This paper aims to contribute to the advancement of both firm knowledge theory and practice by emphasizing and assessing the substantial role of communities of practice in generating new knowledge and promoting its application in high technology firms. Communities of practice are intended as intra- and interfirm groups of individuals engaged in the same practice who communicate intensely and rapidly between one another about their activities and performance. Goal-orientation, self-organizing attitude, intertemporal time duration, relative informality and spontaneity are in essence the key characteristics of these communities. Drawing on Brown & Duguid (1991), we argue that high-tech firms are composed of a myriad of overlapping communities (i.e., internal and/or external to the firm; virtual or distributed, comprising individuals located in partners, suppliers, distributors, universities and colleagues) each of which presents a dominant mode of learning and collective behavior, and each of which, both individually and collectively, favours the processes of knowledge creation and application. On the ground of an in-depth biannual longitudinal study of the Italian subsidiary of a large high-tech multinational firm operating in the information and communication industry (ICT), we eventually show how the observation and reconstruction of significant evidence of community interactions convey various compelling managerial consequences.
Knowledge Creation and Application in High Technology Firms: The Role of Communities in the Italian Experience
DAGNINO, Giovanni Battista;LONGO, MARIA CRISTINA
2012-01-01
Abstract
This paper aims to contribute to the advancement of both firm knowledge theory and practice by emphasizing and assessing the substantial role of communities of practice in generating new knowledge and promoting its application in high technology firms. Communities of practice are intended as intra- and interfirm groups of individuals engaged in the same practice who communicate intensely and rapidly between one another about their activities and performance. Goal-orientation, self-organizing attitude, intertemporal time duration, relative informality and spontaneity are in essence the key characteristics of these communities. Drawing on Brown & Duguid (1991), we argue that high-tech firms are composed of a myriad of overlapping communities (i.e., internal and/or external to the firm; virtual or distributed, comprising individuals located in partners, suppliers, distributors, universities and colleagues) each of which presents a dominant mode of learning and collective behavior, and each of which, both individually and collectively, favours the processes of knowledge creation and application. On the ground of an in-depth biannual longitudinal study of the Italian subsidiary of a large high-tech multinational firm operating in the information and communication industry (ICT), we eventually show how the observation and reconstruction of significant evidence of community interactions convey various compelling managerial consequences.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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