Organisational ‘know-where’ and ‘know-when’: re-framing configurations and distributions of knowledge in organisations

Abstract

This paper explores varying configurations of knowledge in organisations. A multi-dimensional framework of distinctive forms of knowledge is used to highlight different patterns of organisational knowledge, demonstrating their heterogeneity and variability – over time, in terms of depth of expertise, and their distribution within and between organisations. Common knowledge that is shared across an organisation accounts for only a small proportion of organisational knowledge, indicating that strategies to exploit this resource for competitive advantage will be constrained unless mechanisms are developed that enable access to and transfer of knowledge that is not yet shared or common.

Keywords:

• knowledge stocks and flows
• knowledge transfer
• knowledge transmission
• knowledge use/utilisation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrew Atherton

About the author

Andrew Atherton is a Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor and a Professor of Enterprise at the University of Lincoln. From January 2013, he will be the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Lancaster University. He has degrees from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Yale University and the University of Lincoln. His areas of research interest are small and entrepreneurial enterprises, small businesses and enterprise policy, and entrepreneurship in China. His interest in knowledge creation and management stems from working for over a decade with entrepreneurs who develop and demonstrate many different forms of knowledge acquisition and application.