Behind the Learning Curve: Linking Learning Activities to Waste Reduction

Michael A. Lapré, Amit Shankar Mukherjee, Luk N. Van Wassenhove

Management Science · 2000 · Volume 46 · Issue 5

DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.46.5.597.12049

Abstract

This exploratory research on a decade of Total Quality Management in one factory opens up the black box of the learning curve. Based on the organizational learning literature, we derive a quality learning curve that links different types of learning in quality improvement projects to the evolution of the factory's waste rate. Only 25% of the quality improvement projects—which acquired both know-why and know-how—accelerated waste reduction. The other 75% of the projects either impeded or did not affect waste reduction. In complex and dynamic production environments, locally acquired knowledge is difficult to disseminate. The combination of know-why and know-how facilitates its dissemination.

Keywords

learning-curve, organizational learning, quality, TQM, technological knowledge, experimentation, knowledge transfer

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