The learning process in interorganizational relationships.
| Autor | Estivalete, Vania de Fatima Barros |
INTRODUCTION
The complex environment in which organizations must operate demands new management techniques. To work not only competitively but also cooperatively is the great strategic challenge for companies. In this context, the cooperation strategy has recently been gaining much more attention in the academic literature and in managerial decisions. From this perspective, the interorganizational learning process can be seen as a managerial instrument to induce organizations to create appropriate structures and strategies for facing this complex environment.
New interorganizational arrangements such as company networks (the focus of this study) can be considered a platform for interorganizational learning, as they provide the organizations with access to knowledge from partner companies (Inkpen, 2000). However, it is necessary to note that interorganizational relationships evolve over time; organizational competences change and objectives are redefined and, consequently, the learning dynamics and the interactions between partner companies also change (Karthik, 2002). Therefore, discussions of how learning occurs from the evolutionary perspective of interorganizational relationships can provide a contribution to the companies individually and collectively or to the network as a whole.
Karthik (2002) details an exploratory framework, aiming to understand the evolutionary perspective of learning focused on the study of strategic alliances. Thus, inspired by the studies developed by Karthik (2002) and applying the discussion of the same theme to the context of horizontal interorganizational relationships, this article seeks to understand how the learning process between organizations inserted in networks occurs from the perspective of the evolution of relationships through time. As our main contribution, we highlight the critical discussion of the model proposed by Karthik (2002) as it is applied in horizontal networks: contradicting the author's suggestion, the results in this research reveal that there was a predominance of mutual learning in the initial stages of the companies' relationships and, as the relationships evolved, that there was a predominance of unilateral learning. In an attempt to achieve the objectives proposed, research of an exploratory nature was carried out.
This research is organized as follows: the next section presents the theoretical foundations that guided the development of this work, approaching the learning process in an interorganizational context and advancing an analysis from the perspective of relationship evolution; after that, we present the research methodology used in this study; later, the results of the research are described; and finally, we present the final conclusions, suggestions for future research, limitations and basic references of the theoretical discussion.
INTERORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING: AN ANALYSIS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF RELATIONSHIP EVOLUTION
Academia has dedicated special attention to the concerns of organizational learning. There is a vast amount of literature characterizing the fragmentation of definitions and concepts concerning this theme. Prange (1999, p. 42) strengthens this understanding by mentioning that the "multiplicity of ways in which the organizational learning has been classified and used has the sense of a 'jungle of organizational learning' that is becoming dense and impenetrable".
However, it is worth mentioning some of the world-renowned researchers who study organizational learning and have contributed significantly to the advances in this field of knowledge (Antonacopoulou, 1999; Argyris & Schon, 1978; Child & Faulkner, 1998; Easterby-Smith, Araujo, & Burgoyne, 1999; Fiol & Lyles, 1985; Senge, 1990; Sweringa & Wierdsma, 1995; among others).
After examining these definitions of organizational learning and considering the cooperative relationships that are arranged in the business world, we opted to extend the discussion of the learning theme to the interorganizational level. Learning through interorganizational relations can be considered an emergent theme in the academic field and also in the business environment.
Knight (2002) agrees with this line of thought when he states that the concepts of individual, group and organizational learning have been established for a long time, therefore making it necessary to consider learning at a fourth level of analysis, which is interorganizational learning. This author shares the understanding that if, by interacting, a group of companies alter the behavior or the cognitive structures of the group, then the group of companies is learning and not only the organizations individually.
Following the same line of thought, Larsson, Bengtsson, Henriksson and Sparks (1998) differentiates organizational learning from interorganizational learning by noting that interorganizational learning includes synergy and the effects of interactions between organizations that would not exist were there no interaction among them. The same authors are of the opinion that interorganizational learning is one of the motivators for the formation of strategic alliances, although they acknowledge that the process of development of collective knowledge may be hindered by managerial problems.
We can add Cohen and Levinthal's (1990) contributions to organizational learning by including the role of absorptive capacity in the learning process. To Cohen and Levinthal (1990, p. 128), absorptive capacity is "companies' ability to recognize the value of new knowledge, assimilate and apply the knowledge for commercial ends". In this sense, to recognize, assimilate and apply the knowledge that is being developed by organizations requires active engagement of the actors involved, as well as the building of a trustful environment seeking to strengthen the relationships established.
In accordance with these approaches, Karthik (2002) (although considering learning as a primary motivation for the formation of strategic alliances) states that as time passes, alliances evolve and there is a metamorphosis in the way the partners involved in cooperative relations learn. The article by Karthik (2002) was the great motivator for the undertaking of the research for this study, since it deals with the mechanisms and processes that contribute to the learning process throughout the evolutionary phases of interorganizational relationships such as strategic alliances.
Karthik (2002) centers his studies in four distinct evolutionary phases through which strategic alliances progress: (1) awareness and partner selection; (2) exploration; (3) expansion; and (4) commitment to relationship. According to this author, the partnerships established change through time and, consequently, the dynamics of learning and the interactions between those involved also evolve. Thus, the partners use several mechanisms regarding the individual (unilateral) and mutual learning processes, which are revealed in the several phases that compose the evolutionary process of interorganizational relationships.
Based on this perspective, Karthik (2002) presents (as shown in Table 1) the evolutionary phases of strategic alliances, emphasizing the importance of understanding how the dynamics of learning occur throughout these phases. To develop his research, Karthik used contributions from Doz and Hamel (1998) when considering the five key areas that allow the investigation of learning processes and mechanisms...
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