Electronic communication and knowledge transfer

The paper focuses on the process of inter-organizational knowledge transfer and on the potential of Electronic Communication systems (ElCom). First, the different forms of knowledge exchanged by firms are classified. Then, different models are proposed of inter-organizational communication, in order to describe each particular kind of knowledge transfer process. As a result, it is argued that, although today various ElCom applications are available, a universal communication tool is far from being available, so that different applications may be necessary for any specific communication need of the users. In particular, since the most critical challenge is represented by tacit communication, it is discussed that the development of ElCom systems for such kind of communication depends on the availability of a wide range of tools for carrying a large variety of contents. At the same time, any effective solution requires customizing in accordance with the specific needs.