Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: Successful transfer of knowledge can be a significant source of competitive advantage for an organization.Such transfers have not however been easy and re-creating best practices in particular have been shown to produce high variances in outcomes.We see the 'social' aspects of knowledge and the transfer process as a complexity contributing to the variances.With the aim of increasing our understanding of these complex social knowledge transfers, we study the best practice re-creation of the system for selling mobile content from Norway to Malaysia.What was successfully accomplished here was to change the way mobile content was transacted in the whole Malaysian market.Using developments in the ANT literature, we use the 'fluid' concept as a framework to analyze the transfer process.We show how viewing best practices as fluids aids our understanding on how to manage such transfers successfully.Fluids have unclear boundaries, multiple identities and changing ownership.Shifting ownership and control in particular helps create the flow necessary for transfer.
Author: John Alphonse
Institution: University of Oslo
Language: English
Subfield: Strategy and Management
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W162205803