Abstract
Both economic and spatial sciences emphasise the importance of face-to-face interaction and physical co-location to transfer knowledge efficiently and successfully. From a geographical point of view, businesses organise knowledge transfer in strategic relationships (pipelines) and absorb knowledge locally (buzz) to access external knowledge resources. On the organisational level, specific work arrangements facilitate personal encounters and foster the exchange of knowledge. As a result, knowledge transfer in business context relies on the efficient management of and personal relations and human interaction, which accentuate the importance of spatial mobility of employees at the workplace.
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Notes
- 1.
For a brief historical summary and antecedents for today’s understanding of the term knowledge refer to Gordon (2000:72).
- 2.
The categories of “tacit” and “explicit” knowledge should not be regarded as a clear-cut dichotomy, but as a continuum (Nonaka & von Krogh 2009:640). Indeed, both forms of knowledge show strong linkages, e.g. tacit knowledge helps to make sense of explicit knowledge (Dhanaraj et al 2004:438) or tacit knowledge can be (to some extent) be transformed into explicit knowledge, e.g. by the act of writing (Nonaka & von Krogh 2009:641).
- 3.
For a critical review of the hierarchical relationship refer to Frické (2009).
- 4.
The buzz-pipeline models aligns with a relational research approach and knowledge-based theory of the firm. Another research stream, which discusses proximity and innovation from an evolutionary perspective, is the so-called Proximity School (Boschma 2005).
- 5.
Due to the micro-perspective, the term ‘actors’ refers to individuals and not to other economic stakeholders, such as institutions or firms as such.
- 6.
In early works, buzz and pipelines formed a dichotomous relationship. In this context, buzz was at first always understood as a localised practice in contrast to pipelines, which were conceptualised as a sole mean for the transfer of knowledge over geographical distance. However, more recent contributions make clear that buzz also contributes to knowledge transfer over geographical distance.
- 7.
The concept of trust is hard to grasp due to the multiple definitions found in the literature. In order to keep the current discussion about knowledge transfer over distance manageable, Rousseau et al. (1998) provide a comprehensive introduction towards trust summarising insights from various academic disciplines. Generally, trust is conceptualised as “(…) a psychological state comprising the intention to accept vulnerability based upon positive expectations of the intentions or behavior of another.” (Rousseau et al. 1998:395). Workplaces which are characterised by high levels of trust positively influence workplace behaviour in general (Dirks & Ferrin 2001) and knowledge sharing in particular (Andrews & Delahaye 2000, Levin & Cross 2004, Lin 2007). Since an intensive discussion on how trust mediates the knowledge transfer process is out of scope, it is sufficient to note that trust constitutes the basis for human interaction; without trust no meaningful interaction can be derived.
- 8.
According to Torre (2009:873), the dichotomy of tacit vs. codified knowledge encourages considering tacit knowledge as a type of knowledge which can only be transferred locally, whereas codified knowledge can overcome geographical distance.
- 9.
At first glance, the inclusion of papers indexed with the subject GEOGRAPHY seems to decrease scientific rigour. However, the geographical turn in Economics (Martin 1999) reflects the aforementioned cross-disciplinary nature of social sciences research. The complementarity and diversity of perspectives prove methodological difficulties for the extraction and selection of data. In order to overcome those obstacles, the relevance and quality of each paper was evaluated. Results showed that they either constituted duplicates or covered topics which also make an appearance in one or more of the other subjects.
- 10.
Walsh & Doughty (2009:305 f.) distinguish four different organisational forms (multinational, global, international, transnational) of internationally active business organisations with peculiar dynamics, different interaction patterns among and interdependencies of subsidiaries and headquarters. Whenever this thesis addresses MNCs, it refers to their transnational operating radius.
- 11.
Global knowledge management encompasses three areas, namely a) the generation and acquisition of knowledge, b) the storage and maintenance of knowledge within the organisation and c) the diffusion and transfer of knowledge among actors and entities (Sparrow 2012:117).
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Hünnemeyer, V. (2020). Knowledge Transfer, Space and Organisations: A Multi-perspective Discussion. In: Knowledge Transfers over Geographical Distance in Organisations. Perspektiven der Humangeographie. Springer Spektrum, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-31018-9_2
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