Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration

Unstable market conditions caused by innovation and increasing intensity and diversity of competition have resulted in organizational capabilities rather than served markets becoming the primary basis upon which firms establish their long-term strategies. If the strategically most important resource of the firm is knowledge , and if knowledge resides in specialized form among individual organizational members, then the essence of organizational capability is the integration of individuals' specialized knowledge.This paper develops a knowledge-based theory of organizational capability and draws upon research into competitive dynamics, the resource-based view of the firm, organizational capabilities, and organizational learning. Central to the theory is analysis of the mechanisms through which knowledge is integrated within firms in order to create capability. The theory is used to explore firms' potential for establishing competitive advantage in dynamic market settings, including the role of firm networks under conditions of unstable linkages between knowledge inputs and product outputs. The analysis points to the difficulties in creating the “dynamic” and “flexible-response capabilities” which have been deemed critical to success in hypercompetitive markets.

[1]  Raimar Richers.  The theory of economic development , 1961 .

[2]  James D. Thompson.  Organizations in Action , 1967 .

[3]  H. Garfinkel.  Studies in Ethnomethodology , 1968 .

[4]  H. Simon,et al.  Applying Information Technology to Organization Design , 1973 .

[5]  T. C. Edens,et al.  Economic Growth , 1957, The Journal of Economic History.

[6]  E A Stead,et al.  Measuring competence. , 1977, Annals of internal medicine.

[7]  O. Williamson.  The Modern Corporation: Origins, Evolution, Attributes , 1981 .

[8]  S. Lippman,et al.  Uncertain Imitability: An Analysis of Interfirm Differences in Efficiency under Competition , 1982 .

[9]  Gavin J. Wright.  An evolutionary theory of economic change , 1982 .

[10]  S. Winter,et al.  An evolutionary theory of economic change , 1983 .

[11]  George L. Perry,et al.  Papers on Economic Activity , 1983 .

[12]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  The Concept of Fit in Contingency Theory. , 1984 .

[13]  S. Winter,et al.  An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change , 1984 .

[14]  今井 賢一,et al.  Managing the new product development process : how Japanese companies learn and unlearn , 1984 .

[15]  I. Nonaka,et al.  Managing the new product development process , 1985 .

[16]  J. Barney.  Strategic Factor Markets: Expectations, Luck, and Business Strategy , 1986 .

[17]  S. Winter.  Knowledge and Competence as Strategic Assets , 1987 .

[18]  S. Winter,et al.  Appropriating the Returns from Industrial Research and Development , 1987 .

[19]  L. Zucker.  Institutional Theories of Organization , 1987 .

[20]  Richard R. Nelson,et al.  Appropriating the Returns from Industrial R&D , 1988 .

[21]  H. Demsetz.  The Theory of the Firm Revisited , 1988 .

[22]  Karel Cool,et al.  Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage , 1989 .

[23]  I. Nonaka.  Redundant, Overlapping Organization: A Japanese Approach to Managing the Innovation Process , 1990 .

[24]  C. Prahalad,et al.  The core competence of the corporation’, Harvard Business Review, Vol. pp. . , 1990 .

[25]  Kim B. Clark,et al.  Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of , 1990 .

[26]  M. Porter.  The Competitive Advantage Of Nations , 1990 .

[27]  M. Porter.  Towards a dynamic theory of strategy , 1991 .

[28]  H. Simon.  Bounded Rationality and Organizational Learning , 1991 .

[29]  R. Rumelt.  How much does industry matter , 1991 .

[30]  J. March,et al.  Learning from Samples of One or Fewer , 1991 .

[31]  J.-C. Spender,et al.  Limits to learning from the west: How western management advice may prove limited in Eastern Europe , 1992 .

[32]  Robert Jacobson,et al.  The “Austrian” School of Strategy , 1992 .

[33]  Brian T. Pentland,et al.  Organizing Moves in Software Support Hot Lines , 1992 .

[34]  B. Kogut,et al.  Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology , 1992 .

[35]  W. Starbuck.  Learning by Knowledge-Intensive Firms , 1992 .

[36]  K. Clark,et al.  Innovation: Mapping the winds of creative destruction☆ , 1993 .

[37]  Michael Burda,et al.  Revolutionizing product development , 1993 .

[38]  Amalya L. Oliver,et al.  Social Networks, Learning, and Flexibility: Sourcing Scientific Knowledge in New Biotechnology Firms , 1994 .

[39]  I. Nonaka.  A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation , 1994 .

[40]  B. Pentland,et al.  Organizational Routines as Grammars of Action , 1994 .

[41]  I. Cockburn,et al.  Measuring competence?: exploring firm effects in pharmaceutical research , 1994 .

[42]  James Richardson.  Vertical Integration and Rapid Response in Fashion Apparel , 1996 .

[43]  C. C. Snow,et al.  Responding to Hypercompetition: The Structure and Processes of a Regional Learning Network Organization , 1996 .

[44]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  Towards The Flexible Form: How To Remain Vital in Hypercompetitive Environments , 1996 .

[45]  S. Macstravic.  Marketing myopia. , 1998, The Healthcare Forum journal.