Learning in Networks

Abstract

During the last decades, competence and knowledge have become increasingly focused as means for increasing the competitiveness of industrial companies. Organizational learning accordingly has become an important issue both in research and in managerial considerations. One important way to learn is through others. Companies have as one consequence devoted much interest into building special relationships with universities and other knowledge producers, such as lead users, to knit together special knowledge networks. However, the same interest has not been devoted to how the existing business relationships with customers or suppliers in general are taken care of from a learning perspective. In this article, we will present the results from a study of learning within business relationships formed around an ordinary construction project. One major conclusion is that the extent to which learning takes place seems to be highly related to the existence of connections between the relationships. The more each single relationship is part of a network the more the company in average seems to learn from it. The results can have managerial implications for both buying and selling companies.

Introduction

During the last decades, companies have become aware of the importance of competence and knowledge. This has resulted, among other things, in some companies appointing special “knowledge managers”. One of the reasons behind this focus on knowledge is probably that companies, in general, have access to the same kind of equipment, products, and technology. The question is more how to use these resources more efficiently than is done in other companies [1]. The increased interest in knowledge and competence has meant that learning has become a key question for managers.

Basically companies learn in two ways: through their own experiences or through the experiences of other organizations [2]. Learning from own experiences includes experimenting and interpreting earlier outcomes. Learning from others means the transfer of knowledge embedded in products or processes or the transfer of knowledge in a more pure form. Here we will concentrate on this second alternative: learning directly from others. Studies showing the importance of this type of learning are increasing in number 3, 4, 5. Learning from others implies a number of managerial considerations. One is choosing from whom to learn; another is the form in which learning should take place. Some companies have tried to solve these issues by developing a very deliberate strategy. They have tried to develop special relationships with universities, with other knowledge producers, or with special customers (lead users) or suppliers [6]. Less interest until now has been given to everyday learning. Every company has a number of business relationships with customers and suppliers where certainly some learning takes place. Our ambition with this article is to investigate the degree to which everyday learning is visible in such relationships and also to identify which factors influence learning within these relationships. The empirical base in this article is a study of a construction project. The results ought to be relevant both for selling and buying companies and for their way of building, organizing, and maintaining business relationships.