Critical processes of knowledge management: An approach toward the creation of customer value

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w w w . e l s e v i e r . e s / e r m b e

Critical

processes

of

knowledge

management:

An

approach

toward

the

creation

of

customer

value

Ignacio

Cepeda-Carrion

a

_,

_Silvia

_{Martelo-Landroguez}

a,∗,1

_,

_Antonio

_L.

_{Leal-Rodríguez}

b

_,

Antonio

Leal-Millán

a

a_Department_of_Management_and_Marketing,_University_of_Sevilla,_Av._Ramón_y_Cajal,_1,₄₁₀₁₈_Seville,_Spain b_Department_of_Business_Management,_University_Loyola_Andalucía,_C/Energía_Solar,_1,₄₁₀₁₈_Seville,_Spain

a

r

t

i

c

l

e

i

n

f

o

Articlehistory:

Received29October2015 Accepted1March2016 Availableonline26April2016 JELclassiﬁcation: M10 M15 M19 M29 Keywords: Dynamiccapability Knowledgemanagement Knowledgemanagementprocesses Customervalue

Microfoundationsofdynamiccapabilities

a

b

s

t

r

a

c

t

Theaimofthisarticleistocontributetotheliteraturebyidentifyingandanalyzingpossible combina-tionsbetweencriticalknowledgemanagementprocesses(absorptivecapacity,knowledgetransferand knowledgeapplication),whichwillresultinthecreationofsuperiorcustomervalue.Themainresearch questionthisworkaddressesis:giventhatcustomersaredemandingeachdayagreatervalue,how canorganizationscreatemorevaluetocustomersfromtheirknowledgemanagementprocessesandthe combinationofthem?Weproposethatthecombinationofthethreeknowledgemanagementprocesses buildsadynamicorhigher-ordercapabilitythatresultsinthecreationofsuperiorvalueforcustomers.

1. Introduction

Inrecentyearsofhighturbulenceoftheenvironment,ﬁrmsand

organizationsingeneralmustpayspecialattentiontothose

strate-giesormanagementprocesseswithagreaterlikelihoodofensuring

theirsuccessandofhelpingthemachievesustainablecompetitive

advantagesovertime.Customerfocusandthevaluethat

organiza-tionsareabletoofferhimorherconstitutekeyelementstoachieve

suchsustainableadvantages.

Thus,theaimofthisstudyistodevelopamodelthatbringsa

bet-terunderstandingonhowacompanycanoffergreatervaluetothe

customers,throughitsknowledgemanagement(KM)processes.

Inparticular,theresearchquestionthisworkaimstoaddressis:

giventhatcustomersaredemandingeachdayagreatervalue,how

canorganizationscreatemorevaluetocustomersfromtheirKM

processesandthecombinationofthem?

Inthisline,KMbecomesakeymanagementcapacityinorder

tocreatecustomervalue.Theimportanceofthiscapacityrootson

∗ Correspondingauthor.

E-mailaddress:[email protected](S.Martelo-Landroguez). 1_This_research_was_supported_by_a_grant_from_VPPI-US.

theconsiderationofknowledgeasakeystrategicresource(Grant,

1996;VandenHooff&Huysman,2009).Thus,ifﬁrmswanttotake

advantageoftheknowledgetheypossess,theyhavetoknowhow

knowledgeiscreated,sharedandusedwithinthecompany(Ipe,

2003).

TheexistingliteraturesuggeststhatenterprisesthatapplyKM

processesareespeciallylookingtodeliversuperiorvaluetothe

cus-tomers.Nevertheless,thekeyisnotitsstaticanalysisatanypointin

time;therecombinationoftheprocessesshouldberecurrentand

sustainable.AccordingtoSirmon,Hitt,andIreland(2007),having

highlyvaluableorrareresourcesandcapabilitiesisnotsufﬁcient

toobtaincompetitiveadvantagesortocreatevalue; companies

mustalsobeabletomanagethemeffectively.Therefore,the

cre-ationofvaluecanalsooccurbyrecombiningexistingresourcesand

capacities(Morrow,Sirmon,Hitt,&Holcomb,2007).Organizational

capacitieshavetobeabletobereconﬁguredtoallowthecompany

tocreatevalueovertime.

This researchexplores customer value creation through the

organizationalcapacityofKM,andproposesthatrecombination

processes constitute themselves a higher-order capacity which

contributestoincreasecustomervalue.Onthisbasis,andrelyingon

theexistingliteratureonthesubject,thisstudyintendsto

estab-lishhow companiescandevelopthesehigher-orderordynamic

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iedeen.2016.03.001

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capabilities (DC), thus being able to offer a superior customer

value.Forthisreason,weanalyzehowabsorptivecapacity(ACAP),

knowledgetransfer(KT)andknowledgeapplication(KA)combine

andrelatetoeachother;establishingaknowledgecyclethatwill

constituteadynamiccapability,andhencecontributetoprovide

customerswithsuperiorvalue.

Section2 presentsthe theoreticalframework. Detailsof the

proposedmodelareshowninSection3andthetheoretical

con-tributionsandmanagerialimplicationsarediscussedinSection4,

whichisfollowedbyourgeneralconclusionsinSection5.

2. Theoreticalbackground

AccordingtoMartelo-Landroguez,Barroso,andCepeda(2011),

understandinghoworganizationsareabletogenerateand

main-tain a competitiveadvantage becomes something fundamental

inthe ﬁeld ofstrategic management (Zott,2003).Accordingto

theresource-based view(RBV), thedifferences in performance

between companiesare due to their speciﬁc sets of resources

and capabilities. Therefore, such resources and capabilities are

understood as the source of competitive advantage (Helfat &

Peteraf,2003).TheRBV assumesthat resourcesand capabilities

aredistributedheterogeneouslyamongcompaniesandthatsuch

heterogeneitycanbemaintainedovertime(Ambrosini&Bowman,

2009;McKelvie&Davidsson,2009;Wang&Ahmed,2007).

Atthecurrentperiodofwidespreadcrisis,characterizedbya

signiﬁcantshortageofresourcesinallsectors,organizationsneed

morethanevertobeabletodistributetheiravailableresources

amongthedistinctalternatives,totrytoadaptinthebestway

andasquicklyaspossibletotheturbulenceoftheenvironment

(Fowler, King, Marsh, &Victor, 2000; Prahalad & Ramaswamy,

2004).Therefore,organizationsmustdevelopDCinordertoevolve,

advance,grow,adapt,and,ultimately,survive.Bymeansofsuch

DCdevelopment,thecompanywillbepreparedand abletosit

someﬁrmfoundationsthatsupportitsstrategy(Helfat&Martin,

2015).

TheliteratureproposesnumerousdeﬁnitionsofDC.DCisa

con-ceptthathasbeenreachedthroughaterminologicalevolutionof

differentauthorsovertime.Teece,Pisano,andShuen(1997)were

theﬁrsttocointhisconceptanddeﬁnedit astheabilityofthe

companytointegrate,build,andreconﬁgureinternalandexternal

competenciestomanagerapidly-changingenvironments.Cepeda

andVera(2007)andZahra,Sapienza,andDavidsson(2006)refer

toDCastheprocessestoreconﬁgureaﬁrm’sresourcesand

opera-tionalroutinesinthemannerenvisionedanddeemedappropriate

byitsprincipaldecisionmakers.

Asan extension of the RBV and as a forerunner of the DC

approach,wefoundintheliteraturetheknowledge-basedview

(KBV).TheauthorssupportingtheKBV(Nonaka,1994;Grant,1996)

essentiallyconsiderthatthemainaimofthecompanyisto

cre-ateand applyknowledge.Accordingtothis approach,ﬁrmsare

knowledgestores.Hencetheimportanceofaccessingthis

knowl-edge,creatingwithinthecompanyanenabling environmentto

knowledge acquisition, and considering knowledge as an asset

(Davenport,DeLong,&Beers,1998).

TheprobleminherenttotheRBVisthatitfailstoadequately

explainhowandwhymanycompaniesreachcompetitive

advan-tages in situations of fast and unpredictable change. In such

markets,wherethecompetitivelandscapeischanging,DCbecome

asourceofsustainablecompetitiveadvantages.Themanagement

ofknowledgeresources,inparticular,isespeciallycriticalinsuch

markets(Eisenhardt&Martin,2000).WhiletheRBVemphasizes

thecollectionofresources(Barney,1991),theDCapproachfocuses

ontherenewaloftheseresourcesthroughtheirreconﬁguration

intonewfunctionalskills(Eisenhardt&Martin,2000;Teeceetal.,

1997).

Sensing Seizing Reconfiguring

Fig.1. Sequenceofthemicrofoundationsofdynamiccapabilities.

2.1. Microfoundationsofdynamiccapabilities

ThemicrofoundationsofDC(Teece,2007)aredeﬁnedasaset

oftasksthatthecompanymustaddressinordertodevelopDC.

Suchtasksarecalledsensing,seizing,andreconﬁguring.TheDC

approachsuggeststhattoidentifynewopportunities(i.e.,sensing);

toeffectivelyorganizethem(i.e.,seizing);andtoadoptthem(i.e.,

reconﬁguring),ismorerelevantthanstrategyitself;strategybeing

understoodasthebehaviortowardoffcompetitors,raise entry

barriers,andexcludepotentialnewrivals(Helfat&Peteraf,2015;

Teece,2007).Inthissense,otherauthors(Helfat&Peteraf,2009;

Teece,2009)suggestthatcompaniesneedtoaligntheirresources

withthemarket’sneedsthroughtheperceptionofopportunities

orthreats(sensing),thevaluationofopportunitiesandthe

man-agementofthethreats (seizing),and thereconﬁgurationofthe

resources(reconﬁguring).

First,companiesneedtofocusontheactivitiesofperception

(sensing),toﬁndoutnewopportunities.Todothis,managersmust

scan, learn and interpret all theexisting information (Cohen &

Levinthal,1990).Thesetaskswillenablethediscoveryoflatent

opportunitiesandwillgeneratenewopportunities.Firmswillhave

tocarryouttheseactivitiesintentionallyandsystematically,not

leavingmatterstochance.Nowmorethanever,managersneed

toﬁndtheway tobetterunderstandall theinformation

avail-able.Therefore,theywillhavetoﬁlterandidentifytherelevant

informationuponwhichtofocustheirattention(Ocasio,1997).

Whenanewopportunityhasbeendetected,thenextstepwillbe

toassesstheopportunity,whichisseizing.Todothis,itisnecessary

todeterminethebusinessmodel,understandresourceneedsand

makedecisionstoinvestintechnologyorotherresourcesrequired,

whileallowingotherstomake theappropriatechanges.Dueto

thefactthatnumerousfunctionalareasareinvolved,itis

neces-sarytoachieveanimportantcoordinationofactivitiesthataffect

thesevariousfunctionalareas,andalsotheassociatedinvestments

thatshouldbemadesimultaneouslyandnotsequentially,

espe-ciallyifcompaniesareshorteningtimesofcommercializationof

newproductsorservices(Teece,2007).Afterassessingthe

oppor-tunity,thereconﬁgurationofresources(reconﬁguring) becomes

necessary.Reconﬁguringinvolvesthereallocationofresourcesso

thatthenewcombinationincreasesthevalueofthecompany.This

reconﬁgurationgivesthecompanytheabilitytoadapttochanges

intheenvironment,todisposeofobsoleteroutinesandtoallow

increasedandsustainableresults.

Fig.1graphicallyrepresentsthesequenceofactivitiesortasks

thatmustbecarriedoutwithintheorganization.

2.2. Knowledgemanagement:criticalprocesses

KMhasbeenawidelyexaminedtopicinthemanagement

liter-atureformanyyears.Foralongtime,companieswantedto“know

whattheyknow”(i.e.,tobringtoconsciouslevelwhatthe

com-panyknowshowtodo,butwhichuptoacertaintimehadnever

stoppedtoanalyze).Additionally,theyintendedtogobeyond

won-deringhowtheyareabletomakethebestuseoftheknowledge

theypossess(Macintosh,1997).

Knowledgeisconsideredthemostimportantassetthat

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resource.Therefore,importanteffortsarebeingmadeinorderto

beabletodeterminehowtoacquireit,representit,retainitand

manageit.Thekeyistoknowhowtocombineknowledgeinorder

toensurethattheﬁrm achievessustainablecompetitive

advan-tages(González-Loureiro,Vila,&Schiuma,2015).AlaviandLeidner

(2001)indicatethatcompanies’difﬁcultiesinmaintaining,

locat-ingandapplyingknowledgehasledthemtodevelopsystematic

procedurestomanageit.

Recentworks(Martelo-Landroguezetal.,2011)highlightthe

popularityofKM,whichhasgrownbothattheacademicleveland

amongprofessionals.OneofthemostaddressedaspectsinKM

lit-eratureistheprocessesthatcompriseKM.Followinganexhaustive

reviewoftheexistingliterature,thisstudyconsidersthefollowing

KMprocessestobecritical:

Absorptive capacity: this involves developing new

knowl-edgeor replacing theexistingone (Pentland,1995).It includes

performancesofsearchingfornewinformation andknowledge,

bothinsideandoutsidetheorganization,leadinginturntonew

knowledgegeneration(Cepeda,Cegarra,&Jimenez,2012;Chen&

Edgington,2005).

ACAPwasinitiallydeﬁnedastheﬁrm’sabilitytorecognizethe

valueofnewexternalknowledge,assimilatingandapplyingitto

commercialpurposes(Cohen&Levinthal,1990).ZahraandGeorge

(2002)laterextendedtheACAPconcept,broadlydeﬁningitasa

setoforganizationalroutinesandprocessesthroughwhichﬁrms

acquire,assimilate,transformandexploitknowledgeinorderto

shapeadynamicorganizationalcapability.

Severalstudiesproposethattheability toexploiteffectively

externalknowledgeisacriticalfactorforthecompaniesthathave

aninterest in achievinginnovation outcomesand higher

bene-ﬁts(Cohen&Levinthal,1990).Acompany’sACAPperformsasthe

enablerthatpermitsturningknowledgeintonewproducts,

ser-vices,orprocessestosupportinnovationand,therefore,theﬁrm’s

abilitytorestrictcompetitiveforces(Leal-Rodríguez,Roldán,

Ariza-Montes,&Leal-Millán,2014;Newey&Zahra,2009).

Knowledge transfer: this concept refers to the knowledge

exchangethat occursbetweenindividualsor groupsof

individ-uals,fromindividualstoexplicitsources,andfromagrouptothe

organization(Alavi&Leidner,2001).However,knowledge

trans-ferhasmanymotivationalandperceptiveobstacles,or“stickiness”

(Szulanski,1996).Forinstance,employeesmayresistreceivingnew

knowledgefromothergroups,departments orsectionsbecause

it isnot related totheirprior knowledge. Toassist ﬁrms

over-come theseobstacles, researchers in KMhave investigated the

numerousfacilitatorsofknowledgetransfer(Chang,Gong,&Peng,

2012).

Amongthese,socialcapitalhasbeentakingmuchconsideration

(Kang&Hau,2014;Kang&Kim,2013).Knowledgetransfer,

con-ceptualizedasreciprocalexchangesoforganizationalknowledge

betweenasourceandarecipientunit,includestwoagentsor

com-ponents:asourceandarecipient.Socialcapitaltheorysuggests

that social relationshipscanstimulate and facilitateknowledge

activitiesofboththesourceandtherecipient.Fromaknowledge

source’sperspective,goodsocialrelationshipsamongemployees

canincreasetrust,thusfacilitatingknowledgetransfer.Fromthe

recipient’sviewpoint, good social relationships withcoworkers

facilitatetheaccesstodifferentandvariedknowledge.However,

recipientswholackpriorassociatedknowledgemayhavetrouble

learningthesource’sknowledgeandﬁghtacceptingit.“Thislack

ofpriorknowledgeandresistancetolearningnewknowledgeat

theindividuallevelwillleadtoalowabsorptivecapacity”(Kang&

Hau,2014,p.759).

Knowledgeapplication:thisisaparticularlyrelevantprocess,

sincethebasisoforganizationalcompetitiveadvantagesdoesnot

resideinknowledgeitself,butinitsapplication(Alavi&Leidner,

2001).

KAisa complexprocessbecauseit isaloopprocess.On the

onehand,forKAtotakeplace,apriorphaseofACAPisrequired

and transfer mechanisms are essential for storing and sharing

knowledge.Ontheotherhand,whentheindividualsapplytheir

knowledge,throughaprocessoffeedback,theyareabletocheck

theresultsofthatappliedknowledgeandthedeviationsfromthe

objectivesofsuchapplication.Asaconsequence,thisprocesswill

generatenewknowledgethatmayagainbestoredandtransferred.

Therefore,KAinvolvestheinternalizationofknowledgeinthe

com-pany.

FollowingMartelo-Landroguezetal.(2011),ifanorganization

wantstocapitalizeontheknowledgethatitpossesses,that

orga-nizationmustunderstandhowknowledgeiscreated,shared,and

applied(Ipe,2003).Theseprocessesarefundamentaland

essen-tialfortheadequateandeffectivemanagementoforganizational

knowledge.Astheseprocessesdonotconstitutealinearsequence,

alloronlysomeofthemcouldbeinvolved(Alavi&Leidner,2001).

2.3. Customervalue

Anyorganizationthatseekstoremainonthemarketshouldin

somewayoranotherconsidertheircustomersandwilltherefore

trytointroduceintothemarketanofferofproductsorservices

thatprovideacertaincustomervalue.Accordingtosomeauthors

(Drucker,1985; Porter, 1985;Slater &Narver,1998), thevalue

createdforcustomersandtheabilitytomanageithavebeen

recog-nizedforalongtimeasessentialelementsofthebusinessstrategy

ofcompanies.

Todeterminewhatthecustomerwantsfromaproductand/or

service also helps the company to make its value proposition

(Martelo-Landroguezetal.,2011;Martelo-Landroguez&Cepeda,

2016).During thelast decades,companieshave beenin a new

complex competitive environment, in which increasingly more

customers askforconsistentvalue creation(Sanchez,Iniesta, &

Holbrook,2009).Thissituationhasresultedinagrowinginterest

increatinganddeliveringgreatercustomervalue(Smith&Colgate,

2007;Wang,Lo,Chi,&Yang,2004).

AccordingtotheKBV,knowledgeis a criticalinputtovalue

creation processes and KMrefers to a ﬁrm’s capability to use

andcombinevarioussourcesofknowledgethatcouldtransform

tangibleresourcesintovaluein theformofproduct orprocess

innovations(Holsapple&Wu, 2008; Kiessling,Richey, Meng, &

Dabic,2009).FollowingDamanpourand Gopalakrishnan(2001),

innovationisalsoconsideredacriticalelementwhenattempting

toreachandsustaincompetitiveadvantages,beingproduct/service

innovation akey component of ﬁrm’svaluecreation andvalue

appropriationprocesses.Theseauthorsarguethatinnovativeﬁrms

tendtobemoreﬂexibleandadaptabletochanges,andhence,are

moreabletoexploitopportunitiesthantheircompetitorsare.Firms

thatfosteraninnovativeapproachcandealbetterwiththe

cur-rentlyhighlydynamicenvironment,andarethusabletoachieve

andsustainlong-termcompetitiveadvantages.Inthisvein,

proac-tivelyembracinginnovationcontributestodifferentiatingtheﬁrm

fromitscompetitors,contributinghencetoimproveitsbusiness

performanceandmarketvalue(García-Zamora,González-Benito,

&Mu ˜noz-Gallego,2013;Jansen,VandenBosch,&Volberda,2006).

3. Proposedmodel

Inourproposedresearchmodel(Fig.2),weintendtoshowhow

thecombinationoftheproposedKMprocesses,consideredcritical,

constituteadynamiccapability.Wealsoshowthatthis

combina-tionofprocessesconductstocreatingcustomervalue.

ThismodelisbasedontheKBVasaprecursoroftheDCapproach.

KBV identiﬁes knowledge as the most strategically important

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Dynamic

capability

Absorptive capacity Knowledge application Knowledge transfer «Reconfiguring» «Seizing» P1 Customer value P2 «Sensing»

Fig.2. Proposedmodel.

wepayattentiontounderstandingtherelationshipbetweenKM

processesandorganizationalcapabilities,therelevanceofdifferent

processesthatenablethecreation,exchangeanduseof

knowl-edge,andtheinterrelationshipwiththemicrofoundationsofDC.

Likewise,wetheoreticallyproposehowthesecombinedprocesses

developDCinthecompanies,aswellashowtheserelationships

generatesuperiorcustomervalue,andallthisinordertoachieve

superiorbusinessperformance(Decarolis&Deeds,1999).

3.1. RelationshipbetweenKMprocesses

ResearchonKMoftenreferstointernalknowledgeprocesses;

however,ACAPfocusesontheﬁrm’suseofexternalknowledge.In

turbulentenvironments,companiestendtodeeplyrelyonexternal

knowledge(Droge,Calantone,&Harmancioglu,2008).Giventhat

theaccumulationofknowledgeisnotonlytheresultofinternal

development,butalsooftheassimilationofexternalknowledge,

theACAPofacompanyiscriticaltoitssuccess(Martelo-Landroguez

&Cegarra,2013).

TheﬁrstauthorstousetheconceptofACAPwereCohenand

Levinthal(1990).DevelopingandmaintainingACAPbecomes

criti-calforthesurvivalandsuccessofacompanyinthelongterm,since

suchcapacitycanreinforce,complementorreorientthe

knowl-edgebaseofthecompany.However,itisnecessarytoknowwhat

todowiththisnewlyacquiredknowledge.Knowledgeisacquired

in order toapply it;therefore, it is essential that such

knowl-edgereachesthewholeorganization(Ipe,2003).Thesharingand

disseminationof knowledge through theprocess of knowledge

transfer(KT)iscrucial.Ourproposedmodel(Fig.2)representsthe

relationshipbetweenACAPandKT.Onceknowledgeisabsorbed,it

maybetransferredtotherestoftheorganization,contributingto

developingintoadynamiccapability.

KTessentiallyinvolvestheactofmakingknowledgeavailableto

otherswithintheorganization(Ipe,2003).Toensurethat

knowl-edge might beavailable, individuals and departments must be

involvedintheprocessofKT(DeVries,VandenHooff,&DeRidder,

2006).KTisunderstoodasaneffectivewayofimprovingthe

knowl-edgethatacompanyhasontheircompetitorsandtheindustry,and

toacquirelocalknowledge(Gold,Malhotra,&Segars,2001).Infact,

KTisoneofthemostcriticalprocesseswithintheKMtopicandis

consideredtobeakeyphaseforitssuccess.Toremaincompetitive

withinthemarketplace,companiesshouldsharetheir

organiza-tionalknowledgeandskillsthroughouttheﬁrm(Goldetal.,2001).

Organizationalcompetitiveadvantagedoesnotlieon

knowl-edgeitself,butonitsapplication(Alavi&Leidner,2001).Without

theapplicationorutilizationofknowledge(KA),theprevious

pro-cesseshavelittlepurpose.Knowledgeisgeneratedoracquiredand

sharedtobeappliedandtomakethecompanymorecompetitive.

OurmodelalsoestablishesthisrelationshipbetweenKTandKA.For

instance,whenacompanyhiresadirectorofR&Dfordeveloping

appsformobilephones,thecompanyisacquiringnewknowledge.

Themanagerwillsharehis/herknowledgewithalltheteam

mem-bers inorder todevelopnewinnovativeappsthat workinthe

market.Itisinthisdevelopmentthatthepreviouslyacquiredand

sharedknowledgeisapplied.Therefore,theKAistheultimategoal

ofKM.

FollowingMartelo-Landroguezetal.(2011),ifanorganization

wantstocapitalizeonitsknowledge,thatorganizationmust

under-standhowthegeneration,sharing,andapplicationofknowledge

occur.ByvirtueofKA,theorganizationcanhavefeedbackabout

if that knowledgeis indeed needed,or if thecircumstances of

theenvironmenthavechanged,meaningthattheACAPprocess

hasbecomeobsoleteandrequiresarenovation.Thisrelationship

betweenACAPandKAisrepresentedinthemodel.

KMprocesses,accordingtoAlaviandLeidner(2001),do not

necessarily follow a linear order. For example, after acquiring

knowledge a companycan directlyapply it withoutpreviously

transferringittotherestoftheorganization.Inourmodel,we

rep-resentthecase oftherelationshipbetweenACAPandKA. After

beingabsorbed,knowledgecanbeapplieddirectlywithout

hav-ingtobetransferredtotherestoftheorganization.Oncethese

processesandtheirinterrelationshipshavebeenanalyzed,and

fol-lowingourproposedmodel(Fig.2),wewillfocusonanalyzingthe

microfoundationsofDC.Thatistosay,tasksthatcompaniesmust

carryoutinorderforthemtobeabletodevelopDC;andhowthe

proposedKMprocessesarerelatedtothesemicrofoundations.

3.2. MicrofoundationsofDCandKMprocesses

Bothorganizationalprocessesandoperationalcapabilitiescan

leadtodevelopand deployadynamic capabilityina company.

KM–whichcoversorganizationallearning,knowledgesharingand

integration–isacriticalcapacityforthedevelopmentofDC.KM

isparticularlyusefultoperceiveandassessopportunities,aswell

astoreconﬁguretheﬁrm’sresourcesandcapabilities.Thisstudy

focusesonthreeKMprocesses(ACAP,KT,andKA)thatweconsider

criticalregardingcompanyresults,andakeyelementofDC(Teece,

2007).

KMisabletoperceive(sensing)technologicalopportunitiesin

themarket.Aswehavealreadyindicated,sensingrequires

compa-niestobeabletoabsorballtheinformationandknowledgethat

surroundsit,in ordertoreachitseffectiveimplementationand

thusachieve superiororganizationalresults. Therefore, inorder

todevelop DC,companiesmust enhancetheirACAP,thisbeing

understoodas“thesetoforganizationalroutinesandprocessesby

whichﬁrmsacquire,assimilate,transform,andexploitknowledge”

(Leal-Rodríguezetal.,2014,p.894).Thisprocessallowscompanies

toidentifytheseopportunitiesandthreatswhen developingDC

(Helfat&Peteraf,2009,2015;Teece,2007,2009).

Onceanewopportunityisdetected,thenextstepdealswith

itsratingorweighting(seizing).KMalsoallowstheassessment

(seizing)ofopportunities.Toanalyzeandassesstheopportunityor

threatdetectedforeachofthefunctionalareasinvolved,the

knowl-edgegeneratednecessarilyhastobetransferredtoeveryonewithin

theorganization,oratleasttoallthefunctionalareasinvolved.

Thus,KTprocessesbecomekeyelementswhilecorrectlyassessing

(seizing)theopportunityorthreat.If,forexample,themarketing

departmentofacompanydetectsthata competitoris

develop-inga newproduct orservice thatenhancesand includes some

relevantinnovationwithrespecttoitself,thedepartmentshould

transferthispertinentknowledgetotherestoftheorganization.

Thus,otherdepartmentssuchasﬁnance,production,andlogistics

canacknowledgethethreatandstarttodevelopsome

modiﬁca-tionsontheirproduct/servicetooffsetthecompetitor.WithoutKT,

suchavaluation(seizing)ofthethreatcouldnotbecarriedoutand,

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Afterassessing theopportunity,organizations haveto make

decisions(i.e.,doweremainasweare?Ordowemakedecisions

tochangethings?).Areconﬁguration(reconﬁguring)ofresources

andcapabilitiesimpliesthereallocationofresourcessothatthe

newcombinationwillincreasethecompany’svalue.This

recon-ﬁgurationenablesmanagerstobetteradapttothechangesinthe

environment,discardobsolete routines,andtoobtain

improve-mentsinthegrowthandsustainabilityofresults(Karna,Richter,

&Riesenkampff,2015).Thesetasksofresourcesreconﬁguration

(reconﬁguring)necessarilyimplymanagerialdecisionstobebased

onthereceived,andinitscase,transferredknowledge,sothatthe

KAprocessproducesthisreconﬁgurationornewcombinationof

resourcesand capacities,and aclose relationshipisestablished

betweenthisreconﬁgurationandKAprocess.

Foranorganization’sbaseofresourcesandcapabilitiestobe

permanentlyupdatedandrenewedasaresultofthese

reconﬁgu-rationtasks,itisnecessarytomaintainadirectconnectionwiththe

managersforthemtoreceivefromtheenvironmentallthechanges

anddemandsthattheyneed.Thisway,everynewconﬁgurationof

resourcesandcapabilitiesservestheorganizationasfeedbackto

thecycleofrenewalofresourcesandcapabilities.Continuingwith

theexampleofthemarketingdepartmentpreviouslystated,once

theknowledgeofthethreatistransferredtothedifferent

depart-mentsofthecompany,theywillhavetomakedecisionstobeable

tokeeponcompetingwiththismarketrival.Theythereforeneedto

applythisknowledgebymeansofdecisionmakingandbyadopting

anewreconﬁgurationoftheirresourcessothattheyimprovethe

ﬁrm’sresults.

Thus,accordingtoourmodel(Fig.2),threeprocessesofKMare

closelyrelatedtothemicrofoundationsofDC.

Proposition 1. The combination and interrelation between KM

processes(absorptivecapacity,knowledgetransfer,andknowledge

application)constituteadynamiccapability.

ThisstudyraisesthatrelationsbetweenKMprocessesgenerate

aknowledgecycleinsuchawaythatthemoredynamismthecycle

hasand themorequicklytheknowledgeacquiredisprocessed,

transferredandapplied,themorequicklythecompanywilldevelop

effectiveDC,andhence,achievesuperiorbusinessperformance.

3.3. KMprocessesandcustomervalue

RecentstudiesaddresshowKMprocessesandcustomervalue

arerelated(Gebert,Geib,Kolbe,&Brenner,2003;Rezgui,2007).

TheseauthorsunderstandthatknowledgeandKMprocessesare

sourcesofvaluecreationforthecustomer,orhavethecapacity

tocreateit(Vorakulpipat&Rezgui,2008).Thisstudyfocuseson

theinsideoftheorganizationtoseehowcertaininternalprocesses

affectthecreationofvalueforthecustomer.

Fromthispointofview,KMprocessesareperceivedasthose

processesthatallowcompaniestousewhattheyknowtocreate

customervalue(Vorakulpipat&Rezgui,2008).Identifying

knowl-edgeasakeyresourcefororganizationalsuccessconﬁrmstheneed

forprocessesthatenableindividualandcollectiveknowledge

cre-ation,transfer,andleverage(Ipe,2003).

AccordingtotheKBV,a ﬁrm’sexisting knowledge basesets

up its scope and ability to understand and apply new

knowl-edgetodecision-making,problem-solving,orinnovation(Ahuja

&Katila,2001).Firms carryout anumber ofinternal processes

aimingatcreatingandcapturingvaluefromthemarket.Therefore,

theseprocessesarecriticaltoorganizationalsuccess(Chou,2005;

VandenHooff&Huysman,2009).Withoutthem,companiesmay

nottakeadvantageoftheknowledgetheypossess(Bettis,Ethiraj,

Gambardella,Helfat,&Mitchell,2016;Ipe,2003).

Technologyand software companies, for instancewill likely

haveonlineforumstoresolvequestionsortechnicalproblemsfor

customers.Theseareinternalprocessesthatcreatenewknowledge

fromtheproblemsothershavehadandthatisstoredandavailable

forthosewhomayneeditinthefuture.Knowledgeishenceshared

andtransferredamongthemembersoftheforum,bothbetween

thecompanyanditscustomers,andcustomersamongthemselves.

AccordingtoGrant(1996),thecritical sourceofcompetitive

advantageistheintegrationofknowledgeandnotknowledgeitself.

Theprocessesthroughwhichcompaniesintegrateknowledgeare

fundamental to their ability to create and sustain competitive

advantage.Ingeneral,usingorganizationalknowledgeina

com-pany’sprocesses,products,andservicesisnecessary.Ifacompany

cannoteasilyﬁndtheadequateknowledgeintherightway,this

companystrugglestomaintainitscompetitiveadvantage(Bhatt,

2001).

Organizational members possess, acquire, and accumulate

knowledgethroughexperimentation,theobservationofstimuli,

andtheinterpretationoftheresults.RavasiandVerona(2001)point

outthataknowledgebasealwaysexistsinaﬁrm,eitheras

individ-ualorcollectiveknowledge,inﬁrmroutines,databases,knowledge

bases,intranet,etc.

Proposition2. KMprocessesarepositivelyrelatedwithcustomer value.

4. Theoreticalcontributionsandmanagerialimplications

Ourstudycontributestotheexistingliteratureindifferentways.

Firstofall,wehighlighttheuseinthestudyoftheconceptofDC.

Onthisbasis,weproposethatcompaniesareabletocompeteinthe

marketnotonlybytheirabilitytoexploittheirresourcesand

exist-ingcapabilities,butalsothankstotheirabilitytorenewanddevelop

theirorganizationalcapabilities(Teeceetal.,1997).Secondly,the

combinationofKMprocesses(ACAP,KTandKA)isourproposal

toDCdevelopment.FromthesecriticalKMprocesses,andgivenits

specialrelevancetorenewknowledgeinasystematicway(through

sensing,seizing,andreconﬁgurationtasks),organizationsdeploy

DC.Thiscontinuousandsystematiccycleofknowledgerenewal

makesthecompanyreconﬁgureandrenewitsknowledgebasein

apermanentway,fromtheconstantscanningoftheenvironment

(sensing–ACAP),thedisseminationthroughtheorganizationof

theacquiredknowledge(seizing–KT),anditssubsequent

imple-mentationresultinginanewreconﬁguration(reconﬁguring–KA).

Thissystematicandpermanentrenewaliswhatwehaveidentiﬁed

asaDC.Thirdly,inthisstudywerelateinternalorganizational

pro-cesses,suchasKMprocesses,andhowtheseprocessesaffectthe

valuecreatedforthecustomers:akeyvariableforcompaniesin

ordertoachievebetterresultsandbemorecompetitive.

Finally,ourstudytriestorespondtothecallsintheliterature

onDC,requestinglessabstractdevelopmentsandmoreoperations

thathelpmanagers.Thisobjectiveshouldbedonethrough

pro-cessesthatcanbeadministereddirectlyandnotthroughmoreor

lessabstractvariablesthatsometimeslimitthemanager’scapacity

foraction(Laaksonen&Peltoniemi,2012).

Intermsofmanagerialimplications,ourworkcouldimprovethe

currentmanagementofenterprisesbyallowingﬁrmstoenhance

theirresultsandreachsuperiorperformance.First,thisworkaims

toshowmanagershowtheycancreateanappropriate

environ-mentincompaniessothattheycanmanagealltheknowledgeat

theirﬁngertips,forinstance,developinginformationandbusiness

intelligencesystemsthatmeetallthetasksofKMprocesses,and

thathelpthemtogeneratecustomervalueasameanstoachieve

betterresults.

Second,ourgoalistoprovideaguideforexecutivesand

man-agers regarding the ﬁrm’sorientation toward the development

of DC, and how to create customer value. Organizations must

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ﬂexible structures that shorten decision-making processes and

theirimplementation.

Finally,bothforacademicsandprofessionals,thisworkpresents

theidentiﬁcationofDCandthecreationofcustomervalueaskey

factorstoimprovethemanagementoforganizationsandthereby

theachievementandsustainmentofcompetitiveadvantagesover

time.

5. Conclusions,limitationsandfutureresearch

Inthisstudy,wearguethatcompaniesactinginatremendously

competitiveandchangingenvironmentneedtobeespeciallyaware

oftheneedtogeneratesuperiorcustomervalue.Tocreate this

value, ﬁrms ought necessarily tocombine and properly renew

theirorganizationalcapabilities,whichmustbecustomer-focused

andabletopermanentlyadapttotheirenvironmentchanges.The

dynamismandtheuncertaintyinherenttomarketsactively

hin-derthesustainingofcompetitiveadvantagesovertime.Therefore,

companiesmust continuouslycreatenewcustomervaluewhile

maintainingthevaluecreatedinpreviousperiods(Eisenhardt&

Martin,2000;Morrowetal.,2007;Sirmonetal.,2007).

ThisstudyoffersawaytodevelopDCandtohelpcompanies

tofocus onthecustomerthroughthecombinationand

interre-lationshipofthreecriticalKMprocesses:ACAP,KT,andKA.Our

modelpresentstheseprocessesasaknowledgecycleorspiralthat

constitutesaDCinitself,andthatgeneratessynergiesinthe

organi-zationthatcreatecustomervalue;thussigniﬁcantlypredisposing

theorganizationtoachievebetterresultsandmaintainsustainable

advantages.

Asalimitationtoourwork,itfocusesonthreeKMprocesses

thatwehaveconsideredcriticalduetotheirspecialinterrelation

withthemicrofoundationsofDCanditseffectoncustomervalue;

however,severalmoreprocessescouldhavebeenincluded,and

othercapabilitiescouldhavebeenconsidered.Anotherlimitation

isthatthisstudyinvolvesatheoreticalmodelproposition,whichis

notempiricallyvalidated.Inthisvein,futureresearchwillcarryout

anempiricaltestingofthismodeltoproveitsvalidityandimpact

onorganizationalmanagementandperformance.

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