Inter-organizational similarity as a driver of knowledge sharing within supply chains

Abstract

Inter-organizational knowledge sharing is the key research of knowledge management within supply chains. In this study, we empirically investigate the relationship between the similarity of organizations within the supply chain and the efficiency of inter-organizational knowledge sharing. Specifically, the fractal theory is employed to analyze the issues of knowledge sharing, and to both the similar characteristics and efficiency of knowledge sharing, it builds up the evaluation index systems. Moreover, the interview method is adopted to elaborate the partnership among three organizations in the supply chain with a manufacturing firm as the core. Also the corresponding sharing efficiency is analyzed comparatively among them. Empirical results indicate that a positive relation is existed as we predicted.