1、中文 3125 字 本科毕业论文外文翻译 外文题目： TOWARD A KNOWLEDGE-BASED THEORY OF THE FIRM 出 处： School of business, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, U.S.A 作 者 ROBERT M. GRANT TOWARD A KNOWLEDGE-BASED THEORY OF THE FIRM ROBERT M. GRANT School of business, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, U.S.A Given assumpti
2、ons about the characteristics of knowledge and the knowledge requirements of production, the firm is conceptualized as an institution for integrating knowledge. The primary contribution of the paper is in exploring the coordination mechanisms through which firms integrate the specialist knowledge of
3、 their members. In contrast to earlier literature, knowledge is viewed as residing within the individual, and the primary role of the organization is knowledge application rather than knowledge creation. The resulting theory has implicatious for the basis of organizational capability, the principles
4、 of organization design (in particular, the analysis of hierarchy and the distribution of decision-ranking authority), and the determinnants of the horizontal and vertical boundaries of the firm. More generally, the knowledge-based approach sheds new light upon current organizational innovations and
5、 trends and has farreaching implications for management practice. Foudation The foundation for any theory of the firm is a set of initial premises which form the basis for the logical development of propositions concerning the structure, behavior, performance and indeed, the very existence of firms.
6、 Developing a knowledge-based theory of the firm raises the issue: What is knowledge? Since this question has intrigued some of the worlds greatest thinkers from Plato to Popper without the emergence of a clear consensus, this is not an arena in which I choose to compete. In terms of defining knowle
7、dge, all I offer beyond the simple tautology of that which is known is the recognition that there are many types of knowledge relevant to the firm. For the purposes of developing a theory of the firm, my primary task is to establish those characteristics of knowledge which have critical implications
8、 for management.The literature on the analysis and management of knowledge points to the following characteristics as pertinent to the utilization of knowledge within the firm to create value. Transferability The resource-based view of the firm recognizes the transferability of a firms resources and
9、 capabilities as a critical determinant of their capacity to confer sustainable competitive advantage(Barney, 1986). With regard to knowledge, the issue of transferability is important, not only between firms, but even more critically, within the firm. The management literature has clearly recognize
10、d the epistemological distinction between knowing how and knowing about which is captured by distinctions between subjective vs. objective knowledge, implicit or tacit vs. explicit knowledge, personal vs.prepositional knowledge,and procedural vs. declarative knowledge. My purpose here is not to make
11、 fine distinctions between different types of knowledge. I identify knowing how with tacit knowledge, and knowledge about facts and theories with explicit knowledge.The critical distinction between the two lies in transferability and the mechanisms for transfer across individuals, across space, and
12、across time.Explicit knowledge is revealed by its communicanon. This ease of communication is its fundamental property. Indeed information has traditionally been viewed by economists as being a public good-once created it can be consumed by additional users at close to zero marginal cost.Tacit knowl
13、edge is revealed through its application. If tacit knowledge cannot be codified and can only be observed through its application and acquired through practice, its transfer between people is slow, costly, and uncertain (Kogut andZander, 1992). Capacity for aggregation The efficiency with which knowl
14、edge can be transferred depends, in part, upon knowledges potential for aggregation. Knowledge transfer involves both transmission and receipt. Knowledge receipt has been analyzed in terms of the absorptive capacity of the recipient (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). At both individual and organizational
15、levels, knowledge absorption depends upon the recipients ability to add new knowledge to existing knowledge. This requires additivity between different elements of knowledge. Efficiency of knowledge aggregation is greatly enhanced when knowledge can be expressed in terms of common language. Statisti
16、cs is a particularly useful language for aggregating (andtransferring) certain types of explicit knowledge-its efficiency in this role is greatly enhanced through advances in information technology. Thus, information on Ford Motor Companys cash balances, its foreign currency exposure, its inventorie
17、s of spark plugs and crankshafts is readily transferred from multiple locations within the company and aggregated at a single location. Conversely information about the capabilities of Ford managers, or the quirks of individual machine tools, is idiosyncratic knowledge cannot which cannot be aggrega
18、ted at a single location. Hayek(1945: 521) refers to this asknowledge of the particular circumstances of time and place, and Jensen and Meckling (1992) as specific knowledge. As these authors have shown, and as we shall explore later in the paper,the ability to transfer and aggregate knowledge is a
19、key determinant of the optimal location of decision-making authority within the firm. Appropriability Appropriability refers to the ability of the owner of a resource to receive a return equal to the value created by that resource (Teece, 1987； Levin et n1., 1987). Knowledge, is a resource which is subject to uniquely complex problems of appropriability. Tacit knowledge is not directly appropriable because it cannot be directly transferred: it can be appropriated only through its application to productive
