Understanding Knowledge Reuse Process : A Case Study in a Production Maintenance Organization

Many firms constantly strive to reuse existing knowledge to be better at learning from their mistakes and successes. Despite its importance, firms are yet to see the benefits from such initiatives, especially at the individual level. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to investigate and discuss the individual knowledge reuse process in a large manufacturing company. Based on a case study in a production maintenance organization, the paper describes knowledge reuse process in a series of steps. Further, key issues related to each step in the knowledge reuse process are discussed. Finally, the paper summarizes the contributions and concludes with future research directions