REAPING THE BENEFITS: MECHANISMS FOR KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT COLLABORATION

Mattias Axelson () and Anders Richtnér ()
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Mattias Axelson: Department of Management and Organization, Stockholm School of Economics, P. O. Box 6501, 113 83 Stockholm, Sweden
Anders Richtnér: Department of Management and Organization, Stockholm School of Economics, P. O. Box 6501, 113 83 Stockholm, Sweden

International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), 2015, vol. 19, issue 02, 1-26

Abstract: Research on knowledge transfer has predominantly focused on how to transfer source knowledge successfully to a recipient. However, there is a lack of studies on product development (PD) collaborations where the parties involved in the knowledge transfer must all jointly contribute to the knowledge transfer process when no clear sender–receiver relationship exists. Our paper concerns these relationships and is guided by the following research question: What are the mechanisms used in order to create operational level conditions for knowledge transfer in collaborative PD projects?Through a three-year longitudinal inductive case study on knowledge transfer between two companies, covering both operational and managerial levels, five key mechanisms for enabling knowledge transfer were identified: (1) co-locate a team; (2) access to existing technology; (3) establish a common vocabulary; (4) shared work processes; and (5) having joint work tasks. Our results show these five mechanisms have a mutual influence on each other, thus further facilitating the transfer of knowledge. Understanding the mechanisms and their interplay can help companies succeed in their attempts at reaping the benefits of PD collaborations.

Keywords: Knowledge transfer; product development collaborations; case study; explicit and tacit knowledge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1142/S1363919615500188

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