This volume uses both established and more recent modes of inquiry to shed light on an increasingly important dimension of organizational co-operation and competition - that of knowledge and knowledge transfer. As we move from the industrial to the information age, the key to firms' competitive success becomes the application and development of specialized knowledge and competencies. Based on research and practice, this volume addresses a range of issues concerning the management of knowledge, from knowledge transfer between organizations to knowledge management within organizations. Divided into two parts, the work reflects a conceptual distinction between two-world views. The first part is characterized by representationism, or traditional approaches to viewing knowledge, knowledge transfer and co-operative strategies. The contributors provide an overview of the current research on knowledge management and bring together studies in the sociology of knowledge, strategic management and learning theory. The second part focuses on anti-representationism, or new perspectives on knowledge and knowledge transfer in organizational co-operation. These perspectives, based on autopoiesis theory, go far beyond conventional ways of perceiving and managing knowledge and their implications for management theory and practice are fully examined. Contrasting established approaches with the thinking on knowledge as an organizational resource, this work should be useful reading for academics and students in strategic management and general management studies.
Introduction - Georg von Krogh and Johan Roos PART ONE: REPRESENTATIONISM: TRADITIONAL APPROACHES TO VIEWING KNOWLEDGE, KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AND COOPERATIVE STRATEGIES Representationism - John Harald Aadne, Georg von Krogh, Johan Roos The Traditional Approach to Cooperative Strategies Imitation of Knowledge - Georg von Krogh and Johan Roos A Sociology of Knowledge Perspective Towards a Theory of Knowledge Transfer in a Cooperative Context - Ken Wathne, Johan Roos and Georg von Krogh The Impact of Individual and Organizational Learning on Formation and Management of Organizational Cooperation - Marjorie Lyles, Georg von Krogh, Johan Roos and Dirk Kleine Arguments on Knowledge and Competence - Georg von Krogh and Johan Roos Knowledge-Based Strategic Change - Thorvald H[di]aerem, Georg von Krogh and Johan Roos Restructuring - Georg von Krogh, Johan Roos and Thorvald H[di]aerem Avoiding the Phantom Limb Effect PART TWO: ANTI-REPRESENTATIONISM: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN ORGANIZATIONAL COOPERATION An Essay on Corporate Epistemology - Georg von Krogh, Johan Roos and Ken Slocum Knowledge Creation through Cooperative Experimentation - Salvatore Vicari, Georg von Krogh, Johan Roos and Volker Mahnke A Note on the Epistemology of Globalizing Firms - Georg von Krogh, Johan Roos and Georg Yip Conversation Management for Knowledge Development - Georg von Krogh and Johan Roos Afterword - Georg von Krogh and Johan Roos An Agenda for Practice and Future Research
`The work is a scholarly treatise and all contributors have displayed remarkable prowess in conceptualisation. Yet, every theme has been examined so that the practising manager may be provided with guidelines.... With commedable methodological rigour, the authors have drawn extensively from meticulously researched work in the fields of sociology of knowledge and strategic management and then formulated their own integrative model. Their work is characterised by both depth and breadth.... important and intellectually challenging' - Management Review (India)
