An exploration of how supply change management systems (SCMS) enhance knowledge sharing within a supply chain: the Case of Pakistan State Oil.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

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Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW1

Knowledge as a Firm Strategic Asset1

Knowledge Exchange across Firm Boundaries2

Knowledge Embedded within firms Networks4

Knowledge Sharing and Learning6

Learning in Collaboration9

Knowledge Sharing: A Motivational Perspective10

Supply Chain Management (SCM)11

Supply Chain Management Systems (SCMS)12

Inter-firm Collaboration15

Collaboration as A Basis to Compete15

Inter-firm knowledge sharing framework16

Case Study: Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd.19

Company Overview19

Major Products and Services20

Activities20

Top Competitors21

CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY22

Research Design22

Instrument22

Sample23

Data Collection24

Interview Questionnaire24

Case Study25

Confidentiality26

Validity27

Significance27

REFERENCES29

APPENDIX46

Questionnaire46

CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW

Knowledge as a Firm Strategic Asset

The resource-based view of the firm maintains that a firm sustainable competitive advantage is derived from possessing resources that are rare, heterogeneous, inimitable, and non-substitutable. Thus, obtaining superior returns hinges on the generation or acquisition of such resources by the firm. The knowledge based-view is an outgrowth of the resource-based view with an emphasis on knowledge29,30 itself (e.g., knowledge about competitors, customers, marketplace, and technology, etc.) or organizational processes that act on existing knowledge as strategic resources (Kogut and Zander 1992; Teece, Pisano, and Shuen 1996, p.89).

Alternatively, organizational capabilities are viewed as the outcome of knowledge integration and application (Grant 1996, p.136). According to this view, the advantage of firms as a governance structure over markets. Previous studies based on the knowledge-based view rarely address the question: what is knowledge? This question is considered philosophical and beyond the scope of strategic management. Most of these studies, however, attempt to describe organizational knowledge as possessing a variety of properties such as transferability, appropriability, codifiability, teachability, complexity, and system dependence, etc. (Grant 1995; Zander and Kogut 1995). 30 Extant literature views knowledge as entailing two concepts that are not totally distinctive: information (or know-what) versus know-how. Kogut and Zander (1992, p.185) posit that information implies knowing what something means while know-how is a description of knowing how to do something.

Nonaka (1994) notes that information is a flow of messages or meanings which might add to, restructure or change knowledge. By contrast, knowledge is created and organized by the very flow of information, anchored on the commitment and beliefs of its holder. Von Hipple (1988, p.69) describes know-how as accumulated practical skills or expertise that allows one to do something smoothly and efficiently.

Knowledge Exchange across Firm Boundaries

In recent years, organization and strategy scholars argue that knowledge resources contributing to competitive advantage can exist beyond the boundaries of a firm and reside in the network of relationships in which a firm is embedded (Lavie 2006; Uzzi 1996, p.67). Dyer and Singh (1998, ...