Coordinating knowledge transfer: Global managers as higher-level intermediaries

Gerardo Patriotta, Anna Castellano and Mike Wright

Journal of World Business, 2013, vol. 48, issue 4, 515-526

Abstract: In their day-to-day work, global managers exchange knowledge with individuals and teams scattered across the organizational network in order to make progress on current projects. Drawing on a case study of a global organization, we show that a core challenge of managerial work is associated with coordinating knowledge that is spatially dispersed and temporally fragmented. To address this challenge, we discuss the notion of ‘higher-level intermediary’ as a managerial role that provides coordination across functional and geographical boundaries by making knowledge sources available, connecting the parties to the transfer, and generating opportunities for knowledge exchange. These higher-level intermediaries act as ‘ambidextrous ties’ able to connect formal and informal knowledge search and transfer mechanisms.

Keywords: Knowledge search; Knowledge transfer; Coordination; Connecting; High-level intermediaries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:worbus:v:48:y:2013:i:4:p:515-526

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DOI: 10.1016/j.jwb.2012.09.007

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