Situational Learning as a process that may help explain continuous competitive advantage of regions and organisations over time with policy implications - research project

1. Situational Learning as a Source
of Competitive Advantage
Stephen Bibby
Cardiff School of Management
sbibby@cardiffmet.ac.uk

2. Objectives
• Understand factors that affect situational learning at clusters, city and regional
level.
• Derive a typology of situational context such that the factors can be identified as
coherent systems
• Assess the role of situational learning to sustainable economic growth
• Make recommendations on actions that can be taken to enhance cities and
regions to promote situational learning processes to enhance economic
development.

3. Learning by Observing and Pitching In
Situated learning - a matter of
creating meaning from the
real activities of daily living
where learning occurs in a
pro-social but informal setting
– learning takes place through
social relationships, within a
cultural milieu, and by
connecting prior knowledge to
new contexts
Lave and Wenger (1991) - learning should not be viewed as simply the transmission of abstract and de-contextualised
knowledge from one individual to another (explicit knowledge) but a social process whereby knowledge is co-
constructed; … that such learning is situated in a specific context and embedded within a particular social and physical
environment.

4. Why should we be interested ?
Propensity for cities and regions to continuously outperform others – often
attributed to for example knowledge and networks e.g (Florida 2002)
(Gabe, 2011 Vol 49, issue 6).
Literature, ostensibly on ‘learning institutions’ and environmental/regional contexts has not been brought
together with theory of strategists, economists, geographers and policy makers. Authors for example Porter
(1998) view economic growth as a function of competitive rivalry, others such as Varga (2009) identified
knowledge transfer from Universities as a key factor to economic performance but said little about how
learning regions function
As AnnaLee Saxenian (1990) said on the importance of regional networks (study
of the silicon Valley semiconductor industry)
These new firms have built on Silicon Valley's
technical and institutional infrastructure and its dense networks of social
and professional relationships. Their successes, like those of their
predecessors, are inseparable from a regional environment that is not only
rich in skill and know-how, but one which fosters new firm formation and
collective learning.” pp95
Mark Zuckerberger who was
assisted by his college
roommates and fellow Harvard
students Eduardo
Saverin, Andrew
McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz,
and Chris Hughes.

5. Key Concepts
Knowledge
Tacit/Explicit
Communities of practice
1. Domain (shared interest)
2. Community (long-term)
3. Practice (informal practitioners)
CoP have to be considered alongside the types of knowledge – tacit cannot be learned and is
best exchanged through CoP’s or explicit (which can be learned ie in a university, school,
college) and that CoP are largely about tacit knowledge development
Does there need to be an objective (making money, improving social wellbeing, making
friends, getting ideas, education, competing with each other, improving concepts etc)-
Needs to be understood within the context of culture and place – ways and means people
communicate e.g. Chinese high context cultures vs USA low context cultures.
Sources ?
“groups of people who share a
concern or a passion for something
they do and learn how to do it better
as they interact regularly.” Etienne
Wenger (1991)

6. Situational learning as a ‘process’?
Derive a typology of situational context such that the factors can be identified as coherent systems

7. Methodology
Desk based research/secondary sources (written)
Characterise approaches to provide a typology of place against learning style, innovation and potential.
Media, recorded interviews and biographies
Of famous/well known/successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs/business leaders – what motivated them,
what factors/mentors/positive/negative experiences and factors contributed to their success.
Primary research through interview and consultation with a mixture of individuals, companies and institutions
and compare to those who did not move with a view to assessing how the typology helps explain whether
sustained economic growth was attributable in some part to learning style.
http://ed.ted.com/on/HlltDJiEMark Zuckerberger
Richard Branson https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_branson_s_life_at_30_000_feet?language=en

8. Implications..
Strategy -
Policy makers -
Higher Education -
Businesses -
Business intermediaries and network groups -

9. References
Bapuji, H. &. (2004). From questions to answers: reviewing organizational learning research. Management Learning.
Florida, R. (2008). Who's Your City ? How the creative economy is making where to live the most important decision of your life. New York: Basic Books.
Jones, E. L. (2003, Vol.18(4/5). Creating a partnership-oriented, knowledge creation culture in strategic sales alliances: a conceptual framework. Journal of Business & Industrial
Marketing, 336-352.
Kraatz, M. (Vol 41 No. 6 1998). Learning by Association: Interoganisational networks and adaptation to environmental change. The Academy of Management Journal, 621-643.
Kupers, W. (2017). Embodied inter learning; an integral phenomenology of learning in and by organisations. The Learning Organisation, Vol 15. pp388-408.
Luthens, F. &. (Vol 33, issue2, May 2004). Human, Social, and Now Positive Psychological Capital Management:: Investing in People for Competitive Advantage. Organizational
Dynamics , 143-160.
Matzdorf, F., Price, I., & Green, M. (2000, Vol.18(2), ). Barriers to organizational learning in the chartered surveying profession. Property Management,, p.92-113.
Page WestIII, G. D. (1997, Vol.5(1), ). Communicated Knowledge as a learning foundation. The International Journal of Organizational Analysis,, p.25-58.
Saxenian, A. (1990). Regional Networks and the Resurgence of Silicon Valley. California Management Review, 89-113.
Tsai, P. C.-F., Yen, Y.-F., Huang, L.-C., & Huang, I.-C. (2007, Vol.42(2), ). A study on motivating employees’ learning commitment in the post-downsizing era: Job satisfaction
perspective. Journal of World Business,, pp.157-169.
Wenger, J. L. (1993). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripeheral Participation (Learing by Doing). American Anthropoligist, Vol 95 (3), 743.