Knowledge transfer in supply chains

Knowledge sharing is a well‐trodden concept in theory and practice across the construction industry. This chapter considers how procurement from leading clients can be dynamic and incentivise improvements and break down silos. Dynamic procurement practices can drive forward internal improvements and supplier competition, and stimulate engagement with HR practices to support the improvement, whereby staff selection, promotion, and annual reviews embed knowledge sharing as an important part of progression and pay. The chapter also identifies interorganisational communities of practice as a means of facilitating the necessary culture to enable knowledge sharing and constructing meaning through collaborative mechanisms. The case study on which the chapter was based involves an interorganisational community located in the client organisation; set up towards the end of the research. Interorganisational knowledge transfer not only requires collaboration, which is a general alignment, it requires cooperation, which is deeper, to facilitate knowledge transfer