Knowledge Management Practices in the Context of Supply Chain Integration: The Canadian Experience

Knowledge can be a strategic resource for any organization. Today, it is considered the cornerstone for the development of core competencies that will generate competitive advantages. This knowledge is not found exclusively within organizations, but may be shared through business relationships developed within the supply chain through the interconnection of value-added activities among business partners. This article seeks to study the relationship between supply chain and knowledge management practices. The results of a study of 163 Quebec (Canada) manufacturing companies (almost 90% of which are small- and medium- sized enterprises) confirmed our hypothesis that the deployment of integrated supply chain management practices with both upstream and downstream partners is associated with more effective knowledge management processes. Although this relationship is not linear, a more comprehensive, integrated vision of the supply chain-both upstream and downstream-leads to an awareness of the value of the kn...