Title: Knowledge creation and application in high-technology firms: the role of communities in the Italian experience

Authors: Giovanni Battista Dagnino; Maria Cristina Longo

Addresses: Department of Economics and Management, University of Catania, Corso Italia, 55, I-95129 Catania, Italy. ' Department of Economics and Management, University of Catania, Corso Italia, 55, I-95129 Catania, Italy

Abstract: This paper aims to contribute to the advancement of firm knowledge theory and practice by emphasising and assessing the substantial role of communities of practice in generating new knowledge and promoting its application in high-technology firms. Drawing on Brown and Duguid's study, we argue that high-tech firms are composed of a myriad of overlapping communities (i.e. internal and/or external to the firm; virtual or distributed, comprising individuals located in partners, suppliers, distributors, universities and colleagues) each of which presents a dominant mode of learning and collective behaviour, and each of which, both individually and collectively, favours the processes of knowledge creation and application. On the ground of an in-depth biannual longitudinal study of the Italian subsidiary of a large high-tech multinational firm operating in the Information and Communication Industry, we eventually show how the observation and reconstruction of significant evidence of community interactions convey various compelling managerial consequences.

Keywords: communities of practice; knowledge creation; knowledge application; high-tech firms; Italy; high-technology; John Seely Brown; Paul Duguid; overlapping communities; internal communities; external communities; virtual communities; distributed communities; web based communities; online communities; internet; world wide web; e-communities; electronic communities; individuals; partners; suppliers; distributors; universities; colleagues; higher education; dominant modes; learning; collective behaviour; biannual studies; longitudinal studies; subsidiary companies; subsidiaries; multinational corporations; MNCs; ICT; information technology; communications technology; community interactions; managerial consequences; IBM Semea Sud; strategic change management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCM.2012.045828

International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 2012 Vol.4 No.1, pp.1 - 31

Published online: 31 Dec 2014 *

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