Purposeful combination : Management of Knowledge Integration in the Development of Self-Driving Cars
(2023) In Lund Studies in Economics and Management- Abstract
- Knowledge integration theory frames outputs of firm activity as a combination of multiple individuals’ knowledge. Previous research have greatly advanced our understanding of the management of knowledge integration by exploring the influence of various problem characteristics. This study attempts to contribute to an alternative, more strategic, approach in which knowledge integration is treated as a goal-oriented process and defined as the purposeful combination of knowledge. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of how knowledge integration is influenced by the objectives of a firm.
The study was undertaken with a case study research design, in which the single case (“Omega”) was a joint... (More) - Knowledge integration theory frames outputs of firm activity as a combination of multiple individuals’ knowledge. Previous research have greatly advanced our understanding of the management of knowledge integration by exploring the influence of various problem characteristics. This study attempts to contribute to an alternative, more strategic, approach in which knowledge integration is treated as a goal-oriented process and defined as the purposeful combination of knowledge. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of how knowledge integration is influenced by the objectives of a firm.
The study was undertaken with a case study research design, in which the single case (“Omega”) was a joint venture between two participants in the automotive industry. The purpose of Omega was to develop and commercialize active safety technology for advanced driver assistance systems (“ADAS”) and autonomous driving (“AD”), colloquially referred to as ‘self-driving cars.’ A central theme in the empirical material was that individuals appeared to synthesize three thematic kinds of knowledge (technological, organizational, and commercial) to solve problems in alignment with the objectives of Omega. Moreover, this kind of knowledge typically involved references to both firm-specific and industry-specific aspects of how to manage knowledge integration. This prompted the approach of applying additional theory regarding the business idea (including business models) and industry recipe in a knowledge integration framework. The resulting analysis produced several findings which are quite novel, relative to prior research on knowledge integration. First, the study explores the knowledge-foundation of the business idea and the industry recipe. Second, the study illustrates how this kind of knowledge was applied by individuals for the purpose of solving problems in alignment with the objectives of a firm. Third, the novel concepts of ‘business idea evolution’ and ‘industry recipe evolution’ were developed to capture how such knowledge was observed to continually evolve during the Omega-case. Fourth, the approach of applying literature on the business idea, business model, and industry recipe in a knowledge integration framework was found to have benefits in both directions.
The resulting picture is a more strategic perspective on the management of knowledge integration. A conclusion from this study, therefore, is that the conventional approach of studying the influence from various problem characteristics (the ‘characteristic-driven mode’) needs to be complemented by an alternative mode of explaining the management of knowledge integration: the ‘objective-driven mode.’ In this objective-driven mode, a firm’s ‘strategic context’ (i.e., the objectives and the circumstances for achieving these objectives) is central to the question of how and how not to integrate knowledge effectively. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4712ae4c-42ff-4ab5-b636-c70efc2a5b2d
- author
- Högnelid, Pelle LU
- supervisor
-
- Thomas Kalling LU
- Matts Kärreman LU
- opponent
-
- Professor Fredberg, Tobias, Chalmers University of Technology
- organization
- alternative title
- Purposeful combination : Management of Knowledge Integration in the Development of Self-Driving Cars
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Knowledge integration, Combination of knowledge, Business idea, Business model, Industry recipe, Bounded rationality, Management of knowledge integration, self-driving cars, Technological problems, Organizational problems, Commercial problems, Autonomous Vehicles, Autonomous vehicle, Strategy, Strategic management, Management, strategi, kunskapsintegration, affärsmodeller, industrilogik, affärsidé, affärsidéer, teknologisk förändring, kommersialisering, organisering
- in
- Lund Studies in Economics and Management
- issue
- 163
- pages
- 282 pages
- publisher
- Lund University School of Economics and Management, Department of Business Administration
- defense location
- EC3:210
- defense date
- 2023-01-13 13:15:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-8039-477-2
- 978-91-8039-478-9
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 4712ae4c-42ff-4ab5-b636-c70efc2a5b2d
- date added to LUP
- 2022-12-12 16:40:59
- date last changed
- 2022-12-21 11:34:34
@phdthesis{4712ae4c-42ff-4ab5-b636-c70efc2a5b2d,
abstract = {{Knowledge integration theory frames outputs of firm activity as a combination of multiple individuals’ knowledge. Previous research have greatly advanced our understanding of the management of knowledge integration by exploring the influence of various problem characteristics. This study attempts to contribute to an alternative, more strategic, approach in which knowledge integration is treated as a goal-oriented process and defined as the purposeful combination of knowledge. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of how knowledge integration is influenced by the objectives of a firm.<br/><br/>The study was undertaken with a case study research design, in which the single case (“Omega”) was a joint venture between two participants in the automotive industry. The purpose of Omega was to develop and commercialize active safety technology for advanced driver assistance systems (“ADAS”) and autonomous driving (“AD”), colloquially referred to as ‘self-driving cars.’ A central theme in the empirical material was that individuals appeared to synthesize three thematic kinds of knowledge (technological, organizational, and commercial) to solve problems in alignment with the objectives of Omega. Moreover, this kind of knowledge typically involved references to both firm-specific and industry-specific aspects of how to manage knowledge integration. This prompted the approach of applying additional theory regarding the business idea (including business models) and industry recipe in a knowledge integration framework. The resulting analysis produced several findings which are quite novel, relative to prior research on knowledge integration. First, the study explores the knowledge-foundation of the business idea and the industry recipe. Second, the study illustrates how this kind of knowledge was applied by individuals for the purpose of solving problems in alignment with the objectives of a firm. Third, the novel concepts of ‘business idea evolution’ and ‘industry recipe evolution’ were developed to capture how such knowledge was observed to continually evolve during the Omega-case. Fourth, the approach of applying literature on the business idea, business model, and industry recipe in a knowledge integration framework was found to have benefits in both directions.<br/><br/>The resulting picture is a more strategic perspective on the management of knowledge integration. A conclusion from this study, therefore, is that the conventional approach of studying the influence from various problem characteristics (the ‘characteristic-driven mode’) needs to be complemented by an alternative mode of explaining the management of knowledge integration: the ‘objective-driven mode.’ In this objective-driven mode, a firm’s ‘strategic context’ (i.e., the objectives and the circumstances for achieving these objectives) is central to the question of how and how not to integrate knowledge effectively.}},
author = {{Högnelid, Pelle}},
isbn = {{978-91-8039-477-2}},
keywords = {{Knowledge integration; Combination of knowledge; Business idea; Business model; Industry recipe; Bounded rationality; Management of knowledge integration; self-driving cars; Technological problems; Organizational problems; Commercial problems; Autonomous Vehicles; Autonomous vehicle; Strategy; Strategic management; Management; strategi; kunskapsintegration; affärsmodeller; industrilogik; affärsidé; affärsidéer; teknologisk förändring; kommersialisering; organisering}},
language = {{swe}},
number = {{163}},
publisher = {{Lund University School of Economics and Management, Department of Business Administration}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Studies in Economics and Management}},
title = {{Purposeful combination : Management of Knowledge Integration in the Development of Self-Driving Cars}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/131094771/Pelle_H_gnelid_2023_Purposeful_Combination.pdf}},
year = {{2023}},
}