The role of knowledge management in technology assimilation processes

Technology is one of the most important determining factors for achieving competitiveness. Since companies cannot produce all technologies internally, they need to acquire them from outside providers. Thus, they face some challenges, which are caused due to the gap between provider and receiver. The gap between the parties can originate from technology itself, organizational context, or environmental attributes. Performance of firms in integrating imported technologies into their existing organization is influenced by several factors. One of these factors is knowledge, which is a key asset for all organizations and obtained through technology transfer. The aim of this study is to identify the role of Knowledge Management in technology assimilation process by analyzing the data gathered from a survey conducted in 47 Turkish firms. It is found out that knowledge management activities constitute one of the most important factors in technology assimilation process. Knowledge management factors do not show significant differences in regard to their impact on particular technology assimilation activities. However, when compared, they may play relatively different roles due to the objectives and needs of the case.