The Role of the Global Pilot Project in the Knowledge Transfer within Organization : A case study analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate importance of pilot projects for the multinational company when launching new product globally and analyze the usage of the results of the pilot projects for the large scale projects. The aim of the study is to find how companies use pilot project experience in order to adjust its current activities and processes. Pilot projects can give very fruitful knowledge to the company, as it seeks to launch new products or processes, however the efficiency of any pilot project can be low if company does not apply any changes according to the findings. The essential part of any pilot project is to find out new ways for the company to optimize its strategy. In this research, we look at the way how multinational company uses pilot project results in order to optimize processes on large scale. We also look how company uses pilot project results on global scale, this also include knowledge distribution inside the company Therefore knowledge creation during pilot project and transfer of new knowledge inside organization is discussed. As pilot project differs from the larger scale project, application of the knowledge obtained from pilot project has certain constraints. During this study those constraints are discussed. The case company is French global company , which is working in energy sector. In the research we are looking at global product launch of range of electrical devices. Prior to launch this product globally company chooses several specific countries, where the product is launched. This smaller scale product launch is being described in this study as pilot project within the company.