Knowledge transfer through technological hyperlearning in five industries

The Strategic or Active Incrementalism style and the Meta-Cognitive paradigm of strategic decision making are proposed as self-organizing cognitive filters for facilitating technology transfer, which is viewed as a knowledge transfer process of technological (technical and administrative) cognition and learning as well as unlearning. Furthermore, the case is made for an architecture of hyperlearning conceived as a four-level (operational, tactical, strategic, and meta-strategic level) and four-mode (individual, intra-organizational, inter-organizational, and supra-organizational mode), feedback-driven system of technological learning and unlearning. Such an architecture for a self-organizing system of technological learning, could serve as a major source of sustainable competitive advantage from a resource-based, firm-specific perspective within hypercompetitive and technology-driven environments. To validate our proposed typology of multiple level and mode technological learning that underlies the Strategic Incrementalism style and the Meta-Cognitive paradigm of strategic decision making, we attempted to empirically identify the presence of multiple-level technological learning through in-depth-interview-driven, two to three year long, ethnographic case studies of nineteen companies headquartered in the USA, Canada, Germany, and France, that operate in high risk and/or uncertainty, very dynamic (due to intensity of competition and/or technological complexity), and technologically intensive (where technology has strategic import, and in many cases one has to "bet the company" when deciding for or against a certain project or technology) business environments. Specifically, the industries the companies operate in are: multimedia, pharmaceuticals/biotechnology, transportation, industrial chemicals/materials, and power generation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.