Replication strategies, knowledge and attention: a study of coffee chains

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model that uses “organizational attention” as an explanatory factor of knowledge transfer, and apply it to firms pursuing a replication strategy – like McDonalds or Starbucks.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from three coffee chains, empirical findings that operationalize and illustrate their different attention profiles are presented, and differences in their replication outcomes are demonstrated. The paper concludes with some qualitative analyses of the linkages between attention and replication success.Findings – Each chain has a different attention profile, reflected in varying attention to knowledge sources and domains. These profiles are found to be consistent with each three outcome measures of each chain's replication strategy – namely uniformity, accuracy, and distinctiveness.Research limitations/implications – The paper extends prior understanding of the knowledge based view of the firm, organization, learning, cogniti...