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Abstract

Building on the knowledge-based view of the firm, this chapter provides a social capital approach for knowledge sharing, creation, and retention as a way to reach sustainable competitive advantage for humanitarian organizations. Based on the case of the World Health Organization, we focus on the role of individual internal networks provided by initiatives such as (i) staff mobility programs across international offices, (ii) eHealth collaborations, and (iii) eLearning Networks for knowledge exploitation and exploration. We argue that these networks are particularly relevant for humanitarian organizations as they face the challenge of managing the knowledge gained by individuals in operations in various geographical regions of the world. The chapter also discusses implications for humanitarian organizations when facing knowledge challenges derived from geographically dispersed operations.

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