Wellsprings of Knowledge

"Core capabilities constitute a competitive advantage for a firm; they have been built up over time and cannot be easily imitated."

"Knowledge building for an organization occurs by combining people's distinct individualities with a particular set of activities."

"Although, at least potentially, aspects of these four dimensions may be readily absorbed by outsiders, it is those portions of the system, and especially the synergy from unique combinations of them, that are neither readily transferred nor imitated."

"Companies, like people, cannot be skillful at everything. Therefore, core capabilities both advantage and disadvantage a company."

"People fall into habits of thought precluding innovative problem solving with amazing ease and speed?even for the most minor of tasks. "

"It is management's task to ensure that friction is creative."

"Planning ahead is difficult in a maelstrom of uncertainty."

"The more uncertain the future, the more essential becomes an environment in which _everyone _ in the company is primed for experimentation and learning."

"Experiments often occur naturally in large companies when a new tool, methodology, or process is adopted by different sites simultaneously."

"Not all capability-enhancing alliances offer equal opportunities for importing knowledge."

"Benchmarking against best-of-class in other industries helps managers calibrate a core technological capability, especially the physical and managerial systems dimensions."

"An ocean of scientific invention poses a constant threat to the shores of every technology-based company."

"Acquisition of a new core capability is likely only through joint ventures, company purchases, or mergers, which potentially transfer a technology in its full business context, with all four dimensions of the capability represented."

"Managers need to expose their companies to a bombardment of new ideas from outside in order to challenge core rigidities, encourage inventive serendipity, and check technological trajectories for vector and speed versus competitors."

"There is a tendency to underestimate the importance of knowledge held by key people in an operation, especially if they are not of visibly high status."

"In established firms, the pressure of competition influences movement up the vertical axis, but the pressures of internal organizational routines push developers down the vertical, toward incremental improvement on basic and mature designs."

"When developers immerse themselves in a user environment, the possibilities inherent in the user context drive product development."

"Communication of the product concept and elicitation of user reactions become more difficult and potentially more expensive as the commercialization situation departs from market alignment and moves toward market creation."

"They are making knowledge investments as opposed to purely financial investments."