Knowledge Networking in Supply Chains: A Case Study in the Wood/Furniture Sector

Abstract

In the new global economy, where value and differentiation are the essential ingredients for business success, an organisation's knowledge is often the company's primary value proposition. Increasingly more companies, even in traditional, manufacturing sectors, are expanding the knowledge management concept externally: they explore new ways to put enterprise knowledge in the hands of customers, suppliers, and partners and share with them their intellectual capital. This study examines how Internet-based, networked infrastructures can support supply chain entities participation in emerging knowledge markets. WIT, a software toolset developed to facilitate knowledge sharing in the wood/furniture sector, is used as a case study.