Article

Logistics Innovation Development: A Micro-Level Perspective

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the microfoundations of customer knowledge
acquisition during logistics innovation development. Specifically, the authors explore the activities and
behaviors of employees with customer contact (i.e. boundary-spanning employees (BSEs)) to deepen
and broaden their knowledge about customers for the development of innovations.
Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative research based on multiple semi-structured interviews
with BSEs of six logistics service providers was conducted to explore the deepening and broadening of
customer knowledge during innovation development. Data were analyzed for similarities and differences
in BSEs’ knowledge acquisition and their interactions with customers across six innovations.
Findings – Results show that BSEs engage sequentially in deepening and broadening customer
knowledge throughout the logistics innovation development process. Yet, the specific sequence
depends on the type of innovation developed (customized vs standardized). Customer knowledge tends
to be deepened in one-on-one interactions, while knowledge tends to be broadened in interactions with
numerous and diverse customer firm members.
Research limitations/implications – In general, this paper contributes to the understanding of the
individuals’ behaviors underlying organization-level phenomena, such as logistics service providers’
customer knowledge acquisition.
Practical implications – Findings illustrate that BSEs are well advised to concentrate on either
deepening or broadening their customer knowledge in a single stage of the logistics innovation
development process but switch between these two knowledge acquisition approaches from
stage-to-stage to leverage customer interaction.
Originality/value – By investigating firms’ customer knowledge acquisition at the individual level,
this paper addresses the calls in the literature for more research into the microfoundations of
organizational phenomena.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

No. Panggil

ATC LO PED l

Penerbit

United Kingdom : Emerald Insight., 2015

Deskripsi Fisik

22 p

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

0960-0035

Klasifikasi

LO

Tipe Isi

-

Tipe Media

-

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

Vol. 45 Iss 4 pp

Subjek

knowledge acquisition
Logistics Innovation
Broad Knowledge

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

Pedrosa, Alex da Mota

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