategic Management Journal, 19, pp. 193-210.
34.
KimL. and NelsonR. (2000), Technology, Learning, and Innovation: Experiences of Newly Industrializing Economies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
35.
KimL. (2000), ‘Korea's National Innovation System in Transition’, in: L. Kim and R. Nelson (eds.), Technology, Learning, and Innovation: Experiences of Newly Industrializing Economies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 335-360.
36.
KogutB. and ZanderU. (1992), ‘Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology’, Organization Science, 31, pp. 383-397.
37.
KostovaT. (1999), ‘Transnational Transfer of Strategic Organizational Practices: A Contextual Perspective’, Academy of Management Review, 24, pp. 308-324.
38.
LaneP. J. and LubatkinM. (1998), ‘Relative Absorptive Capacity and Interorganizational Learning’, Strategic Management Journal, 19, pp. 461-477.
39.
Leonard-BartonD. (1990), ‘Implementing New Production Technologies: Exercises in Corporate Learning’, in: M. A. Von Glinow and S. A. Mohrman (eds.), Managing Complexity in High Technology Organizations, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 160-187.
40.
Leonard-BartonD. (1992), ‘Core Capabilities and Core Rigidities: A Paradox in Managing New Product Development’, Strategic Management Journal, 13, pp. 111-126.
41.
Leonard-BartonD. (1995), Wellsprings of Knowledge, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
42.
LippmanS. A. and RumeltR. (1982), ‘Uncertain Imitability: An Analysis of Interfirm Differences in Efficiency under Competition’, Bell Journal of Economics, 13, pp. 418-438.
43.
MansfieldE. (1988), ‘The Speed and Cost of Industrial Innovation in Japan and the United States: External vs. Internal Technology’, Management Science, 34, pp. 1157-1168.
44.
MorelandR. L.ArgoteL. and KrishnanR. (1996), ‘Socially Shared Cognition at Work: Transactive Memory and Group Performance’, in: NyeJ. L. and BrowerA. M. (eds.), What's so Social about Social Cognition? Social Cognition Research in Small Groups, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 57-84.
45.
MoweryD. C. and RosenbergN. (1989), Technology and the Pursuit of Economic Growth, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
46.
NonakaI. and TakeuchiH. (1995), The Knowledge-creating Company, New York: Oxford University Press.
47.
NystromP. C. and StarbuckW. H. (1984), ‘To Avoid Organizational Crises, Unlearn’, Organizational Dynamics, 124, pp. 53-65.
48.
PeterafM. and ShanleyM. (1997), ‘Getting to Know You: A Theory of Strategic Group Identity’, Strategic Management Journal, 18, Summer, pp. 165-186.
49.
PierceJ. L.KostovaT. and DirksK. T. (2001), ‘Towards a Theory of Psychological Ownership in Organizations’, Academy of Management Review, 262, pp. 298-310.
50.
PolanyiM. (1966), The Tacit Dimension, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
51.
PoracJ. F. and ThomasH. (1990), ‘Taxonomic Mental Models in Computer Definition’, Academy of Management Review, 15, pp. 224-240.
52.
PowellW. W.KoputK. W. and Smith-DoerrL. (1996), ‘Interorganizational Collaboration and the Locus of Innovation: Networks of Learning in Biotechnology’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 41, pp. 116-145.
53.
SimonH. A. (1945), Administrative behavior, New York: Free Press.
54.
SimoninB. L. (1999), ‘Transfer of Marketing Know-how in International Strategic Alliances: An Empirical Investigation of the Role and Antecedents of Knowledge Ambiguity’, Journal of International Business Studies, 303, pp. 463-490.
55.
SpencerJ. W. (2000), ‘Knowledge Flows in the Global Innovation System: Do U.S. Firms Share More Scientific Knowledge than Their Japanese Rivals?’, Journal of International Business Studies, 313, pp. 521-530.
56.
StarbuckW. H. (1992), ‘Learning by Knowledge-intensive Firms’, Journal of Management Studies, 29, pp. 713-738.
57.
StasserG.StewartD. D. and WittenbaumG. M. (1995), ‘Expert Roles and Information Exchange during Discussion: The Importance of Knowing Who Knows What’, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 31, pp. 244-265.
58.
SzulanskiG. (1996), ‘Exploring Internal Stickiness: Impediments to the Transfer of Best Practice within the Firm’, Strategic Management Journal, 17, Summer, pp. 27-43.
59.
TeeceD. (2000), ‘Strategies for Managing Knowledge Assets: The Role of Firm Structure and Industrial Context’, Long Rang Planning, 33, pp. 35-54.
60.
TeeceD.PisanoG. and ShuenA. (1997), ‘Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management’, Strategic Management Journal, 18, pp. 509-533.
61.
TushmanM. (1977), ‘Special Boundary Roles in the Innovation Process’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 22, pp. 587-605.
62.
TylerB. B. and SteensmaH. K. (1998), ‘The Effects of Executives Experiences and Perceptions on Their Assessment of Potential Technological Alliances’, Strategic Management Journal, 1910, pp. 939-965.
63.
von HippelE. (1988), Sources of Innovation, New York: Oxford University Press.
64.
WickC. and LeónL. S. (1993), The Learning Edge: How Smart Managers and Smart Companies Stay ahead, New York: McGraw-Hill.
65.
World Bank (2002), Knowledge Sharing in the Social Development Group, Social Development Group, Washington, DC.
66.
World Bank (2003), Knowledge Sharing: A Review of the Literature, Operations Evaluation Department, Washington, DC.
67.
YeungA. K.UlrichD. O.NasonS. W. and von GlinowM. A. (1999), Organizational Learning Capability, New York: Oxford University Press.