Creating the N-form Corporation as a Managerial Competence

This paper discusses key properties of the N-form corporation or internal network forms of organizing from three mutually related perspectives: structure, knowledge flows and management processes. To operationalize knowledge flows, a key property of N-forms, the paper suggests a new measure, the H/V ratio, to empirically assess the configuration of knowledge flows. The argument is illustrated by a case study of a firm showing that top management’s perception about having an internal network contradicts with reality as vertical knowledge flows appear to dominate the horizontal ones. The managerial competence required for creating internal networks aimed at knowledge creation and sharing will be discussed.