Organization Studies · 1997 · 625 citations · 32 references
ManagementKnowledge ManagementOrganization StudiesKnowledge GovernanceKnowledge SharingKnowledge TransferInterorganizational Knowledge TransferKnowledge ExchangeKnowledge Sharing In OrganizationsKnowledge-based ResourcesTacit Knowledge ExchangeTacit Knowledge ManagementCollaborative Knowledge WorkCollaborative WorkCross-partner Knowledge SharingEntrepreneurial VenturesIntra-organizational Knowledge SharingKnowledge StructuresKnowledge Transfer Across BordersKnowledge Transfer Across Boundaries
Research on global cooperative ventures has largely focused on governance forms and task structures. This study aims to highlight the role of knowledge structures and work systems in collaborative success and to develop a conceptual framework for analyzing friction between Japanese organizational and British professional knowledge models. The authors extend Michael Polanyi’s concept of tacit knowledge to compare how knowledge is organized, utilized, and transmitted in Japanese and British high‑technology firms. Empirical analysis of a Japanese‑British partnership shows that socially embedded knowledge impedes cross‑border collaboration, leading to project failures, weakened relationships, and asymmetric knowledge transfer.
Research on global cooperative ventures has tended to focus on governance forms and task structures. This study highlights the importance of knowledge structures and work systems in influencing the success of collaborative ventures. Based on an empirical analysis of a close collaboration in the knowledge-intensive area between a Japanese and a British high-technology firm, it illustrates how the socially embedded nature of knowledge can impede cross-border collaborative work and knowledge transfer. The research has applied and extended Michael Polanyi's con cept of 'tacit knowledge' in a much wider context. It develops a conceptual frame work for analyzing the main differences and 'points of friction' between the Japanese 'organizational' and the British 'professional' models of the organization of knowledge in high-level technical work. It shows how the dominant form of knowledge held in organizations, its degree of tacitness, and the way in which it is structured, utilized and transmitted can vary considerably between firms in dif ferent societal settings. These differences are shown to have contributed to project failures, weakened the technological relationship between the partner firms over time and led to asymmetry in knowledge transfer.
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