Organizational knowledge management has become a critical competitive capability for many companies, and recent research has confirmed that organizational knowledge can provide an inimitable competitive advantage. Three skills are critical to knowledge management capability: acquiring new knowledge, storing and sustaining acquired knowledge, and disseminating knowledge within the organization to all potential users. My research in this area draws on organizational learning curve theory to examine these knowledge management capabilities in professional service organizations, specifically in architecture and engineering contexts. In many ways this research area is related to manufacturing-supply chains: inventory is replaced by “knowledge stock,” product flow by transfer of knowledge, and logistic networks by inter-firm transfers and social networks.

Key collaborators

Tonya Boone (William and Mary), Robert Hicks (William and Mary)

Key publication