Capturing and sharing knowledge in supply chains in the maritime transport sector: critical issues

Modern businesses in the maritime transport industry are interfacing with a dynamic, increasingly complex, information-driven world. Information and knowledge are increasingly the intangible assets on which business sustainability and growth are founded. Knowledge is a dynamic, social resource. Trading networks are significant communities of practice. To create new knowledge from these, firms utilize learning contexts. In these learning contexts, participants interact and identify, capture and share new information. The learning context needs to facilitate the prevalence of these processes. The role and significance of the context to the capture and sharing of business learning and lifelong learning is considered in this paper. It investigates critical issues in the management of this learning context to enhance competitive advantage in supply chains and networks. Given the current and potential future skills shortages in the industry, key policy implications, such as the integration of work experience into the learning cycle, encouraging lifelong learning and the provision of dual sector pathways are outlined.