Riassunto analitico
In today's highly competitive and heterogeneous environment, relying on access to knowledge from external sources is crucial. This thesis aims to study knowledge transfer within a buyer supplier relationship, considering the customer's perspective. Interorganizational knowledge transfer will be explored, as well as some factors that positively and negatively impact its success. The study begins with a theoretical framework referring to literature on the importance of knowledge and its transfer in the entrepreneurial world, along with the mechanisms enabling this process. Initially, the focus will be on the knowledge transfer process, the centrality of trust between partners exchanging knowledge, the relevance of absorptive capacity in the knowledge transfer, and the effect of knowledge acquired from outside the organization on the innovative levels of the knowledge-receiving firm. Subsequently, emphasis will be placed on the use and effective support of digital tools in knowledge transfer as well as the impact of cultural differences on knowledge transfer. This research, based on a qualitative analysis which applies the case study technique, examines the relationship between two international buyers and the same Italian reference supplier. The last two chapters will provide information on research objectives and the methodology used, and the findings gathered during the investigation, derived from interviews conducted with the two buyers. The results show a faster exchange of information including a better access to knowledge with ICTs. In addition, the potential difficulties in establishing a partnership between companies with a high cultural distance are presented, which may change as the relationship consolidates.
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Abstract
In today's highly competitive and heterogeneous environment, relying on access to knowledge from external sources is crucial. This thesis aims to study knowledge transfer within a buyer-supplier relationship, considering the customer's perspective. Interorganizational knowledge transfer will be explored, as well as some factors that positively and negatively impact its success. The study begins with a theoretical framework referring to literature on the importance of knowledge and its transfer in the entrepreneurial world, along with the mechanisms enabling this process. Initially, the focus will be on the knowledge transfer process, the centrality of trust between partners exchanging knowledge and the effect of knowledge acquired from outside the organization on the innovative levels of the knowledge-receiving firm. Subsequently, emphasis will be placed on the use and effective support of digital tools in knowledge transfer and the impact of cultural differences on knowledge exchange. This research, based on a qualitative analysis which applies the case study technique, examines the relationship between two international buyers and the same Italian reference supplier. The last two chapters will provide information on research objectives, the methodology used, and the findings gathered during the investigation, derived from interviews conducted with the two buyers. The results show a faster exchange of information including a better access to knowledge with ICTs. In addition, the potential difficulties in establishing a partnership between companies with a high cultural distance are presented, which may change as the relationship consolidates.
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