Why Tacit Knowledge Protects the Firm's Evolutionary Potential (And Why Codification Doesn't)

Show simple item record

dc.contributor.author	Knudsen, Thorbjørn	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2009-02-04T10:25:24Z
dc.date.available	2009-02-04T10:25:24Z
dc.date.issued	2004-03-23T00:00:00Z	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6889
dc.description.abstract	The present article introduces the theory of cultural evolution as a possible basis for further development of a micro-evolutionary economic theory. Cultural evolution is Lamarckian and involves social transmission of explicit knowledge by choice or imposition. A possible complementary Darwinian principle operating in the social realm is defined in terms of social transmission of tacit knowledge. According to this principle, termed Local Emulative Selection, some forms of tacit knowledge are not adapted (those which cannot be reached by consciousness) by their carrier. I then identify a problem of adaptation that plagues any form of Lamarckian selection. This base-line problem implies that the evolutionary potential decreases as the possibility of adaptation increases. In consequence, the social transmission of tacit knowledge, which cannot be reached by consciousness, protects the evolutionary potential associated with any form of social evolution. By contrast, it is suggested that a systematic codification of tacit knowledge can potentially corrupt the evolutionary potential of any organisation.	en_US
dc.format.extent	41 s.	en_US
dc.language	eng	en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries	LINK Working paper;2000-21	en_US
dc.subject.other	kep	en_US
dc.title	Why Tacit Knowledge Protects the Firm's Evolutionary Potential (And Why Codification Doesn't)	en_US
dc.type	wp	en_US
dc.contributor.corporation	Copenhagen Business School. CBS	en_US
dc.contributor.department	Institut for International Økonomi og Virksomhedsledelse
dc.contributor.departmentshort	INT
dc.contributor.departmentuk	Department of International Economics and Management
dc.contributor.departmentukshort	INT
dc.idnumber	x656406509	en_US
dc.publisher.city	København	en_US
dc.publisher.year	2000	en_US