HANSEN, Morten T <br/><br/>
The search transfer problem :  the role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits 

 - Ithaca :  Johnson Graduate School of Management,  March 1999 
<br/><br/> This paper combines the concept of weak ties from social network research and the notion of complex knowlege to explain the role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits in a multiunit organization. I use a network study of 12 new-product development projects undertaken by 41 divisions in a large electronics company to examine the task of developing new products in the least amount of time. Findings show that weak interunit ties help a project team search  for usefull knowledge in other subunits  but impede the transfer of complex knowledge, which tends to require a strong ties between the two parties to a transfer. Having weak interunit ties speeds up projects when knoledge is not complex but slows them down when the knowlege to be transferredis highly complex. I discuss the implications of these findings for research on social networks and product innovation