%0 Journal Article %1 Kasper2010 %A Kasper, Helmut %A Lehrer, Mark %A Mühlbacher, Jürgen %A Müller, Barbara %D 2010 %J Journal of Management Inquiry %K KnowledgeManagement KnowledgeSharing %N 4 %P 367-381 %R 10.1177/1056492610370366 %T Thinning Knowledge: An Interpretive Field Study of Knowledge-Sharing Practices of Firms in Three Multinational Contexts %U http://jmi.sagepub.com/content/19/4/367.abstract %V 19 %X Knowledge is often tacit and ?sticky,?? that is, highly context-specific and, therefore, costly to transfer to a different setting. This article examines the methods used by firms to facilitate cross-site knowledge sharing by ?thinning?? knowledge, that is, by stripping knowledge of its contextual richness. An interview-based study of cross-site knowledge sharing in three industries (consulting, industrial materials, and high-tech products) indicates that highly developed knowledge-sharing systems do not necessarily involve extensive codification and recombination of personalized knowledge. Many multinational firms evidently conceive their knowledge-sharing systems with more modest objectives in mind than any large-scale ?learning spirals?? featuring iterative conversion of personalized knowledge into codified knowledge and vice versa. A typology of knowledge-thinning systems is derived by interpreting the field study results from the perspective of knowledge-thinning methods used in earlier eras of history. The typology encompasses topographical, statistical, and diagrammatic knowledge-thinning systems.

@article{Kasper2010, abstract = {Knowledge is often tacit and ?sticky,?? that is, highly context-specific and, therefore, costly to transfer to a different setting. This article examines the methods used by firms to facilitate cross-site knowledge sharing by ?thinning?? knowledge, that is, by stripping knowledge of its contextual richness. An interview-based study of cross-site knowledge sharing in three industries (consulting, industrial materials, and high-tech products) indicates that highly developed knowledge-sharing systems do not necessarily involve extensive codification and recombination of personalized knowledge. Many multinational firms evidently conceive their knowledge-sharing systems with more modest objectives in mind than any large-scale ?learning spirals?? featuring iterative conversion of personalized knowledge into codified knowledge and vice versa. A typology of knowledge-thinning systems is derived by interpreting the field study results from the perspective of knowledge-thinning methods used in earlier eras of history. The typology encompasses topographical, statistical, and diagrammatic knowledge-thinning systems.}, added-at = {2014-12-17T12:45:46.000+0100}, author = {Kasper, Helmut and Lehrer, Mark and Mühlbacher, Jürgen and Müller, Barbara}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/29e6a3e324696167c25cf660cf5aa25d5/baem}, doi = {10.1177/1056492610370366}, eprint = {http://jmi.sagepub.com/content/19/4/367.full.pdf+html}, groups = {public}, interhash = {59a8ad508ec050ec52c7de4fe7020316}, intrahash = {9e6a3e324696167c25cf660cf5aa25d5}, journal = {Journal of Management Inquiry}, keywords = {KnowledgeManagement KnowledgeSharing}, number = 4, pages = {367-381}, timestamp = {2015-10-19T14:20:00.000+0200}, title = {Thinning Knowledge: An Interpretive Field Study of Knowledge-Sharing Practices of Firms in Three Multinational Contexts}, url = {http://jmi.sagepub.com/content/19/4/367.abstract}, username = {baem}, volume = 19, year = 2010 }