Investigating the Relationship between Coordination Mechanisms and Knowledge in a Wine Firm

The paper explores the relationship between coordination mechanisms and typologies of knowledge in a wine firm. Allocating knowledge as either process related or outcome related, we illustrate the nature of knowledge that emerges in each category and discuss the main coordination mechanisms used to integrate knowledge. We used a single case study, as this approach was considered best for gaining an in-depth, holistic understanding of the phenomenon. We studied an Italian wine firm, positioning the analysis within the theoretical background on knowledge governance. Unlike previous studies on the wine industry, which focused on the network level, we tried to study the organization, focusing on how the adoption of the coordination mechanisms influences tacit and explicit knowledge integration. The study shows how both tacit and explicit knowledge play a key role in managing processes. We found that it was not possible to define a clear and fixed association between typical situations and the adoption of coordination mechanisms. Interpreting our findings in a dynamic perspective, we found that it is the combination of different coordination mechanisms that is important in integrating knowledge. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd