Building competitive advantage through knowledge management: Relating knowledge specificity to innovation

A. D. Lloyd*, J. Ure

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

The impact of knowledge management on competitiveness is widely acknowledged. Drawing on the knowledge management literature we relate the macroscopic factors of risk, innovation and competitive advantage to the design of the basic knowledge unit. Focusing on one aspect of the design, specificity, we observe that high levels of specificity can be used to present prescriptive solutions to a community of practice in ways that that constrain innovation. Where such an outcome is inconsistent with the organisation's strategy, and hence undesirable, a later adjustment can be made at the presentation layer that abstracts unwanted detail. In contrast, a formalism that promotes innovation across contexts through a low degree of specificity cannot later be reversed. If this is inconsistent with an organisation's strategy an increase in innovation may be at the expense of a reduction in strategic alignment, an increase in market and technical risk, and ultimately a reduction in competitiveness.

Original languageEnglish
Pages219-224
Number of pages6
Publication statusPublished - 2005
Event12th ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications - Next Generation Concurrent Engineering: Smart and Concurrent Integration of Product Data, Services, and Control Strategies, CE 2005 - Fort Worth, TX, United States
Duration: 25 Jul 200529 Jul 2005

Conference

Conference12th ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications - Next Generation Concurrent Engineering: Smart and Concurrent Integration of Product Data, Services, and Control Strategies, CE 2005
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityFort Worth, TX
Period25/07/0529/07/05

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