Arindy Fairuz Nawfal Hamid Naily I. Olivia Bunga P. INTRODUCTION High level of knowledge development concentration tends to Island of excellence increase knowledge inequalities
small big
Organizations have to assimilate external knowledge from
more places, for more complex outputs (Malecki, 2010) Shorter innovation cycles → Knowledge become more dynamic, short- cycled, ephemeral (Salovaara Tuunainen, 2015) The most promising way to support knowledge acquisition is the adaptation of knowledge, taking the contextual requirements of the members into account (Thalmann 2014).
Hence, subgroups with high proximities are an important pre-
condition for knowledge sharing, knowledge transfer, and technology acquisition (Gertler 1995).
The important question for networks in this regard is: Which
proximities are relevant for the localization of knowledge? Thus, the concept of proximity is seen as crucial to cope with the dynamics of knowledge (Torre and Rallet 2005). The concept of proximities has become a popular and powerful theoretical basis for approaching mechanisms behind networks’ emergence, evolution, and structural changes (Cantner and Graf 2006; Balland 2012). Networks, therefore, need support for (1) offering the right capabilities to localize knowledge and (2) building groups of members with high proximities. Within our study, we investigate the process of localizing knowledge in networks of SMEs. We are particularly investigating the role of proximities during the localization as well as the potential for supportive IT. • We identified that the process of localizing external knowledge is crucial in networks of SMEs to ensure the absorption of external knowledge of the member SMEs. Research so far discussed the great importance of networks for the knowledge absorption of SMEs. However, the crucial process of localizing external knowledge for the member SMEs received less attention so far. The major contribution of this paper is describing this crucial process, considering the perspectives of proximities based on interviews in eleven networks of SMEs. • Further, we discussed how networks could use the proximity perspective to support their members’ absorption process. We discovered that the increasing importance of ephemeral knowledge will further raise the need to localize this knowledge and particularly to perform this localization quickly and with a high-quality output. • Our interviewees reported about the need for communication with some people having high and other people having low proximities. They need a group of people with high proximities for effective knowledge sharing and development, but they also need to ensure the collaboration along the supply chain as well. • We identified that people are more likely to listen to and share with people that are similar in terms of the proximities. Thus, we consider the concept of the dimensions of proximity to be useful to support workers, by recommending people for particular tasks or situations, and, therefore, to localize knowledge. Network managers should consider the different proximities while defining target groups for external knowledge and building subgroups. As SMEs are facing limited resources, offering infrastructures and IT services tends to be in the responsibility of networks to drive this process forward. • In terms of generalizability, we do not claim generalization due to our small sample. Nevertheless, we selected eleven networks with overlapping perspectives between them, showing the broad relevance. Our findings offer an initial glance at challenges for localizing external knowledge in SME networks as well as the rising opportunities for IT support provided by the network. In future research, we plan to focus on the requirements of ephemeral knowledge more explicitly. Further, we plan to investigate how IT can facilitate localization by designing supportive IT systems in a particular network. Narrow Your Topic • Refer to the notes section below for guidelines on this topic. Organize Your Research • Refer to the notes section below for guidelines on this topic. Present Your Research • Refer to the notes section below for guidelines on this topic. Research Presentation End