ARTICLE
Learning by Doing in a Multi-Product Manufacturing Environment: Product Variety, Customizations, and Overlapping Product Generations
Carolyn D. Egelman, Dennis Epple, Linda Argote, Erica R.H. Fuchs
Abstract: Extending research on organizational learning to multi-product environments is of particular importance given that the vast majority of products are manufactured in such environments. We investigate learning in a multi-product facility drawing on exceptionally rich data for a manufacturing firm that is a leading producer of high technology hardware components. Weekly data for 10 years from the firm’s production and human resource tracking systems are augmented by surveys of managers and engineers and by extensive first-hand observation. We find that productivity improves when multiple generations of the firm’s primary product family are produced concurrently, reflecting the firm’s ability to augment and transfer knowledge from older to newer product generations. No significant transfer of knowledge is evident between the primary product family and other products. Productivity is, however, adversely affected when the production facility is faced with extensive within-product buyer-specific customizations. We develop the implications of these findings for theory and practice.
Forthcoming in Management Science
Link to NBER Working Paper: http://www.nber.org/papers/w19674
BOOK CHAPTER
Learning Across Boundaries: The Effect of Geographic Distribution
Linda Argote, Carolyn Denomme, Erica R.H. Fuchs
Abstract: This chapter analyzes the effects of the geographic distribution of organizational units on organizational learning and knowledge transfer. We argue that developments over the last several decades have led to the fragmentation and internationalization of organizational activities. The resultant distribution of employees and organizational units across spatial, temporal, and national boundaries both poses challenges to and provides opportunities for organizational learning. We analyze how characteristics of national, technological, and social contexts moderate the effect of geographic dispersion on organizational learning and knowledge transfer. We discuss how characteristics of the context can facilitate or impair organizational learning and knowledge transfer in geographically distributed organizations. The chapter concludes with a discussion of future research directions that are likely to be productive.
Published as Chapter 29 in Handbook on Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management, Second Edition (pp 659-684). Mark Easterby-Smith and Marjorie Lyles (Eds). Wiley.