Connecting Worlds

The focus of this Special Issue addresses cross-boundary issues by taking a closer look at how learning connects various different spaces. This develops our understanding of `how learning takes place across boundaries’ and is highly relevant to organizations operate in highly distributed networks, encompassing dispersed geographical regions, partners, suppliers, regulators and customers. The particular themes which the papers address pertain to the properties of boundaries across which learning may take place, i.e. geographical, knowledge, organizational and temporal boundaries. We also pay attention to the way in which entities connect across these boundaries, i.e., the means for interaction via structures, socio-psychological processes and technology. Finally we consider the most appropriate unit of analysis via which we should study cross-boundary learning processes in order to connect our worlds.