Thesis (M.B.A.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2002

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration, School of Management

Organisations today are facing changing business conditions due to increasingly complex customer demands, rise of the knowledge economy and advances in info1mation communication technologies (ICT's). It is generally accepted that one way of surviving this hyper-competition is to engage in inter-organisational innovation networks to acquire non-core competencies. This research investigates two networks in the telecommunication sector from the perspective of Siemens as one of the network partners. Two case studies were conducted to explore how Siemens acquire knowledge from their networks to increase innovation capacity. The research analyses how the tacit and explicit knowledge acquired is internalised into the Siemens organisation. Emphasis is placed on the concepts of knowledge distribution, retention, learning, knowledge creation and the effect of ICT's to support these processes. It was found that the network participation did have a positive effect on the overall innovativeness of Siemens. It was concluded that learning is critical for utilising the knowledge acquired, and improves the knowledge creation process. Infmmal and formal personal networks were found to be equally important for the knowledge creation process and that ICT's have the ability to positively support the processes from acquisition through to innovation. ICT's were, however, found to be inefficient in supporting distribution and retention of tacit knowledge.