Learning & knowledge : critical elements to sustained competitive advantage

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The increased rate of competitive challenges imposed on organisations by global economy,technological product changes, processes (Dixon, 1992; Dodgson, 1993), and abundance ofinformation available (Huber 1991) necessitate organisations to unlearn, learn and relearn faster thanothers to survive. The development of sustainable competitive advantages is a vital managementfunction and an important organisational requirement is to nurture learning and create new knowledgeenabling organisations to exploit, develop and utilise resources better than rivals do. This paperoriginated from the need identified in my company that learning and use of new knowledge areessential elements to sustain competitive advantage. At the moment this is not the case and thechallenges imposed on the organisation regarding technological advancements and rapid local andglobal environmental changes, has already negatively impacted the organisation's competitiveposition. Today learning is being experiences as just another expense and the use of new knowledgeis not visible, as a matter of fact knowledge is being confused with information. Information is beingrecycled; in other words more of the same is shared and used within the organisation. Hardly anynew knowledge is generated as the same minds that created problems are being used to solve them.In my opinion both learning and knowledge are strategic organisational requirements which must benurtured and managed to (i) ensure return on investments, and (ii) strengthen the organisations futurecompetitive position. The focus of the paper is to contribute to a deeper understanding of learning andknowledge, the linkage between individuals, organisations and learning loop approaches. Barrierspreventing learning and use of knowledge will be identified as well as how the use of knowledge formsthe foundation to achieve sustained competitive advantages to outsmart, outmaneuver and outwit thecompetition.Keywords:Knowledge; learning; organisational learning; competitive advantage; learning approaches,organisational barriers.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University