Absorptive capacity: a proposed operationalization

The concept of absorptive capacity has already been considerably studied from a theoretical perspective, but few, if any, attempts at operationalizing the concept have been studied in ways that would allow its full assessment. The more specific focus provided by the four dimensions identified in some recent literature – acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation – opens up some promising avenues for operationalizing the concept. This exploratory research studies and describes case studies of ten innovative companies using a cross-sectional research design. In the first part of the article, we re-examine the concept of absorptive capacity in terms of dynamic capabilities and provide a review of the relevant literature. The second part describes the work accomplished to operationalize the concept of dynamic capability and analyses the possible relationship between the business strategies adopted by the companies studied and their particular strategic capacity.     

Strategy development based on intangibles in SMEs – an integrated approach

The approach in this paper is based on the principles of action research and rapid prototyping. The paper shows the current status of a ‘bottom-up’ research process dedicated to continuously developing and improving management instruments that suit the requirements of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): pragmatic, easy-to-use and generating direct practical benefit. As a result, this paper links the concept of intangibles to the practical strategy development process in SMEs. The integration shown concerns several challenges: (1)?Integrate the internal and external perspective on intangibles, and, by that, link the concept of intellectual capital (IC) as a resource-based view with the concept of customer value as a market-based view. (2)?Integrate the theoretical concept of IC with a methodology for comprehensive strategy development. (3)?Integrate the formulation and implementation of business strategies taking into account the actual practice in SMEs.     

Towards an econophysics view of intellectual capital dynamics: from self-organized criticality to the stochastic frontier

The paper begins with research studying the concept and nature of Intellectual Capital (IC), as well as how close IC firms are to the stochastic frontier. Then basic concepts of complexity theory – such as agents, self-organized criticality (SOC), connectivities, fractals, and power laws (PLs) – are used to distinguish between two kinds of IC firms’ success: traditional SOC applications to how firms maintain their position in a changing industry vs. how an IC firm (such as Apple) creates a new stochastic frontier. The research sets up PLs as indicators of whether or not firms and industries are SOC-effective and includes propositions about: (1) How IC firms benefit from complexity dynamics and SOC; (2) How PL distributions are indicators of efficacious SOC and adaptivity; and (3) Why IC attributes serve to create more transient dynamics pertaining to the stochastic frontier and the rest of the industry's rank/frequency distribution.     

Managing Indian IT professionals for global competitiveness: the role of human resource practices in developing knowledge and learning capabilities for innovation

Little is known about how human resource practices contribute towards the competitiveness of people based-knowledge intensive organisations in developing countries. This paper examines the role of human resource practices in developing knowledge and learning capabilities for innovation in the Indian information technology services sector. The study draws from the experience of a sample of 11 of the largest information technology service providers (ITSPs) in India and is based on in-depth interviews. The main finding suggests that the talent management architecture of ITSPs that comprises human resource practices and the development of knowledge and learning capabilities is the main drivers of innovation. A conceptual framework showing the link between human resource practices, knowledge and learning capabilities and innovation of ITSPs is developed followed by the limitations of the study and avenues for future research.     

Knowledge creating theory in retrospect and prospect

Knowledge creating theory has become one of the major frameworks used widely in the fields of knowledge management and other management studies. However, the knowledge creating theory was not just simply a made-in-Japan theory. It has emerged from a series of English and Japanese publications. Therefore, research questions and arguments in this study are identified and reviewed to portray the development of knowledge creating theory and to synthesise their arguments with organisational and managerial studies. This article reviews the content and process of the knowledge creating theory along with discussions from different streams in management and organisation studies. The result of this study sheds light on how the knowledge creating theory developed as well as perceiving its future development.