Organizational learning is currently a subject of intense debate in the study of corporate dynamics. But how can such a concept be used effectively without a thorough understanding of the way in which organizations produce and distribute knowledge? An in-depth analysis of expert system projects afforded a choice opportunity for studying such questions. Drawing on four case studies, the authors identify and explore the dynamics of three basic types of expertise. They simultaneously reveal the crisis in expertise experienced by firms facing the demands of product variety and innovation. In such...

Patrice Flichy offers a profound analysis of the social shaping and impact of the major communication technologies of the last 200 years.

From the semaphore and telegraph to contemporary information technologies, Dynamics of Modern Communication focuses on the relationship between technological and social change. Particular emphasis is put on four processes: the birth of the modern state at the end of the eighteenth century; the development of stock markets; the transformation of private life in the modern nuclear family; and the individualism of the late twentieth century.

Exploring...