Knowledge Integration and Innovation ― Critical Challenges Facing International Technology-based Firms

Technology-based firms continue to compete primarily on innovation, and are continuously required to present new solutions to an exacting market. As technological complexity and specialization intensifies, firms increasingly need to integrate and co-ordinate knowledge by means of project groups, diversified organizations, inter-organizational partnerships, and strategic alliances. Innovation processes have progressively become interdisciplinary, collaborative, inter-organizational, and international, and a firm's ability to synthesize knowledge across disciplines, organizations, and geographical locations has a major influence on its viability and success.

This book demonstrates how knowledge integration is crucial in facilitating innovation within modern firms. It provides original, detailed empirical studies of prerequisites, mechanisms, and outcomes of knowledge integration processes on several organizational levels, from key individuals, projects, and internal organizations, to collaboration between firms. It stresses the need to understand knowledge integration as a multi-level phenomenon, which requires a broad repertoire of organizational and technical means. It further clarifies the need for strong internal capabilities for exploiting external knowledge, reveals how costs of knowledge integration affect outcomes and strategic decisions, and discusses the managerial implications of fostering knowledge integration, providing practical guidance and support for managers of knowledge integration in high-technology enterprises.

Christian Berggren is Professor of Industrial Management, Linkoping University, and Director of the KITE research programme. He has written or co-authored several books on production and product development in international firms, such as The Volvo experience (MacMillan, 1992), The Resilience of Corporate Japan (Sage, 1997), Being local world-wide - ABB and the challenge of global management (Cornell, 1999), as well as many publications in journals such as Creativity and Innovation Management, Industrial and Corporate Change, Research Policy, R&D Management, Sloan Management Review, Technology Analysis, and Strategic Management and Technovation.


Anna Bergek is Associate Professor of Industrial Management, Linkoping University, and founding member of the KITE research programme. She has published articles on industry dynamics, firm strategy in relation to technical change, and innovation and energy policy in journals such as Energy Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change, Research Policy, Technovation, and Technology Analysis & Strategic Management.


Lars Bengtsson is Professor of Innovation Management at the Univeristy of Gavle and Professor within a PhD school at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. He is a founding member of the KITE research programme and has published many articles and books on the subjects of continuous improvements, manufacturing strategies, and outsourcing.


Michael Hobday is Professor of Innovation Management at CENTRIM (Centre for Research in Innovation Management), Brighton Univeristy. As well as many journal publications, he is the author of various books including Innovation in East Asia: The Challenge to Japan (Edward Elgar, 1997), co-author of The Business of Projects: Managing Innovation in Complex Products and Systems (with Andrew Davies, CUP, 2005), and co-editor of The Business of Systems Integration (with Andrea Prencipe and Andrew Davies, OUP, 2003).



Jonas Soderlund is Professor at BI Norwegian School of Management and founding member of the KITE research programme. He has researched and published widely on the management and organization of projects and project-based firms and the evolution of project competence, including papers in Organization Studies, Human Resource Management, International Journal of Innovation Management, and International Business Review. He is the author or co-author of five books and one of the editors of The Oxford Handbook of Project Management.