Knowledge in resource Interaction: Starting a Dialogue Among IMP and Other Theories

This work-in-progress paper is aimed to start a discussion within the IMP school regarding ‘knowledge’ in resource interaction. IMP studies over the years have contributed to the understanding of the resource interaction process which is assumed to be a central and relevant facet of any business relationship,. What is the role of ‘knowledge’ as a resource over the interaction process? To start a preliminary discussion on the outlined question, IMP view on knowledge in the resource interaction framework has been analysed along with two other mainstream theories that are currently and actively debating the importance of resources in business networks, with knowledge occupying a central role in the discussion: Knowledge Based View (KBV) and Service-Dominant Logic (SDL). Preliminary results show that relevant differences can be traced in the ways the three approaches treat knowledge in a resource context, given the strong divergence in basic assumptions. However also important points of contacts seem to emerge that could be useful for the development of an IMP perspective over the role of knowledge in the resource interaction framework.