Knowledge Management And Strategy

Introduction

The Australian Mango Industry Association is the body that represents Australian mango growers’ needs within the country. The association is in need of taking advantage of the Asian market especially with regard to the People’s Republic of China. The association needs to embrace new export markets and China has demonstrated increased potential in this regard as explained by Fan (1998). As of December 2007, the net amount of mangoes exported to China over the period surmounted to only seven hundred trays. Consequently, there is immense room for growth in this area in the next few years.

Elaboration of the specific research area (knowledge transfer mechanisms)

Knowledge transfer mechanisms are the means with which groups, countries, organization or associations in this case use to relocate knowledge from one part of the area under consideration to another one. In this case the Australians Mango Industry Association Ltd. (AMIA) must look for ways in which they can create, capture, organize and eventually distribute knowledge from one part of the world to another. Consequently, the latter association needs to ensure that they can easily distribute this knowledge and that it is in fact available to other future users.

Knowledge transfer mechanisms are quite different from communication mechanisms because they are more complex. AMIA needs to look for ways in which it can accumulate all the relevant knowledge for entering the Chinese market because there knowledge does not exist in just one form. The association’s members could play a contributory role. Additionally, certain sub networks exist that could facilitate knowledge transfer. On top of this, it is likely that the tools and tasks prevalent within the association could go a long way in ascertaining that the company is itself one of the most respectable ones in the business. The latter association needs to put in mind that fact that a large portion of knowledge required to export mangoes to China is tacit hence the need to appropriate transfer mechanisms.

Description of the current situation

There are a series of issues that have to be considered when transferring knowledge in this current scenario. These issues are either negative or positive depending on how one looks at it. Argote (2000) states that the major weakness that can hinder knowledge transfer mechanisms are the informal networking activities. The following areas can facilitate these;

• Task forces
• Teams
• Managerial efforts
• Etc

Since AMIA is venturing into unknown territory, then these informal networks have not yet been set. They may present problems in the transfer of knowledge.

Additionally, the current situation may prove to be sticky in terms of knowledge transfer because of certain knowledge related factors. These factors can impede progress by AMAI owing to the fact that certain forms of knowledge may be too context specific. This means that there may be knowledge that applies only to Australia and cannot be exported to other parts of the world. This eventually makes such efforts futile. In other scenarios, certain forms of knowledge cannot be transferred by AMIA because it is too ambiguous to derive any form of usefulness from it.

In order to acquire knowledge, it is important for people to be motivated to acquire it. In other words, the association needs to look for ways in which it can motive people to want to acquire knowledge. (Shaw, 2001) The need for motivation is important in any country or organization owing to the fact that increased knowledge can cause a disruption in the current working routines and also in the type of organizational practices prevalent within those areas. AMIA needs to dedicate considerable amount of resources and time in allowing them to deal with the issues as they are.

Another major problem that is facing AMIA is with regard to the social cultural and also the structural distance between the two countries i.e. Australia and China. The latter association will have difficulties in communication because the two countries speak different languages. Ease of export will only be possible if there are reliable translators or if members of association are familiar with the target country’s language.

Business culture is another social cultural weakness that will arise while doing business with China. Brelade and Harman (2003) explain that the Chinese are fond of establishing networks where influential people from China locate themselves in different parts of the world and do their business there. Consequently, the issue of cartels is rather common. However, the same cannot be said of the business culture in the Australian scene. Here, people go about their respective duties without worrying about the need to create different dimensions in the end. Also, there may be problems with the overall institutional frameworks between China and Australia. AMIA is operating under a totally different mechanism and this may bring adjustment problems.

The latter assertions are actually related to the psychic distance between Australia and China. Since there is a considerable psychic distance between them, then chances are that the process of knowledge transfer may be impeded. There seems to be a clash between respective national cultures in these respective countries.

However, it should not be assumed that every aspect of the knowledge transfer process will be impeded. In fact, there are some strengths that seem imminent in the current situation. For instance, the new knowledge that AMIA intends on transferring will be consistent with the kind of knowledge that is prevalent in china. Consequently, China as the recipient unit will be able to capture the signals emanating from Australia as the source of knowledge. It should also be noted that a  substantial portion of the speed, direction and capacity present in China can affect the overall ability of this country to absorb external knowledge from Australia. Since this is already prevalent in the latter country, then chances are that knowledge transfer mechanisms will be much easier to do.

Some experts (Greenhalgh et al, 2004) assert that when a certain association has general experience in the process of knowledge transfer, then it is likely to succeed in their endeavors when attempting to do the same for other areas. In this case, AMIA has engaged in mango exports in other parts of the world other than China. Those parts of the world had both similarities and differences in their business cultures and social cultural environments. Consequently, this experience can then be transferred to their exporting strategies in China so as to ease knowledge transfer mechanisms.

Besides the latter, it is likely that knowledge transfer will proceed well in the countries under consideration owing to the fact that the number of associations utilizing similar technology such as AMIA is large. This is also improved by the increasing similarities in the age of the underlying technologies in these respective areas. Also, since China itself has had experience in knowledge transfer, then it is likely that they will be more receptive to the matter then would have been the case if they had not been exposed to it at all.

Approaches to collection, evaluation and analysis of data

Since the acquisition of data will involve two countries, then care should be taken to assess their levels of preparedness in both these countries as explained by Trautman (2006).  A pilot study will be conducted among a series of five or more respondents to questionnaires. Their responses will be used to improve and even standardize the questionnaire so that it can be plausible in Australia. Here, a number of associations that have conducted business with China will be required to answer questions. These respondents have to belong to associations that have had a long term experience with China. This means that they should have been exporting goods to that country for more than five years. Also, the respondents need to be successful in their endeavors. This means that most of them should be selling more than a million worth of their commodities. Additionally, the respondents need to come from the commodity sector preferably in the agricultural sector.

The process of analysis will involve checking the questionnaires to ensure that there are no non response biases. A number of factors will be cheeked or verified to ensure that the respective firms are highly internationalized. First of all, adequate institutional knowledge of the host country will be assessed. Thereafter, there will be a need to look into the in depth understanding of some internal competitors in Australia. The questions will also be analyzed on the understanding of management tactics required to export products to China. Thereafter, the most appropriate knowledge mechanisms will be chosen.

Conclusion

Knowledge transfer mechanisms are a critical area for the latter associations because there are certain strengths and weaknesses that must be tackled. Knowledge will be collected through a series of interviews among person with experience in exporting to China and an analysis will be conducted based on set criteria for the most effective knowledge transfer mechanisms.

Reference

Fan, Y. (1998): The Transfer of Western Management to China: Content, Context, and Constraints; Journal of Management Learning, 29:2, 201-221

Argote, L. (2000): Knowledge transfer — A Basis for Competitive Advantage in Firms; Journal for Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 82, 1, 150-169

Greenhalgh, T. et al (2004): Diffusion of innovations in service organizations; Milbank Quarterly, 82, 4, 581-629

Brelade, S. and Harman, C. (2003): Doing the Right Thing in a Knowledge Transfer; Journal of Knowledge Management; 6, 1, 28-31

Shaw, M (2001): Integrating Learning Technologies; Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology; 6, 12, 35

Trautman, S. (2006): Teach What You Know: A Practical Leader’s Guide to Knowledge Transfer; Addison Wesley Publishers