Toward a knowledge-based theory of the firm
Article Abstract:
An analysis of the firm defines it as an institution facilitating the integration of knowledge. Under this interpretation, knowledge is seen as being possessed by the individual and the main function of the organization is the application of knowledge instead of its creation. A knowledge-based view of the firm is already emerging although it cannot be considered a theory yet since adequate consensus regarding its precepts and purposes has not yet been established. The knowledge-based view spun off from the resource-based view of the firm because it highlights knowledge as the most strategically critical resource of the firm. Issues concerning a knowledge-based view of the firm are the nature of coordination within the firm, management role and distribution of decision-making rights, organizational structure, determinants of firm boundaries, and innovation theory.
Publication Name: Strategic Management Journal
Subject: Business
ISSN: 0143-2095
Year: 1996
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Making knowledge the basis of a dynamic theory of the firm
Article Abstract:
The concept of knowledge is posited as the basis of a dynamic theory of the firm. This knowledge-based theory of the firm can lead to an understanding that extends beyond production-function and resource-based theories. A network of ideas about organizational knowledge and its linkages to the elements which generate it is described and employed in the pursuit of economic rents in an institutional environment. An examination of knowledge that facilitates a relevant discourse regarding its production, storage and application is made. This epistemology is then linked to the firm. It is demonstrated why multiple actor organizations are influential in the processes of generation, storage and application of knowledge, and how stable economic rents might emerge.
Publication Name: Strategic Management Journal
Subject: Business
ISSN: 0143-2095
Year: 1996
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Knowledge and the firm: overview
Article Abstract:
Socioeconomic changes such as the movement towards knowledge work and the advent of the information age have significantly influenced the field of strategic management. To address the issues related to the concept of knowledge, the Strategic Management Journal dedicated a special issue examining the consequences of knowledge for the theory of the firm and its management. The strategy scholars as well as those who are involved in other fields who participated in this special issue cover different streams of research on the knowledge-management connection, including technological management, the economics of innovation and information, resource-based theory, and organizational learning.
Publication Name: Strategic Management Journal
Subject: Business
ISSN: 0143-2095
Year: 1996
User Contributions:
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