CATCHING UP THROUGH COLLECTIVE CAPABILITY: GLOBALIZATION AND STANDARDS IN THE SALMON FARMING INDUSTRY IN CHILE

Many studies have pointed to the increasing importance of knowledge management (KM) in the competitive knowledge-intensive global economy of today. KM is particularly important for catching up economies since they have to learn to convert their learning process from a 'passive' to an 'active' form in aiming to become full-fledged economies. This paper examines the standards setting and compliance processes as a case of knowledge management, looking at the salmon farming industry in a catching-up country, Chile. This industry in Chile is of particular interest, not only because of high and rapid growth but also for its intensive learning process. By observing the standards compliance process, this paper illustrates how the Chilean salmon industry achieved the transformation from 'passive' to 'active' learning and intends to go even beyond the learning stage through enhancing its collective capability through a meso-level institution, the Association of (Chilean) Salmon Industries. This example may have lessons for catching-up through natural resource based industries in other developing countries.

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