Transferring practices: building architectural knowledge locally

Abstract

The paper brings a qualitative study on the organizational processes supporting knowledge transfer to a new automotive plant, detailing the major challenges that the organization had to face during its first year of operations. Although the company was quite successful at transferring component knowledge to each area individually, it faced many challenges in the application of this knowledge, because architectural knowledge was missing. This architectural knowledge had to be developed locally, through mechanisms of experience, negotiation and sensemaking. The case sheds new light into architectural knowledge, which is an important dimension in knowledge transfer to new settings that has not been considered in knowledge transfer studies.

Knowledge transfer; learning; Latin America; organizational routines; organizational competences