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Reflections on knowledge-based approaches to the organization of production

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  • Robert Grant

Abstract

Knowledge-based approaches to the firm offer valuable insights into some of the central issues of governance and organizational design—especially into long neglected problems of coordination. I start from the assumption that the fundamental problem of economic organization is reconciling efficiency in knowledge development with efficiency in knowledge application. The paper extends the knowledge-based view of the firm and knowledge integration approach to organizational capability that I outlined in earlier papers (Grant in Strategic Management Journal, 1996a ; Grant in Journal of Management Studies 7(4)375–387, 1996b ) and draws upon subsequent contributions to the literature. From this basis, I derive implications for the relative efficiencies of alternative institutions of economic organization and for the design of firm structures. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2013

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  • Robert Grant, 2013. "Reflections on knowledge-based approaches to the organization of production," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 17(3), pages 541-558, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jmgtgv:v:17:y:2013:i:3:p:541-558
    DOI: 10.1007/s10997-011-9195-0
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    1. Bruce Kogut & Udo Zander, 1992. "Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(3), pages 383-397, August.
    2. Gary P. Pisano, 1994. "Knowledge, Integration, and the Locus of Learning: An Empirical Analysis of Process Development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(S1), pages 85-100, December.
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    3. Baier-Fuentes, Hugo & Guerrero, Maribel & Amorós, José Ernesto, 2021. "Does triple helix collaboration matter for the early internationalisation of technology-based firms in emerging Economies?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    4. Hernández-Trasobares, Alejandro & Murillo-Luna, Josefina L., 2020. "The effect of triple helix cooperation on business innovation: The case of Spain," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    5. Martínez-Sánchez, Angel & Vicente-Oliva, Silvia & Pérez-Pérez, Manuela, 2020. "The relationship between R&D, the absorptive capacity of knowledge, human resource flexibility and innovation: Mediator effects on industrial firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 431-440.
    6. Runping Guo & Xingqun Lv & Yuan Wang & Peggy E. Chaudhry & Sohail S. Chaudhry, 2020. "Decision‐making logics and high‐tech entrepreneurial opportunity identification: The mediating role of strategic knowledge integration," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 719-733, July.
    7. Maria Chiara Di Guardo & Kathryn Rudie Harrigan & Elona Marku, 2019. "M&A and diversification strategies: what effect on quality of inventive activity?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(3), pages 669-692, September.
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    9. Un, C. Annique & Rodríguez, Alicia, 2018. "Local and Global Knowledge Complementarity: R&D Collaborations and Innovation of Foreign and Domestic Firms," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 137-152.
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    12. Un, C. Annique & Rodríguez, Alicia, 2018. "Learning from R&D outsourcing vs. learning by R&D outsourcing," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 72, pages 24-33.

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