Tacit knowledge and innovation capacity: evidence from the Indian livestock sector
Keywords:
tacit knowledge, livestock, India, dairy cows, innovation system, knowledge management, learning, codified knowledge, Visakha diaryAbstract
To cope and compete in this rapidly changing world, organisations need to access and apply new knowledge. While explicit knowledge is important, what is often critical is an organisation's ability to create access, share and apply the tacit or un-codified knowledge that exists among its members, its network and the wider innovation system of which it is a part. This paper explores the role of tacit knowledge in livestock sector innovation capacity though the case of Visakha Dairy, one of the most progressive producer-owned milk marketing companies in India. Analysis of two episodes in Visakha's evolution illustrates how it used tacit knowledge to innovate around challenges. The paper concludes that while tacit knowledge is a major resource that organisations rely on to cope with change, it does not follow that knowledge management approaches that centre on codifying this knowledge are the way forward. Instead, it suggest that better management of the learning processes, through which tacit knowledge is generated, would be a more useful contribution to innovation and innovation capacity ? in other words, a shift from knowledge management to learning management.References
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Hall, M., 2006. Knowledge management and the limits of knowledge codification. Journal of Knowledge Management, 10 (3), 117?126.
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McElroy, M., (2000) Second generation KM: a white paper, Emergence, 2(3), 90?100.
Nonaka I. and Takeuchi H., 1995. The knowledge creating company: how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. New York: Oxford University Press.
Norris, D.M., Mason, J., Robson, R., Lefrere, P., and Collier, G., 2003. A revolution in knowledge sharing, EDUCAUSE Review, September?October. 38 (5), 14?26.
Pant, L.P. and Hambly-Odame, H., 2009. The promise of positive deviants: bridging divides between scientific research and local practices in smallholder agriculture. Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 5, 160?172.
Polanyi, M., 1966. The Tacit Dimension. New York: Doubleday.
Senge, P., 1990. The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organisation, New York: Doubleday.
Tsoukas, H., 2003. Do we really understand tacit knowledge? In:M. Easterby-Smith andM.A. Lyles, eds. The Blackwell handbook of organizational learning and knowledge management. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 410?427.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R., and Snyder, W., 2002. Cultivating communities of practice: a guide to managing knowledge. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Yeung, A.K., Ulrich, D.O., Nason, S.W., and Von Glinow, M.A., 1999. Organisational learning capability. New York: Oxford University Press.
CDF (Co-operative Development Foundation), 2006. Annual Report 2005?06. Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, India: CDF.
Cohen, W., and Levinthal, D., 1990. Absorptive capacity: a new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35 (1), 128?152.
Cowan, R. and Foray, D., 1997. The economics of codification and the diffusion of knowledge. Industrial and Corporate Change, 6 (3), 595?622.
Edmondson, A. and Moingeon, B., 1988. From organizational learning to the learning organisation. Management Learning, 29 (1), 5?20.
Fiol, C.M. and Lyles, M.A.., 1985. Organisational learning. Academy of Management Review, 10 (4), 803?813.
Gourlay, S., 2003. The SECI model of knowledge creation: some empirical shortcomings, paper presented at the 4th European Conferences on Knowledge Management, Oxford, England, 18?19 September 2003.
Freeman C., 1987. Technology and economic performance: lessons from Japan. London: Pinter.
Hall, A.J., 2005. Capacity development for agricultural biotechnology in developing countries: an innovation systems view of what it is and how to develop it. Journal of International
Development, 17 (5), 611?630.
Hall, A.J., Sulaiman V, R., and Bezkorowajnyj, P., 2008. Reframing technical change: livestock fodder scarcity revisited as innovation capacity scarcity: a conceptual framework. UNU-MERIT
and ILRI, ILRI South Asia: Hyderabad.
Hall, A.J and Clark, N.C., 2010. What do complex adaptive systems look like and what are the implications for innovation policy? Journal of International Development, 22, 308?324.
Hall, M., 2006. Knowledge management and the limits of knowledge codification. Journal of Knowledge Management, 10 (3), 117?126.
Klerkx, L., Aarts, N., and Leeuwis, C., 2010. Adaptive management in agricultural innovation systems: the interactions between innovation networks and their environment. Agricultural Systems, 103, 390?400.
Lin, Chieh-Peng., 2007. To share or not to share: modeling tacit knowledge sharing: its mediators and antecedents. Journal of Business Ethics, 70 (4), 411.
Lundvall, B.A., ed., 1992. National systems of innovation and interactive learning. London: Pinter.
McAdam, R. and McCreedy, S., 1999. A critical review of knowledge management models. The Learning Organization, 6 (3), 91?100.
McElroy, M., (2000) Second generation KM: a white paper, Emergence, 2(3), 90?100.
Nonaka I. and Takeuchi H., 1995. The knowledge creating company: how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. New York: Oxford University Press.
Norris, D.M., Mason, J., Robson, R., Lefrere, P., and Collier, G., 2003. A revolution in knowledge sharing, EDUCAUSE Review, September?October. 38 (5), 14?26.
Pant, L.P. and Hambly-Odame, H., 2009. The promise of positive deviants: bridging divides between scientific research and local practices in smallholder agriculture. Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 5, 160?172.
Polanyi, M., 1966. The Tacit Dimension. New York: Doubleday.
Senge, P., 1990. The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organisation, New York: Doubleday.
Tsoukas, H., 2003. Do we really understand tacit knowledge? In:M. Easterby-Smith andM.A. Lyles, eds. The Blackwell handbook of organizational learning and knowledge management. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 410?427.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R., and Snyder, W., 2002. Cultivating communities of practice: a guide to managing knowledge. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Yeung, A.K., Ulrich, D.O., Nason, S.W., and Von Glinow, M.A., 1999. Organisational learning capability. New York: Oxford University Press.
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2019-08-16
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