Knowledge is not Enough: Organ isational Attention and Replication Strategies

• Published in: The Service industries journal Vol. 27; no. 7; p. 831
• Main Authors: Brock, David M, Yaniv, Eyal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Taylor & Francis Ltd 01.10.2007
• Subjects: Chain stores; Knowledge; Knowledge management; Strategic management; Studies
• ISSN: 0264-2069

The replication strategy - sometimes called the 'McDonald's strategy' - requires efficient transfer of massive amounts of knowledge to be successful. While it is generally agreed that knowledge is a crucial organisational resource, less is understood about how an organisation may use its knowledge for strategic success. We propose a model that uses 'organisational attention' as an explanatory factor of knowledge transfer and exploitation in chain-store organisations implementing a replication strategy. The proposed model examines the influence of organisational attention on exploiting knowledge as a strategic resource; and specifically on three indications of the success of the replication strategy, namely accuracy, uniformity, and distinctiveness. These three variables help us understand the nature of templates and the processes involved in transferring the explicit and tacit knowledge contained therein. Based on the model we then develop several research propositions, and conclude with some thoughts on implications and limitations of this work. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]