Inter-project learning: processes and outcomes of ...

1 Research Policy 30 (2001) 1373 1394 Inter-project learning: processes and outcomes of knowledgecodification in project - based firmsAndrea Prencipea, , Fredrik TellbaCoPS Innovation Centre, SPRU, University of Sussex, Mantell Building, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RF, UKbDepartment of Management and Economics, Link ping University, SE-58183 Link ping, SwedenAbstractIn this paper, we argue that the literature on knowledge codification has been overly concerned with the economic propertiesof its outcomes , neglecting the importance of its underlying learning processes .

2 Following Zollo and Winter [OrganisationScience, 2001, in press], the paper distinguishes three learning processes : experience accumulation, knowledge articulationand knowledge codification and suggests a framework to analyse the learning abilities of project - based firms. We proposethat mechanisms for Inter-project learning draw upon these learning processes and can be found at various levels of theproject- based firm. Using empirical evidence from six case studies, we discern three empirical patterns, that we definedlearning landscapes, of such mechanisms.

3 Implications for the literature and practice of knowledge codification are discussed. 2001 Elsevier Science All rights : project - based firm; Organisational learning; Firm; Codified knowledge1. IntroductionThe literature on the knowledge - based theoryof the firm suggests that the capabilities of a firmare learning- based (Grant, 1996; Lazonick andO Sullivan, 1996; Dosi et al., 2000). Accordingly,the core activities of the firm, what the firm choosesto produce and sell, as well as the boundaries ofthe firm, are determined by the knowledge a firmpossesses.

4 As observed by Levitt and March (1988),learning in the firm tends to be local. Interpretationof experience is difficult, as lessons must be drawnfrom a relatively small number of observations in acomplex and changing environment. This makes itlaborious to identify causality and draw correct in- Corresponding author. Tel.:+44-1273-678936;fax:+ (A. (F. Tell).ferences. Organisations and organisational membersexhibit systematic biases in interpretation, since theyconcentrate overwhelmingly on recent and salientevents.)

5 Also, they may be insensitive to sample size,attribute too much importance to intentionality, andmay use simple and linear aim of this paper is to discuss the learning abili-ties of project - based firms. We study whether and howproject- based firms are able to capitalise on knowledgethat is acquired during the execution of one project andtheir ability to transfer it to other projects or parts of theorganisation. In its ideal form, the project - based firmis organised solely around projects. Galbraith (1969)suggested that there is a continuum of organisationalforms ranging from the pure functional form throughthe matrix form to the pure product- or project -basedform.

6 While in the functional form, a firm s businessactivities are organised according to functional spe-cialisation ( marketing, R in the matrix formthese activities are organised both within projects and0048-7333/01/$ see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science All rights :S0048-7333(01)00157-31374A. Prencipe, F. Tell / Research Policy 30 (2001) 1373 1394along functional lines. Within a pure project -basedfirm, projects embody most, if not all, of the businessfunctions normally carried out within departments offunctional or matrix organisations and act as the mainmechanisms for co-ordinating and integrating them(Hobday, 2000, p.))

7 874). The project - based form has,for instance, been studied in consultancy and mar-keting firms (Alvesson, 1995), the film industry (De-Fillippi and Arthur, 1998), in architectural practice(Winch and Schneider, 1993), and construction firms(Gann and Salter, 1998).The project - based firm can also be found in the pro-duction of so-called complex product systems (CoPS)industries (Davies and Brady, 2000; Hobday, 1998,2000; Prencipe, 2000). CoPS are capital-, engineering-and IT-intensive, business-to-business products, net-works, constructs and systems.

8 They are often pro-duced in multi-firm alliances, as a one-off or in smallcustomised batches for specific customers and mar-kets. Examples include global business networks, air-craft engines, civil airliners, power stations, off-shoreoil platforms, mobile telephone systems and large civilengineering projects. The focus of this paper is on thiscategory of strong focus on projects displayed by firms de-veloping CoPS suggests that there might be problemsassociated with organisation-wide learning (Lind-kvist et al.)

9 , 1998). While in a functionally-basedfirm, departments act as knowledge silos, the pureproject- based firms lack the organisational mech-anisms for the knowledge acquired in one projectto be transferred and used by other projects. Twofurther issues impair organisation-wide learning inproject- based firms: the unique and the temporarynature of projects (Brusoni et al., 1998). With re-gard to the former, projects differ from each other inseveral, critical aspects.

10 They entail heterogeneousactivities that may well not be repeated in successiveprojects. If projects exhibit one-off characteristics,the project - based firm confronts the difficult task of learning from samples of one or fewer (March etal., 1991). In addition, projects may be characterisedby relatively long life cycles, requiring similar projectactivities to be retrieved and repeated after long timeintervals. With regard to the temporary nature ofprojects, projects can be characterised by the tem-porary constellation of people they entail (DeFillippiand Arthur, 1998; Tell and S derlund, 2001).