Role of Community of Practices and their Coordination in the Innovation Development and Deployment within a Multinational Corporation
Recent literature emphasizes the role of communities of practices (CoPs) in terms of greater capabilities to assemble and share tacit and grounded knowledge. However, there is a debate on their impact on innovation processes. To contribute to this, we will try to better understand the role of CoPs in innovation within Multinational Corporations (MNC). Thanks to an in-depth case-study of an innovation that was firstly developed in a subsidiary and then deployed in another, we will highlight the critical role of two kinds of CoPs: one formally managed and supported by top management, and the second spontaneous and autonomous. We point out as well the critical role of their coordination modes in the innovation development and deployment within the MNC.