Book Reviews
Sticky Knowledge: Barriers to Knowing in the Firm
Gabriel Szulanski
ISBN: 978-0-761961-43-7 2003 140 pages Sage Publications Ltd
Daniela Blettner
Institute of Management, University of St Gallen, Switzerland
The author asks clearly: Why don't best practices spread? With characteristic clarity, the author then attempts to answer this question throughout the book. Szulanski takes up and elaborates Eric von Hippel's concept of stickiness, provides a very detailed explanation of the term and applies the term not only to characteristics of the source of knowledge but also to the circumstances of the transfer itself.
An invaluable element of this discussion is the theoretical linkage of stickiness to firm performance. This linkage to firm performance is the clue to evaluating knowledge management these days as, while the value of knowledge is widely accepted, it is difficult to prove due to the problem of measuring it. The author elaborates the performance link by providing a detailed explanation how knowledge transfer leads to the appropriation of rents and how it can be hindered by stickiness. The book offers a classification of predictors of stickiness established on the basis of differences according to characteristics of knowledge, source and recipient.
A typology of stickiness is also proposed. The typology contains four types of stickiness (initiation, implementation, ramp-up and integration stickiness), with each corresponding to a stage of knowledge transfer in practice. The four types of stickiness proposed are then analysed in case studies of three companies: Rank Xerox, Banc One and CENTEL. The empirical data in the analyses is richly illustrated with extensive material to justify the typology at each stage. The short and dense presentation enables the reader to have an idea of the incidents that occurred in the respective company at the time of the knowledge transfer without impeding the flow of the argument.
For in-depth analysis of the companies the author asks two more detailed questions:
- Which barriers are the best predictors of difficulty at each stage of the transfer?; and
- Which barriers are the best predictors overall?
The answers to these questions derived from the case study material are surprising; such as the fact that the motivational barriers are superseded by knowledge-related factors. The most frequently stated source impeding knowledge transfer is recipient-motivation. However, the author argues that the three most important barriers (absorptive capacity, causal ambiguity, and arduousness of relationship) are knowledge-related. These results point the discussion of knowledge transfer practice in a new direction, away from purely motivational aspects.
A further helpful attribute of this book is that it maintains its seperation of knowledge transfer into stages to elucidate the implications for managerial action at each stage.
To summarise, Szulanski's book convinces through its clarity of expression while approaching new grounds in the field of knowledge transfer. Indeed, the presentation and style of the book is highly academic. Language is used with great care and written to the point. Furthermore, the style of the book is very dense, which does not harm the flow of reading given that the narrative is highly structured. Moreover, Szulanski's book provides an incentive to go beyond 'motivation' to reach further differentiations of knowledge transfer, and introduces reflections about potential changes that could occur during the process of knowledge transfer.
It is salient that the motivation for the book is embedded in the very personal experience of writing up of the dissertation from which the material of this book is drawn. To conclude, it has to be emphasized that while parts of the book are for use by undergraduate students, graduate students, and managers, the book pioneers new fields in the discourse on knowledge transfer and knowledge management in academia.
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