Abstract The Malaysian palm oil industry has become a major and diversified industrial sector over a period of forty years. Several palm oil firms have expanded internationally by establishing oil palm plantations in other developing countries, as well as by acquiring firms in developed countries. In addition, the Malaysian palm oil industry had managed to develop new technologies to improve production yields and create new products for consumers. Our study aims to analyze the role of an institutional network in the palm oil industry in the generation and sharing of new knowledge. It is suggested that this institutional network creates industry competitive advantages through the development and application of industry best-practices. A qualitative approach was used to have an in-depth understanding of the institutions involved in the institutional network and the types of interactions that take place among the key institutions for knowledge generation and sharing. The study involved gathering of primary data through in-depth interviews of key managers of palm oil palms, representatives of industry associations, government officials and senior staff in an industry-funded R&D institute. The main result of our findings shows that new knowledge is generated by on-going research activities of an industry R&D institute, which is managed as a government entity. The R&D institute is required to share the new knowledge with firms in the palm oil industry. It is found that the R&D institute tapped the knowledge of a global network of experts to search for new information and technology directions, which we call expert informational network (EIN). The institutional network is further reinforced by informal linkages among institutions and executives in the Malaysian palm oil industry. These relationships have been propagated by several generations of industry executives, industry leaders and heads of governmental units
