Knowledge transfer: A basis for competitive advantage in firms

This concluding article in the special issue of Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes on the foundations of knowledge transfer in organ izations argues that the creation and transfer of knowledge are a basis for competitive advantage in firms. The article builds on a framework of knowl edge reservoirs to show why knowledge transfer can be difficult and to iden tify the kinds of knowledge that are most difficult to transfer to differen t contexts. The article develops the proposition that interactions among pe ople, tasks, and tools are least likely to fit the new context and hence ar e the most difficult to transfer. This theoretical result illuminates how o rganizations can derive competitive advantage by transferring knowledge int ernally while preventing its external transfer to competitors. Because peop le are more similar within than between organizations, interactions involvi ng people transfer more readily within than between firms. By embedding kno wledge in interactions involving people, organizations can both effect know ledge transfer internally and impede knowledge transfer externally. Thus, k nowledge embedded in the interactions of people, tools, and tasks provides a basis for competitive advantage in firms. (C) 2000 Academic Press.