Learning from Locally Embedded Knowledge: Facilitating Organizational Learning in Geographically Dispersed Settings

• Author: Paul Vlaar,Bart Hooff,Marleen Huysman,Rose Erkelens
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/gsj.1092
• Published date: 01 May 2015
• Date: 01 May 2015

LEARNING FROM LOCALLY EMBEDDED

KNOWLEDGE: FACILITATING ORGANIZATIONAL

LEARNING IN GEOGRAPHICALLY

DISPERSED SETTINGS

ROSE ERKELENS*, BART VAN DEN HOOFF, MARLEEN HUYSMAN,

and PAUL VLAAR

Department of Economics and Business Administration: Knowledge,

Information, and Networks Research Group, VU University Amsterdam,

The Netherlands

This article addresses the question of how geographically dispersed organizations can over-

come the complications for organizational learning that result from the locally embedded

character of knowledge. Based on a case study in an MNC, we identify a process of knowledge

pollination, describing how a network of experts facilitates organizational learning by par-

ticipating in various local practices, un-embedding and re-embedding knowledge between

these practices. This process is a combination of learning in practice (sharing practices at

various locations), network learning (using one’s personal network), and organized learning

(institutionalized methods of knowledge sharing). Learning in practice is the core process of

creating and applying knowledge: network learning facilitates this process across different

local and practical contexts and organized learning facilitates the development and extension

of network learning. Copyright © 2015 Strategic Management Society.

INTRODUCTION

How can multinational corporations reuse relevant

locally created knowledge in other parts of the orga-

nization? Knowledge is often embedded in the local

contexts of subunits or projects, making it difficult to

transfer it to other locations. A ‘local context’ refers

to a specific environment in which knowledge is

created, consisting of cultural, institutional (Lervik,

2008), technical, social, innovative (Hsiao, Tsai, and

Lee, 2006), spatial, temporal (Fahy, Easterby-Smith,

and Lervik, 2013), and organizational (Gertler,

2003) conditions. In this article, we explore how

such locally embedded knowledge can be translated

across contexts, thus facilitating learning at an orga-

nizational level.

Studies on MNCs show that the creation of local

knowledge is valuable for organizations in order to

meet local needs, realize economies of scope and

scale, and exploit local resources (Gupta and

Govindarajan, 2000; Ghoshal and Bartlett, 1988;

Nohria and Ghoshal, 1997; Zander and Kogut, 1995).

However, since knowledge is typically embedded

within a local context (Lam, 1997), it is often ‘sticky’

(Szulanski, 1996) and context specific, making it

difficult to exchange between contexts (Cummings

and Teng,2003; Gertler, 2003; Lervik, 2008; Sole and

Edmondson, 2002). This creates a challenge for an

MNC—to stimulate the creation of locally relevant

knowledge and, at the same time, to somehow

Keywords: organizational learning; knowledge embeddedness;

knowledge pollination; learning in practice; network learning;

organized learning

*Correspondence to: Rose Erkelens, VU University Amster-

dam, Department of Economics and Business Administration:

Knowledge, Information, and Networks Research Group, De

Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

E-mail: roos.erkelens@gmail.com

Global Strategy Journal

Global Strat. J., 5: 177–197 (2015)

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/gsj.1092

Copyright © 2015 Strategic Management Society

un-embed that knowledge from its local context and

re-embed it in the larger organization, in order to

make it more universally applicable in the organiza-

tion (Hong and Nguyen, 2009). In this study, we

empirically investigate how a particular group of

experts (internal engineering consultants within an

MNC) plays a role in this process of un-embedding

and re-embedding (a process we conceptualize as

‘knowledge pollination’) and, thus, facilitate organi-

zational learning.

Empirical studies on organizational learning in

geographically dispersed settings have addressed key

problems of local knowledge embeddedness that

limit organizations in effectively tapping into their

broad organizational knowledge base. For instance,

Cramton (2001) addresses the ‘mutual knowledge

problem’ of geographically dispersed collaboration

by identifying key communication obstacles that

hinder learning in dispersed teams. Figueiredo

(2011) reported that to overcome local

embeddedness in dispersed collaborative settings,

multiple embeddedness is necessary—i.e., embed-

ding people and their knowledge in both local and

corporate contexts. Hsiao et al. (2006) discuss how

the fact that practices (and their related knowledge)

are embedded in different work contexts complicates

managing knowledge at an organizational level. The

way the embeddedness of knowledge in different,

geographically dispersed contexts complicates orga-

nizational learning is discussed by Hong and Nguyen

(2009), Lahiri (2010), and Sole and Edmondson

(2002). These studies build on the idea that overcom-

ing the barriers that local knowledge embeddedness

creates for organizational learning requires connec-

tions between local settings through knowledge-

intensive interaction. The study presented in this

article connects to this idea by focusing on how

internal engineering consultants—a specific group of

experts who support projects and locations world-

wide with specific solutions and advice on complex

problems subsidiaries are faced with—contribute to

organizational learning by overcoming local knowl-

edge embeddedness.

We use a grounded theory approach to empirically

investigate the role of these internal experts in

dispersed organizational settings. Using semi-

structured interviews as primary data, we identify a

process, referred to as knowledge pollination, that

describes how an established yet flexible network of

knowledge workers can help in overcoming local

knowledge embeddedness by temporarily embed-

ding themselves in a local practice, un-embedding

the knowledge from that local practice, and

re-embedding this knowledge when they participate

in another local practice. Weidentify three processes

that are part of knowledge pollination, processes

through which experts contribute to organizational

learning from locally embedded knowledge:

-Organized learning, through formal instruments,

systems, and sessions;

-Learning in practice, through engaging in shared

practices with colleagues; and

-Network learning, through building, maintaining,

and interacting with a network of colleagues with

relevant experience and expertise.

Our study contributes to the literature by: (1) pro-

viding insight into how knowledge-intensive link-

ages can be established and exploited for

organizational learning from locally embedded

knowledge; (2) pointing out the dual organizational

objectives (of specialization and integration of

knowledge) that are related to both the benefits and

the downsides of embeddedness; and (3) providing

empirical evidence that managing embedded knowl-

edge is more about managing people than the knowl-

edge itself, and how internal networks of experts

contribute to this.

This article is organized as follows: we nextreview

the literature on local knowledge embeddedness and

organizational learning within the context of MNCs.

Then, the organizational context of an MNC, special-

ized in energy technology,and our research design are

presented. We explore the way engineering consul-

tants learn and apply their expertise in practice in

local settings, introduce the concept of knowledge

pollination, and describe how this can be seen as a

way to cope with local knowledge embeddedness.

The article concludes by drawing implications from

the empirical findings to shed light on how MNCs can

facilitate organizational learning in a way that takes

into account the situated and integral nature of

complex knowledge work.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Knowledge embeddedness

In geographically dispersed organizational settings,

knowledge is embedded within the local context in

which it is created. This embeddedness is important

for the development of critical knowledge (Grant,

178 R. Erkelens et al.

Copyright © 2015 Strategic Management Society Global Strat. J., 5: 177–197 (2015)

DOI: 10.1002/gsj.1092