Leveraging Knowledge Management in Product Development to Reduce Time-To-Market : Conceptualizing The Relationship Between Knowledge Practices and Knowledge Capabilities

Sammanfattning

Intensified competition on dynamic markets drives increasing pressure to reduce time-to-market. Prior research indicates that effective knowledge management supports faster development cycles, but it remains unclear how operationalized knowledge practices contribute to effective knowledge management in the context of physical product development. Building on Zahra and George’s (2002) conceptualization of absorptive capacity, we define knowledge practices as the observable organizational routines and processes that contribute to the knowledge capabilities of acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation, that together make up absorptive capacity. This thesis examines knowledge practices through an exploratory study of Tetra Pak, a global incumbent firm in the packaging material industry with a long-standing innovation-driven competitiveness, collecting empirical data through 12 interviews. Four knowledge practices emerged — Team Reflection, Self-Organizing, Stable Teams, and Networking Activities — that support faster time-to-market in firms developing physical products by collectively contributing to all four knowledge capabilities. More concretely, the knowledge practices facilitate an effective application of agile methodology in physical product development contexts and enable more efficient knowledge access.