Beyond knowledge management – understanding how to share knowledge through logic and practice

The aim of this paper is to develop our understanding of how knowledge is shared within a professional service firm. Insights from a 1-year ethnographic study suggest that it is important to go beyond the ‘theoretical limitations’ of knowledge management in order to understand how to manage knowledge within a firm. From the analysis of how knowledge is shared in practice, three logics emerge that help us understand not only how, but also why knowledge is shared among professionals within a professional service firm. A conceptual framework regarding how to better understand sharing, handling and developing knowledge within an organization is discussed, and implications for managers and future research are outlined.     

Serious games in favour of knowledge management and double-loop learning?

How can universities develop a knowledge management dynamic in order to train knowledge workers who are effective in an organizational learning process? Can games, and more specifically serious games, contribute to reaching this goal? To answer this question, we hypothesize that play can serve as a lever for knowledge management and double-loop learning. The purpose of this article is to show that serious games contribute to training knowledge workers in an organizational learning process. From this perspective, we attempt to understand how serious games promote the acquisition of knowledge and we explain the research method used in the field (participant observation, investigation using questionnaires). The final part analyses the main results: a community of practice and organization learning, internalization through Learning by Doing and better understanding of the environment’s complexity, towards double-loop learning and student satisfaction with the serious game.     

How knowledge management processes can create and capture value for firms?

Knowledge has become the main competitive tool for firms. Just as knowledge is considered as the most important strategic resource, knowledge management (KM) is considered to be critical to a firm’s success. Several attempts have been undertaken to identify and define the different KM processes. From the literature review, four key dimensions stand out as affecting KM processes: knowledge creation, knowledge transfer, knowledge storage/retrieval, and knowledge application. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the KM and value literature by determining the importance of the different processes of KM for increasing value creation and value capture in firms. The context for the research hypotheses is the Spanish banking industry in 2010. The results support a positive relationship between KM and value creation, and between value creation and value capture.     

Strategic management of supplier–manufacturer relations in new product development

This paper discusses the role of contractual and organizational arrangements for the governance of supplier–manufacturer relationships in new product development projects. We present cross-sectional project level data from 50 manufacturer–supplier relations in new product development in the European Major Home Appliance industry using a single dyadic interaction as the unit of analysis, to combine institutional decisions driving the governance of inter-firm relations and their organizational implementation. Our results show that (a) relational outcome depends on the type of joint activities, (b) it can be decomposed into short term (efficiency) and long term (learning) effects, (c) less articulate types of joint development activities increase efficiency, while more articulate joint development activities increase partner’s learning, and (d) inter-organizational structuring decisions are significant explanatory variables to understand relational outcome. Implications for the organization of vertical collaboration in new product development projects are derived focusing on the emerging trade-off between short and long term objectives as a central issue in guiding relational strategies.     

Is knowledge management losing ground? Developments among Icelandic SMEs

This paper presents findings from a survey on knowledge management (KM) in small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) in Iceland conducted in 2007 and was a follow-up of a similar survey from 2004. The paper analyses whether the extent, strategy and effects of KM in SMEs in Iceland has changed in the period. The main conclusion is that KM is not losing ground among SMEs in Iceland. Identical numbers of firms used KM in 2004 and 2007, and slightly more firms were examining the need in 2007 than 3 years earlier. It is, however, of great concern that many more firms have no KM strategy in 2007 than 2004. More managers in SMEs need to consider the strengths and weakness of KM, and to implement a formal KM strategy. Only 24% of Icelandic firms have a KM programme in place, and most of them have invested in simple information and communication technologies. The most common way of sharing tacit knowledge in Icelandic firms is encouraging face-to-face communication. The surveys indicate that benefits of KM programmes are quite positive even in SMEs. Accordingly, the research findings indicate that KM could improve organisational and managerial as well as financial aspects of SMEs. This research was carried out in only one country, and is based on a questionnaire. Its results should therefore be interpreted with care.     

Customer’s role in knowledge management and in the innovation process: effects on innovation capacity and marketing results

Scholars have acknowledged customer knowledge management (CKM) as a key strategic resource for improving innovation and supporting long-term customer relationship management. This study provides a deeper understanding of the internal antecedents of business innovation capacity overcoming previous approaches. A model that had not previously been tested was used to analyse the role of customer collaboration and CKM – measured as a second-order construct – in innovation processes and marketing results. To test the model, structural equation modelling (partial least squares) was applied to a random sample of 210 Spanish companies. Results confirm that CKM and customer collaboration are antecedents of innovation capacity and marketing results. Furthermore, the effect of CKM is greater than the effect of customer collaboration. This paper provides a basis for managers to encourage innovation in their companies and explains how managers can improve marketing results.     

Exploring knowledge management implementation in large-sized service organizations – Saudi Arabia as a case

Whereas there is a growing literature that investigates knowledge management (KM) in service corporates, yet the overview and understanding of KM in large-sized service organisations is yet limited and sparse. Transitional economies, like of Saudi Arabia, are highly motivated to establish a knowledge based structure both economically and socially. There is an urgent need for exploring the current situation of KM tools usage and of perspectives on knowledge and knowledge management, as a start by large sized service organisations. Towards further understanding in this regard, this paper explores the status and potentials of KM implementation scoped to Saudi large-sized service organisations. The paper triangulated an interviewer-administrated questionnaire and focus groups to gather the data. The results indicate that although the weighted average of KM tools/methods deployment (being deployed or can possibly be deployed) reaches 79%; however, the written comments in front of each tool indicates that the participants’ understanding of what KM seems distorted, which is confirmed in the coding of their definitions of the term ‘Knowledge’. The participants identified leadership and strategy formulation as the top two critical success factors. A number of other results are presented and several issues were identified for future research.     

‘Think of others’ in knowledge management: making culture work for you

Knowledge management has an important role to play in both organizational and national cultures. In order to have a paradigm shift from a knowledge hoarding to a more knowledge-sharing culture, knowledge management should be used as part of the human capital strategy for the organization. The impact of culture on knowledge management has been studied widely, but little has been written on how knowledge management can affect organizational culture. This paper provides a thought-piece on addressing this overlooked area.     

Organizational and human resource management and innovation: Which management practices are linked to product and/or process innovation?

We examine the determinants of firms’ innovation success, using the firm-level data from the Japanese National Innovation Survey. We focus on the relationship between organizational and human resource management practices for research and development (R&D) and product/process innovation. We find that interdivisional cooperation/teams and the creation/relocation/integration of R&D centers are positively associated with both product and process innovation. Having board members with an R&D background is positively associated with product innovation, implying that top-down R&D decision-making may be important for firms to introduce new products. Among the factors examined, personnel assessment reflecting R&D outcomes appears to have an especially strong relationship with product innovation. Moreover, the positive relationship between the creation/relocation/integration of R&D centers and innovation success suggests that drastic organizational changes can work as a clear signal of firms’ determination to pursue an innovation-oriented strategy and help to accelerate innovation success.     

The influence of strategic management knowledge characteristics on the performance of MNCs＇ Chinese subsidiaries

目前跨国公司的战略管理知识转移研究仍处于被忽视的状态,主要原因在于战略管理知识的概念界定不清,以及实际研究中操作难度高。本文以跨国公司在华子公司为研究对象,对战略管理知识的概念进行了重新界定,提出知识质量这一新概念,并构建了战略管理知识的隐性和专有性特征对在华子公司战略目标实现的作用机制。对132家在华子公司进行实证研究,并结合中国独特的市场环境进行理论探讨与解释,研究结果表明：战略管理知识特征对在华子公司战略目标实现的直接影响由于知识质量与吸收能力中介作用的存在而减弱,在统计上不显著;隐性和专有性都对知识质量有显著正向影响,然而只有专有性对吸收能力存在显著正向影响。     

How organisations evaluate their knowledge management projects: a meta-study of the period 1992–2002

The key objective of this research was to develop an understanding of what organisations are measuring within the context of knowledge management (KM) evaluation. A comprehensive meta-analysis of international articles dealing with the evaluation of KM, Intellectual Capital and other closely related domains between the years 1992 and 2002 was undertaken. A total of 1539 articles reflected the search topic. A manual review of all abstracts resulted in a narrowed selection of 223 articles, sourced from 126 different journals. Data for 1992–1995 were rejected due to insufficient occurrences of empirical measurement. Content analysis with the use of the NUD^*IST^® software of the data resulted in 12 evaluation factors being identified. Four factors made up 72% of the study's findings: human capital, financial, process and customer. However, by charting the number of measures within each factor against each year from 1996 to 2002, some identifiable trends were highlighted. Financial, human capital, internal infrastructure and composite measures, such as the Balanced Scorecard, have grown in varying degrees in frequency of use, while customer, process, intellectual property, innovation and quality-related measures have gradually lost ground.     

Foreign tacit knowledge and a capabilities perspective on MNEs’ product innovativeness: Examining source-recipient knowledge absorption platforms

This study applies a capabilities perspective to examine how source-recipient knowledge absorption platforms affect the relationship between foreign tacit knowledge resource and multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) product innovativeness. Theoretically, this study moves beyond internal absorptive capacity into a capabilities perspective of MNEs’ product innovativeness. By using dynamic capabilities theory and absorptive capacity to frame source-recipient knowledge absorption platforms as dynamic capabilities, we build a model that enables the continued interaction between the tacit knowledge resource gained from foreign subsidiaries (source) and the focal (recipient) MNEs’ product innovativeness. For managerial implications, we focus on three organizational practices in terms of entrepreneurial competence, relationship harmony, and information communication technology (ICT) competence as potential enhancements to convert foreign tacit knowledge resource into MNEs’ product innovativeness.     

Information culture and records management: a suitable match? Conceptualizations of information culture and their application on records management

Good information and records management is assumed to promote organizational efficiency. Despite established management regimes and available technology, many organizations still consider information and records management challenging. The reason may be cultural factors. This study based on a literature review, aims to explore the academic discourse on information culture and to discuss its relevance for records management. The findings show that the concept information culture is used in various ways: as an explanatory framework; as an analytical and evaluative tool; or as normative standard. The research on information culture addresses several areas: business performance, systems implementation, the manifestation of information culture in different organizations, and a few concerns records management practices. The research settings and the objects of study varied, why general conclusions are difficult to draw, but often a positive correlation between culture and performance is assumed. The focus has been on how information is used, shared and disseminated, while the production and management, that is the vital object of records management, has with few exceptions been neglected. If information culture should fully function as an analytical framework concerning records management, a widened and more inclusive conceptualization is required, which also will enrich information culture as a theoretical concept.     

Issues in the management of embedded knowledge in project-based organizations: the project actor’s role

Knowledge management (KM) in project-based organizations has received substantial attention in recent years, as knowledge processes are insufficiently supported within the organization as a whole. This study specifically focuses on the project actor’s role in managing knowledge. From an actor’s perspective, the problems raised by knowledge embeddedness are identified as a key issue to link project knowledge and organizational knowledge. A conceptual framework is developed that addresses three different aspects of knowledge embeddedness: a relational dimension, a temporal dimension and a structural dimension. Three cases are studied, covering varying forms of organizations in different areas (a consulting firm, an R&D department and an industrial business unit). The results concerning the relational dimension indicate that project actors re-build the network of relationships supporting knowledge. Regarding the temporal dimension, and specifically in their professional field, actors frame professional knowledge related to their project experience. However, actors fail to surmount the problems raised by the structural dimension of knowledge embeddedness. The resulting recommendations for KM concern both Human Resource Management practices and organizational design.     

Academics engaging in knowledge transfer and co-creation: Push causation and pull effectuation?

Although academics are increasingly engaging with businesses, some fundamental aspects of this phenomenon (i.e., their motivations, decision-making approaches, and the interplay between the two) remain understudied. We therefore conducted a qualitative inductive study comprising 68 interviews with academics who had engaged in two forms of activities—knowledge transfer and co-creation. Whereas the entrepreneurship literature offers a resource-based argument, we made an original contribution to the literature by introducing an engagement-based argument in order to offer a more accurate prediction of the motivations and decision-making approaches of academics engaged in knowledge transfer and co-creation activities. We found that when the resource- and engagement-based arguments offer different predictions of the interplay between the motivations and decision-making approaches adopted, the cognitive proximity between academics and business researchers, which reflects whether the partners are from the same/different disciplines, resolves the puzzle. We captured these situational contingencies by developing six propositions that indicate how the engagement- and resource-based arguments jointly offer a more comprehensive explanation of the interplay. We discuss the implications of our findings with regard to how universities could offer customized training, rewards, and support structures based on the four types of interplay between the motivation and decision-making approaches.     

Knowledge management and ERP: Complementary or contradictory?

This research aims at deepening the understanding of the effects of information systems on supply chain operations, and to find the level and direction of the relationship between Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Knowledge Management (KM) in the context of operational and financial performance. Essentially, this study emphasizes the explanation of the complementary relationship between ERP and KM. Therefore, the mediating effect of KM is also analyzed. Using a survey method, 163 responses are collected from Turkish manufacturing companies which operate in a variety of industries. A structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to test both the reliability and validity of measurement and the structural path model. The results show that ERP has no significantly positive effect on operational performance, but it is a precedent of KM. Moreover, results also show that KM affects operational performance positively and it has a mediating effect for the relationship between ERP and operational performance. Lastly, the path analysis shows that operational performance is positively associated with financial performance.     

Information and knowledge assessment – Results from a multinational automotive company

This article reports the results from an information and knowledge assessment (IKA) to identify information and knowledge needs and, their coverage by information resources to derive recommendations for improvement and proposes a contingeny framework. The approach is based on a review of audit methods from information sciences and management, knowledge management and the engineering discipline and tested with data (N = 580) collected from the engineering domain within an automotive supplier over six European sites. The integrated assessment uses content needs profiles from two complementary perspectives, the coverage of needs by various internal information sources and data on awareness and usage of these information sources. The employment of content categories on a more granular analytical level than information systems sources opens up new possibilities to derive improvement measures and requirements for the design of information systems within an organization. The brief data-gathering instrument also reduces the required resources to implement this approach considerably overcoming weaknesses previously identified in case studies and the IA literature. It makes a contribution to research bridging the gap between research and practice and opens up options to design contingency frameworks for a specific domain.     

Multinational subsidiary knowledge protection—Do mandates and clusters matter?

International knowledge spillovers, especially through multinational companies (MNCs), have recently been a major topic of academic and management debate. However, most studies treat MNC subsidiaries as relatively passive actors. We challenge this assumption by investigating the drivers of knowledge protection intensity of MNC subsidiaries. We argue that knowledge protection intensity is determined by MNC subsidiary mandates and by opportunities and risks originating from the host region. We hypothesize that not just competence-creating but also competence-exploiting mandates increase knowledge protection intensity. In addition, technological cluster regions in the host country can be expected to provide opportunities for knowledge sourcing and MNC subsidiaries may be willing to protect knowledge less intensively to participate in cluster networks. We test our hypotheses using a dataset of 694 observations of 631 MNC subsidiaries in Germany and develop recommendations for research, managers and policy makers.     

Can a governance structure foster cluster ambidexterity through knowledge management? An empirical study of two French SME clusters

To identify how a governance structure leads to ambidexterity at the cluster level, in terms of knowledge management, this study draws on the knowledge -based view of clusters and on ambidexterity literature, thereby exploring an ‘intermediated’ cluster model of ambidexterity. Our aim is to explore the governance structure’s role and priorities in terms of knowledge management, as well as the underlying operational actions and programmes implemented to achieve cluster ambidexterity. Qualitative research, based on interviews with members of two French clusters, reveals that their governance structure is a crucial intermediary organisation that supports cluster ambidexterity. The results emphasise the role of governance structures for two types of ambidexterity in small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) clusters: First, SMEs may specialise in exploitative or exploratory knowledge, and the governance structure provides the missing knowledge (intermediated specialised model). Second, cluster governance may help each firm become ambidextrous (intermediated dual model). This study outlines the specificities of the two models and their contingency factors, which offer interesting implications, especially for policymakers devoted to innovation and clusters.