Behind the Learning Curve: Linking Learning Activities to Waste Reduction

Michael A. Lapré (), Amit Shankar Mukherjee () and Luk N. Van Wassenhove
Additional contact information
Michael A. Lapré: Boston University, School of Management, 595 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Amit Shankar Mukherjee: 125 Summer Street, Watertown, Massachusetts 02472
Luk N. Van Wassenhove: INSEAD, Boulevard de Constance, 77305 Fontainebleau Cedex, France

Management Science, 2000, vol. 46, issue 5, 597-611

Abstract: This exploratory research on a decade of Total Quality Management in one factory opens up the black box of the learning curve. Based on the organizational learning literature, we derive a quality learning curve that links different types of learning in quality improvement projects to the evolution of the factory's waste rate. Only 25% of the quality improvement projects---which acquired both know-why and know-how---accelerated waste reduction. The other 75% of the projects either impeded or did not affect waste reduction. In complex and dynamic production environments, locally acquired knowledge is difficult to disseminate. The combination of know-why and know-how facilitates its dissemination.

Keywords: learning-curve; organizational learning; quality; TQM; technological knowledge; experimentation; knowledge transfer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (87)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.46.5.597.12049 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:46:y:2000:i:5:p:597-611

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Management Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().