Oshri, Ilan (2002) Cross-project learning : a study based on the Israeli electronics defence industry. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis alms to develop a comprehensive understanding of cross-project learning in multiple-project environments. Cross-project learning is the process through which technologies are transferred and reused within organisations. Recent years have seen a growing interest in cross-project learning. However, research in this area has emphasised the rational, classical approach to crossproject learning. Also, the majority of research on cross-project learning has largely been on the automobile industry in Japan and the USA. Thirdly, research in this field has failed to assess the impact that cross-project learning has had on other organisational processes in product development. The conclusions of these studies are context-specific, fragmented and lack any critical assessment of the process of introducing cross-project learning. This study argues that a rather different approach to cross-project learning is needed. A three-level analysis is applied in the present study that highlights operational, dysfunctional and strategic aspects in cross-project learning. The empirical core of the research is the evidence from three in-depth case studies conducted in the Israeli electronics defence industry. Three different approaches to cross-project learning have been identified at the operational level, offering organisational mechanisms and managerial practices that have not previously been reported. At the dysfunctional operations level, the study reveals that the introduction of innovations in cross-project learning has impacted the past harmony between expertise development and knowledge management practices. The findings suggest that this harmony has broken down while the knowledge management and expertise development practices have been further transformed and developed. Lastly, at the strategic level of analysis, two potential cross-project learning strategies have been detected: exploit product success and design to reuse. A contingency model that emphasises the evolutionary development path of 'modes of reusability', subject to the 'strategic development' of the studied companies, concludes this study.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor T Technology > T Technology (General)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Technology transfer, Industrial development projects, Military electronics industry -- Israel
Date:	January 2002
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Warwick Business School
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Stoneman, Paul ; Wilson, David C. (David Charles), 1951-
Extent:	xiii, 303 leaves
Language:	eng
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/3643

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