Cultivating organizational wisdom for value innovation

Abstract

Purpose

Marketing literature, while acknowledging the relevance of organizational learning for a better market understanding, has shown remarkably little effort to develop a framework for organizational wisdom (OW). A learning organization becomes wiser through time. Knowledge acquisition and exploitation are the foundation for differentiation between firms and sustain value creation. Therefore, this paper aims to integrate OW with previously validated marketing concepts in a broader nomological network.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors review extant literature associated to OW and offer a theoretical model to clarify the conceptual domain of this construct.

Findings

This study develops the theory of OW, arguing that when a firm clusters a specific set of knowledge dynamically through time, the organization reaches a level of exceptional understanding about the market and improves the judgment and communication of decision-making. Moreover, this study partializes the effect of the market orientation construct through its components for better outcomes in the value innovation process.

Originality/value

Based on the theoretical support, therefore, the authors provide a framework identifying the properties of OW, as well as the antecedents (a set of organizational knowledge) and consequences of OW (innovation and marketing capabilities development), specifying the moderation role of the marketing function influence.

Citation

Mora Cortez, R. and Johnston, W.J. (2019), "Cultivating organizational wisdom for value innovation", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 34 No. 6, pp. 1171-1182. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-11-2017-0292