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(many men, many minds)
Knowledge-Based Strategy
"…the central competitive dimension of what firms know how to do is to create and transfer knowledge efficiently…" (Kogut et al., 1992: 384).
The knowledge-based view of the firm (KBV) is a theoretical perspective in the literature of strategic management that, as its name suggests, emphasizes knowledge as the key elucidatory concept. KBV derives from resource-based view of the firm (RBV) and suggests that knowledge in its various forms is the resource of interest(Grant, 1996b; Machlup, 1984). Both literatures are part of a more general framework known as organizational economics (Silverman, 2001) (see also Foss, 2003).
The definition of knowledge differs among theorists of various disciplines, and even among theorists in the same discipline. In the fields of economics and strategic management this is no different. Grant (2002: 133) suggests that a "focus on the role of knowledge as a factor of production" unifies KBV.
In addition to RBV, there are also a variety of approaches that have played their own unique role in the evolution of KBV as a theory. Organizational economics, organizational learning, and epistemology have also contributed to the development of KBV. Key contributors to KBV literature include Demsetz (1988; 1991), Kogut and Zander (1992; 1993; 1996), Teece (1998; 2000), Grant (1996a; 1996b; 2002) and (Simon, 1999).
One indication that KBV has become a bona fide subject of study was the dedication of the entire 1996 Winter Special Issue of the Strategic Management Journal to the topic of Knowledge and the Firm.
Researchers and Thinkers
A partial list of those whose work and assistance has been most instrumental in advancing my KBV research.
Chun Wei Choo, Professor of Information, University of Toronto
Brian S. Silverman, Professor of Strategic Management, University of Toronto
Bill McEvily, Professor of Strategic Management, University of Toronto
Robert M. Grant, Professor of Strategic Management, Georgetown University
Harold Demsetz, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles
Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992), Professor der Volkwirtschaftslehre, Albert- Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg im Breisgau
Edith Tilton Penrose (1914-1996), Professor Emeritus, University of London and Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD)
Bruce Kogut, Professor of Strategy and Management, Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD)
Udo Zander, Professor of International Business, Stockholm School of Economics
Jay B. Barney, Professor of Management & Human Resources, Ohio State University
Sydney G. Winter, Professor of Management, University of Pennsylvania
David J. Teece, Professor of International Business and Finance, University of California, Berkeley
Herbert A. Simon, (1916-2001) Professor of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University.
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