Towards an Understanding and Conceptualization of Knowledge Managing within the Context of Inter-Organizational Networks

It is argued that the basic economic resource in the next economy is knowledge. An important source for competitive advantage in this economy lies in an organization’s network of external relationships. This paper presents a conceptualization of strategic knowledge managing within the context of inter-organizational networks. The conceptualization is based on extensions of the resourceand knowledge-based view of the firm as well as ideas from inter-firm relationships and the “gift economy.” Three types of inter-organizational networks for strategic knowledge managing are defined: 1) extra-networks, 2) inter-networks, and 3) open networks. Based on the conceptualization, the paper discusses strategic knowledge managing in the three network types and points out new knowledge managing research issues. The paper also presents some implications of the conceptualization for the use of information and communication technologies for knowledge managing.