Knowledge exchange between KIBS and their customers in a digitalization context : A case study of interactions between Bouvet and Agder Energi Nett

Abstract

The rise of digitalization as one of the major trends in the world of business offersgreat challenges for organizations regarding technological knowledge. This is becausetechnology unwraps so rapid that it is difficult for organizations to sustain a ma-ture relation to technological knowledge, which in turn makes it more difficult tounderstand, master, and utilize new products and services. To resolve this issue,organizations tend to turn to consultancy firms with expertise in the technologicalfield. It is in such a setting that this thesis aims to examinehow consultancy firmsand their customers interact to create new digital solutions. Based on a case of digi-talization in Agder Energi Nett (AEN), where the consultancy firm Bouvet has beenof central support, this thesis examines the interaction between the two. The focusarea is narrowed down to a knowledge exchange perspective where theory on the topiclays the basis for the following four empirical research questions:1.What kind of knowledge did Bouvet contribute with?2.How does the knowledge exchange happen?3.What role has absorptive capacity played throughout the project?4.How did the project embeddedness develop during the project?The thesis builds on interview’s with central actors in AEN and Bouvet as well asother relevant documentation.The case is argued to build upon an instance of successful digitalization, which lays thebasis to generalize empirically. Other KIBS-customer relations who find themselvesin a digitalization context may look to this case, and mimic their interactions forsuccessful results.Central findings show that Bouvet contributed with both tacit and explicit knowledge.In return, AEN had a great amount of focus on building domain-specific knowledge with its consultants. Further, both a dynamic and a static knowledge exchange formwas apparent as a result of close collaboration and interaction, and the exchangeof more standardized knowledge through courses and seminars. The embeddednessdeveloped to have shared representations and a high level of trust, which the partiesbenefited from greatly.The theoretical contribution of this case study is addressing knowledge exchange in adigitalization context. Such a setting reveals the importance of both the sender andthe receiver having absorptive capacity which contributes to current theory wherethe focus is merely on the receiver having absorptive capacity. Possible explanationsto this increased need of absorptive capacity may be the high presence of dynamicknowledge exchange in combination with the rapid advancements in the field of digi-talization. The causation’s goes beyond this thesis focus area and hence lay the basisfor future research.Keywords: Digitalization, KIBS, Knowledge, Knowledge exchange