Articulating knowledge sharing processes in multinational e-business product design

Abstract

A grounded-theory case study method was applied to a profitable multinational e-business company in the mobile communication service/product industry. The objective was to examine how new product development (NPD) subject matter specialists learned and acquired knowledge to produce innovative designs. An overarching research motive was to determine why it seemed this multinational organisation and its NPD community of practice did not apparently value contemporary university education. A brain storming technique was used in a focus group (n = 17) to capture and contrast the NPD knowledge acquisition process with educational psychology theories applied in similar e-businesses studies. Three models were created to externalise the tacit NPD processes. The unique features in the NPD models were: a knowledge continuum (innate, tacit, and explicit); and a knowledge acquisition methodology that contained three similar phases when compared to a common educational psychology theory, but the phases were ordered differently and in the opposite direction.