Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Maurizio Massaro and Roland Bardy
people’s lives. This combined effect is creating new knowledge opportunities but also new challenges
for companies and customers. According to a statistic recently published in <strong>the</strong> German ”Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), this even includes companies which do not market <strong>the</strong>ir goods to endusers
e.g. <strong>the</strong> chemical manufacturer BASF is reported to have regular connections with about 10 000
social media users (FAZ, March 08, 2011).
An example <strong>of</strong> this new evolution is represented by buzz network strategies (BNS). Originally
developed in marketing science, <strong>the</strong>se strategies were applied to <strong>the</strong> interaction <strong>of</strong> consumers and
users <strong>of</strong> a product or service in order to amplify a marketing message and create a word-<strong>of</strong>-mouth
effect (Kirby and Marsden, 2006). Tools originally used were: viral marketing campaigns, blogs and
o<strong>the</strong>r web 2.0 applications (for a review <strong>of</strong> web 2.0 applications see Levy, 2009). Nowadays <strong>the</strong>
original marketing use is changing and it is pushing network BNS into a more complex role. Creating a
partially uncontrolled communication effect, <strong>the</strong>se strategies present <strong>the</strong> following characteristics:
• <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> users is active and not passive. This places <strong>the</strong> users in a different position relative to
traditional systems where managers and experts were <strong>the</strong> leaders <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> communication process
(Levy, 2009);
• <strong>the</strong> definition <strong>of</strong> users involves different pr<strong>of</strong>iles: experts, consumers, companies etc, each <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong>se having specific interests and aims. This approach creates a substantial difference
compared to o<strong>the</strong>r communities such as communities <strong>of</strong> practices, ”which bind toge<strong>the</strong>r a group
<strong>of</strong> people who share a concern, a set <strong>of</strong> problems, an expertise or a passion about a topic”
(Bourhis, Dubé and Jacob, 2005; Restler and Woolis 2007);
• <strong>the</strong> information flow is a blend <strong>of</strong> situations. We can find conditions where i) companies talk to
consumers, experts and o<strong>the</strong>r companies ii) consumers talk to o<strong>the</strong>r consumers, experts and
companies iii) experts talk to companies, consumers and o<strong>the</strong>r companies, creating a mix <strong>of</strong>
messages;
• <strong>the</strong> part represented by companies is generally made up <strong>of</strong> companies <strong>of</strong> diverse businesses
that are working toge<strong>the</strong>r in a network in order to share specific interests that usually involve <strong>the</strong>
generation <strong>of</strong> specific cross-field-products for targeted markets (e.g. products for children “<strong>the</strong>
kids’ space” like furniture, linens, toys, cleaning appliances, …);
• types <strong>of</strong> data and information that could be: advertisements, free consultancies given by experts,
conversations among consumers, complains, tips for product development, e-learning platforms,
contests… (Kirby and Marsden, 2006);
• <strong>the</strong> web is a platform which means that several applications could access, share and use <strong>the</strong>
information within <strong>the</strong> web platform: Facebook, App for mobile devices, websites and specific
programs could interact using <strong>the</strong> same platform (Levy, 2009) creating a pervasive usage during
<strong>the</strong> daily routine.
These new opportunities have great impact on traditional knowledge management practice,
introducing a different knowledge perspective also in more traditional companies that have developed
a BNS. Focusing on <strong>the</strong>se lines <strong>of</strong> research, <strong>the</strong> aims <strong>of</strong> this paper are:
• to identify a <strong>the</strong>oretical framework <strong>of</strong> knowledge management process that could be used in
empirical analysis;
• to recognize how buzz network strategies are affecting <strong>the</strong> traditional knowledge management
process in participating companies.
2. Knowledge management process
The emerging knowledge economy is creating a revolution that is forcing companies to look for ways
to reinvent <strong>the</strong>mselves and <strong>the</strong>y have to systematically manage this creative process (Tapp, 1997).
The ability to learn, to generate new ideas, to propose new untried solutions to problems and in
general to be creative, seems to be related to <strong>the</strong> ability <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> company to create a significant
network. Several studies have shown that companies which create significant relational networks
obtain better performances (Zaheer and Bell, 2005; McEvily and Marcus, 2005). In this perspective,
<strong>the</strong> idea <strong>of</strong> acquiring, sharing and generating knowledge is viewed as a primary level in organizational
evolution that helps companies to choose and adopt new practice in order to increase <strong>the</strong>ir
competitive advantage (Bijaya and Uday Bhaskar, 2011). While a narrow definition <strong>of</strong> Knowledge
Management would be ”a set <strong>of</strong> techniques and practice that facilitate <strong>the</strong> flow <strong>of</strong> knowledge into and
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