Shifting the emphasis from knowledge to knowing : the hybrid public-private alliance as collaborative membrane

摘要

Theories of knowledge management in alliances between competitors highlight theudrole of the alliance as a vehicle in a competition for knowledge. Vertical publicprivateudpartnerships face a different institutional framework where competition forudknowledge gives way to cooperation.udThis paper reports on a case study of the evolution of knowledge managementudpractices in a public agency engaged in vertical outsourcing partnerships. The agencyudevolved its contracting towards alliances as it sought better outsourcing outcomes, thisudtranslated into new organizational arrangements where arms-lengths hierarchicaludprocesses of knowledge management was progressively replaced by horizontal,uddemocratic processes. Underpinning this evolution was a parallel shift in thinkingudabout knowledge, from a conceptualization of knowledge as an asset to be managed,udto a view of knowledge as a tool supporting knowing in practice