ASPECTS OF INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN COLLABORATIVE NETWORKS

In the knowledge society, the interest given to the organizational networks and knowledge management is more and more obvious. Among the potential advantages offered by the two approaches, the increase of flexibility and obtaining a competitive advantage on the market hold an important place. Apart from the offered advantages, both the organizational networks and the inter-organizational knowledge management are confronted with problems and challenges. Inter-organizational knowledge management is a complex process due to both the nature of knowledge and to the collaborative environment. Two of the major challenges of inter-organizational knowledge management are knowledge sharing between the members of the organizational network and interoperability. The main purpose of the paper is the analysis of the knowledge management process within organizational networks, with an accent on the changes made by the collaborative environment. Throughout the paper the importance and necessity of an inter-organizational knowledge management is emphasized, a comparative analysis of certain aspects of intra and inter-organizational knowledge is performed and the collaborative characteristics that influence the stages of the knowledge management process are identified.