An empirical study on the impact of organizational memory on organizational performance in manufacturing companies

Knowledge is the important asset in organizations. Effective knowledge management plays a crucial role in organizational development. Organizational memory (OM) integrates all kinds of organizational knowledge. It is regarded as the central prerequisite for IT support of knowledge management. The paper analyzes the knowledge structure of OM in manufacturing company from internal and external sources of organizational knowledge. OM in manufacturing company is composed of four types, that is, managerial OM, technical OM, cultural OM and marketing OM. These four types of OM components enhance organizational development jointly. Based on the data from international manufacturing strategy survey (IMSS), factor analysis is used to test the classification of OM and organizational performance (OP), canonical correlation analysis is conducted on the impact of OM components on OP in manufacturing companies. The results from structural equation modeling suggest that OM is a dynamic factor, OM formed in different time has different impact on OP.