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.     

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.     

Knowledge of the natural and the social: how are they different and what do they have in common?

Knowledge of the natural and the social are irreducibly different yet have much in common. The differences lie at the levels of complexity they engage, modes of explanation they adopt, investigation aims they allow and whether they assert a ‘double hermeneutic’ effect to the behaviour of the studied objects. Knowledge are in common in that they are all construed out of available resources, justified based on the consequences of acting upon them, settled until better alternatives emerge, and serving as walking sticks for beating unknown paths in human life. Because of this, there can be no hierarchy of knowledge or unity of methodology, and dialogical encounters guided by situational ethics, not professional deafness driven by ontological/instrumental fallacies, are a viable strategy for morally and practically wise actions, including knowledge management projects.     

e-Government stakeholders—Who are they and what do they want?

There is an increasing recognition that various stakeholder groups for e-government have a significant role to play in ensuring the long-term success of the e-government enterprise. This article seeks to contribute to the understanding of the stakeholders’ multiple perspectives by proposing typologies of stakeholder roles, and stakeholder benefits, respectively, and embedding these in a stakeholder benefits analysis tool. A literature review is used to surface the diverse existing categorizations of e-government stakeholders and their interests and the benefits sought. This review informs a proposal for a typology of stakeholder roles, and for a typology of stakeholder benefits, which together are used to construct an initial proposal for a stakeholder benefits analysis tool (SBAT), which can be used to map stakeholder roles to stakeholder benefits. This tool has been tested by an expert group, and revised. This exploratory study is an important first step towards the development of tools and approaches for understanding the benefits sought by a wide range of different stakeholder groups in e-government. Progress in the development of such tools is important for the development of knowledge and practice, policy, and evaluation with respect to stakeholder engagement with, and participation in, e-government.     

Innovation intermediaries and collaboration: Knowledge–based practices and internal value creation

This paper analyses how knowledge-based practices adopted by innovation intermediaries enable them to generate value for themselves when collaborating with their clients. While the literature focuses on value creation for their client organisations, little is known about how innovation intermediaries create internal value even though this is essential for ensuring their long-term survival and sustaining their key facilitating role in the innovation system. This understudied issue is explored using empirical evidence from a sub-set of innovation intermediaries, Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs). The results indicate that by capitalising on existing knowledge vested in employees and collaborators as well as understanding and shaping the knowledge base of the innovation ecosystem, innovation intermediaries generate internal value from their involvement in collaborative innovation, which range from different financial to non-financial types of value. Implications for intermediaries, their collaborators and for policymakers are then discussed.     

At the Intersection of the Digital Divide and the Knowledge Gap: Do Knowledge Domains and Measures Matter?

This study reports on knowledge gain, examined through three separate measures (free recall, comprehension and recognition) among high- and low-education groups who used two types of news media (newspaper vs. online) to consume two kinds of news (public affairs vs. entertainment). Results (n = 123) confirm the knowledge gap and validate concerns about the digital divide. Yet three different knowledge acquisition measures generated dissimilar findings: strong education effects for free recall, strong media format effects for recognition, and strong interaction effects between education and media format for comprehension. The implications of these inconsistencies are considered for measuring knowledge gaps in future research.     

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.     

Wearable energy systems:what are the limits and limitations?

<正>The recent decade marks a sharp rise in wearable electronics with a market size approaching 100 billion USD.Along-side this boom in consumer wearable electronics,researchers have pursued,during the past 15 years,next-generation wearable electronics featuring thin,soft,conformal,flexible and stretchable form factors for application in advanced human-machine interaction and comprehensive sensing.     

What are species and how are they formed?OA

<正>In this issue of NSR,four papers address various aspects of speciation.The fifth one,to appear in the next issue,is on biodiversity and should ultimately be about speciation as well.As has always been the case in speciation research,the conclusion depends on what’species’are.This is true for Wang et al.[1] on post-speciation gene flow,Ma et al.[2] on hybridization speciation,Sun et al.[3] on sympatric speciation and Fan et al.[4]on species diversity.The conclusions would all be quite di...     

Knowledge generation and sharing in UK universities: A tale of two cultures?

As economies become more knowledge intensive it has become evident to most organizations that knowledge is a valuable resource. This is particularly true in academic organizations, which have the generation and dissemination of knowledge as their principal mission. This research assesses whether path-dependency exists in relation to cultural expectations of knowledge generation and sharing in knowledge intensive organizations. This paper adopts a constructivist approach facilitated by focus group discussions which were conducted in two UK universities, one Russell group university and the other a post-1992. Institutional culture and path dependency play a major role in the willingness of institutions to generate and share knowledge. Each institution exemplified a distinct path-dependency that underpinned cultural expectations but in each case internal and external factors were necessitating changes regarding knowledge sharing and generation which affected individual perspectives and organizational structures. The paper concludes by purporting that certain universities display critical junctures and cultural transformation in terms of knowledge generation, dissemination and sharing.     

Brand communities based in social media: How unique are they? Evidence from two exemplary brand communities

Understanding how brands should operate on social media is very important for contemporary marketing researchers and managers. This paper argues that due to the social and networked nature of social media it is an ideal environment for brand communities. Taking a deep qualitative approach and with analysis of a vast array of data, the article articulates the existence of brand communities on social media. More importantly, it delineates five unique and relevant dimensions of brand communities based in social media. The authors advise researchers to consider these dimensions while conducting research on brand communities and social media. Further implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.     

Knowledge,knowing, knower: what is to be managed and does it matter?

Knowledge Management Research & Practice - A knowledge management (KM) scope denotes our conception about what is relevant and useful, concerns what and how we are to manage, in KM. KM scopes...     

Knowledge co-creation across national boundaries: trends and firms’ strategies

This paper examines the role, patterns, and characteristics of knowledge co-creation in a cross-border context and develops a theoretical framework to guide empirical exploration of the value of cross-border knowledge. The empirical results reveal an upward trend in the share of cross-border knowledge and show that cross-border knowledge is of higher quality than within-border knowledge in terms of having more forward and backward citations, more claims, and a shorter technology cycle time. Our study also reveals pronounced differences in knowledge co-creation patterns between the triad regions: Japan, Europe and the United States. Moreover, the analysis of three cases, IBM, Hitachi, and Bayer, demonstrates that instead of focusing on conflicts of interest, such leading firms cooperate with foreign competitors to address technological challenges and opportunities, penetrate foreign markets, defend their positions, and advance technological innovations. Overall, our findings provide new evidence regarding the importance of cross-border knowledge co-creation.     

Information resource management: A question of attitudes?

Based on field work carried out in 71 manufacturing firms during 1986, a number of key personal factors influencing information behaviour are isolated. The implications of these factors for the take-up of information resource management ideas are examined.     

Inter‐firm Migration of Tacit Knowledge: Law and Policy1

Abstract

Much knowledge is diffused by the exchange of property rights in intangibles. But tacit knowledge, not being subject to property rights, is instead diffused by migration of knowledgeable individuals between firms. The law impacts significantly on this diffusion mechanism, in particular those rules that determine the use individuals may make of their tacit knowledge after migration to a different firm. The general principle underlying the relevant law is that individuals are free to migrate with all their tacit knowledge. Nonetheless there are some narrow exceptions to this principle. That these exceptions remain narrow and carefully policed by the courts is important because imposing too many restraints on use of tacit knowledge post‐term would have a negative impact on real innovation.     

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.     

Data aggregators,consumer data,and responsibility online: Who is tracking consumers online and should they stop?

The goal of this article is to examine the strategic choices of firms collecting consumer data online and to identify the roles and obligations of the actors within the current network of online tracking. In doing so, the focus shifts from placing the onus on individuals to make an informed choice, to justifying the roles and responsibilities of firms when gathering, aggregating, and using consumers' interests or behavior online. Firms online are uniquely positioned to undercut or to respect privacy expectations within three possible roles: as a member of a supply chain of information traders, within a network of surveillance online, and as an arm of law enforcement. These firms benefit from aggregating and analyzing consumer data and have an associated responsibility to not only minimize the harm to consumers but also to enact change where the firm is in the most knowledgeable and powerful position.     

Turnaround strategies of American and Japanese electronics corporations: How do they differ in formulating plans and achieving results?

Greater competitive and economic pressures have made corporate turnaround strategies critical to the survival of many high-technology international business organizations. The traditional differences between American and Japanese firms in the areas of human resources, production, finance, and marketing have recently appeared to converge on some common strategies employed to reverse an adverse corporate situation. American and Japanese high-technology firms are examined in terms of the antecedents, actions, and results of varying levels of turnaround strategy implementation. Survey responses from American and US subsidiaries of Japanese electronics firms illustrate that significant differences exist among levels of strategy implementation in assessing the need for a turnaround strategy, the actions taken to reverse an adverse situation, and the relative success of the actions. In addition to greater capacity utilization, low turnaround plans are generally enacted by redesigning the product or process, but successful high turnaround plans are implemented most often by gain sharing or profit sharing, as well as by eliminating unprofitable products. American firms achieve greater return on investment, operating profit margin, and cash flow, but lower sales growth and less unit labor cost improvement than Japanese corporations. These results are discussed for managerial insights into the strategy formulation process of international high-technology firms for successful competitive advantage.