GC201311234 ART. Learning in a network: the unprecedented case of a Moroccan automobile parts supplier

Abstract

This case-study of the learning processes undergone in a Moroccan firm selected as a parts subcontractor by Renault Tangier is based on in-depth interviews with employees and observations during meetings. The subcontractor had to adopt certain technical and organizational changes. This analysis of the shift from individual learning to an organizational form of learning in a network shows how a network, owing to its informal aspects, favors the circulation of knowledge while revealing management’s key role in creating the organizational conditions for boosting the investment of those involved. These interactions enter into a process that collectively produces meaning and makes knowledge advance.