KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION PROCESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN SOUTH-SOUTH, NIGERIA

Abstract

The acquisition relates to the intra-organizational process that facilitates the creation of tacit and explicit knowledge, starting from individuals and integrating the organizational level as well as the identification and absorption of information and external knowledge source (Gold et al., 2001; Huber, 1991), therefore, this study assumes that acquisition is the creation of knowledge within the organization through a learning process, and also the acquisition of external knowledge, originated in associative action with other organizations, business consulting, and universities. The prosperity of organization has been inextricably linked with the ability to use and work with the available materials and tools throughout history. Indeed, there is archaeological evidence of man’s tool making ability dating as far back as 2–3 million years (Mair cited in Rostami, 2014). However, the basis for manufacturing as we know it today can be traced as far back as 5000–4000 BC, with the manufacture of artefacts from materials such as wood, stone, metal and ceramics (Scallan, 2003). The modern manufacturing organization, based on the factory system and the division of labour, was borne of the industrial revolution of the eighteenth century. The roots of modern manufacturing processes can also be traced to the late eighteenth century.