Knowledge Management in Food Supply Chains

Abstract

In a food supply chain, companies exchange information and products to create value. The competitive advantage of the company relies on that of the entire chain. This paper addresses knowledge management in a food supply chain especially the promotion of knowledge sharing and transfer. This is a substantial issue when, for example, a company comes to leave the supply chain voluntarily or disappears because of natural or man-made catastrophes. In this case, the question remains whether the substituting organization can acquire the tacit knowledge needed to fulfill its mission. Consequently, the operation of the supply chain becomes an acute issue too. The paper proposes a methodology based on organizational and interorganizational learning and develops a learning laboratory that facilitates knowledge sharing and transfer. This lab supports (a) knowledge sharing through the mental map’s knowledge elicitation of every company’s leader, and (b) knowledge transfer via dedicated learning-based environments.