Abstract :
Knowledge-related and organizational learning processes in alliances have received
much attention throughout the last 25 years. The field has generated a rapidly growing
body of empirical evidence on how knowledge is managed in alliances. However, the
sphere is highly complex, fragmented, incoherent, and heterogeneous in terms of the
theoretical approaches applied. This paper presents an integrative and organizing
framework for the empirical literature on knowledge management in strategic alliances.
It illustrates how the knowledge management outcomes of knowledge creation,
transfer and application are determined by four distinct sets of factors: knowledge
characteristics, partner characteristics, partner interaction, and active knowledge
management. Based on this framework, this review analyses and integrates empirical
evidence in order to identify where findings converge and where results conflict. So far,
research has focused strongly on singular interrelations between these four sets of
factors and the transfer of knowledge. Conversely, the questions of how knowledge is
created, retained, retrieved and applied and how the interplay of the different factors
affects knowledge management in strategic alliances remain widely unexplored. The
review concludes with a summary of the current state of the art in empirical research
and discusses some promising avenues for future investigation.
