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The successful launch of an innovative product or service is driven by an unexplored market opportunity or a technological breakthrough. Oftentimes, however, firms lack the necessary resource capabilities to exploit new market opportunities; alternately, markets may not exist for firms to successfully profit from technological breakthroughs. In other words, firms suffer from performance gaps between their market opportunities and their resource capabilities. In this study, we organize the growing literature on knowledge management to develop the concept of a knowledge value chain, which we characterize as the transformative engine by which a firm can close such performance gaps. In addition to motivating the framework through case studies and placing the existing research literature in knowledge management within this framework, we also identify several directions of future research.

PurposeKnowledge is a critical asset that places contractor organisations at a competitive advantage when they take part in competitive tendering. However, a dearth of literature exists on the mechanisms that contractor organisations can adopt to utilise knowledge to gain competitive advantage and win tenders through competitive tendering.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted an interpretive stance with a qualitative approach that comprised a literature review, 15 expert interviews and three case studies. The literature review and expert interview findings were used to develop an intermediate framework of knowledge value chain (KVC), while the case study findings were used to develop the final KVC framework with the intermediate framework as the basis.FindingsThe study developed, in three distinctive steps, a KVC framework based on Powell's (2001) KVC for use by the tendering divisions/units of contractor organisations employing quantity surveyors (QSs) to handle tendering work and to increase their chances of winning tenders.Originality/valueThe study developed a KVC framework for the use of contractor organisations to maximise their chances of winning tenders in the field of quantity surveying.

A traditional library’s functions are centered on library collection and information resources and their utilization. A library management system comprises resource acquisition, cataloguing, circulation, reading, and reference in respect of “literature streams.” Functionally, libraries have currently evolved into knowledge service centers, which are oriented toward knowledge, committed to knowledge innovation, and centered on the knowledge demands of users. Meanwhile, library management has also gradually shifted to focus on knowledge management. However, the applications of knowledge management are mainly limited to library services. It lacks innovative applications in internal management such as business flow and institutional settings. This article takes Peking University Library, one of the top-notch academic libraries in China, as a case study to explore this issue. Through restructuring its organization and re-setting its staff positions based on the “knowledge stream” as the core, the academic library intends to satisfy the knowledge demands of different types of users and create an environment in favor of knowledge flow and innovation. All of these efforts further support the development of the university.

In this paper we explicate the role of external knowledge search motives and host country context (local embeddedness) in driving different knowledge outcomes in offshoring. Drawing on the offshoring/offshore outsourcing literature, we develop a classification scheme based on different knowledge search motives (exploitation vs. exploration) and local embeddedness (low vs. deep). Utilizing this classification scheme, we discuss four important knowledge outcomes in offshoring: knowledge replication, refinement, renewal, and recombination. Additionally, we highlight how client-supplier relational governance, and offshoring knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) may accentuate the effectiveness of various knowledge outcomes and value creation potential.

Today many companies use technology-enabled social platforms such as online communities to improve knowledge sharing among their geographically separated employees. Given the increasing adoption of such technology, it is important to investigate if the technology actually breaks physical knowledge silos as it is intended, thereby enables employees to obtain previously unavailable solution to better serve their customers. We perform network analysis using unique time-series data from a global Fortune 500 consulting company to empirically examine whether an online knowledge community actually breaks traditional knowledge barriers. Our analysis reveals that subgroups of homogeneous employee emerge because employees tend to herd with their virtual and geographic neighbors. We further find that this herding behavior gradually fragments an online knowledge community in multiple dimensions (i.e., geography, knowledge domains). Our results offer insights into how to manage an online knowledge community as an emerging knowledge management platform for companies.

The purpose of this study is to compare the functions of the internal and external motivation dimensions during the process of minimizing and eliminating the intention to leave factor, which causes an increased employee turnover rate in the organization, to identify the dominant motivation dimension that creates a negative effect on the intention to leave and present administrative suggestions that will improve the organizational atmosphere of the employees based on the results to be obtained. Based on this purpose, data was collected from 334 workers actively working in Zonguldak Province by survey method. As a result of the performed correlation and simple linear regression analyses, it was determined that there was a significant negative relationship between the intention to leave and motivation dimensions and that internal motivation explains 20% and external motivation explains 8% of the intention to leave. It was also determined that a 1-unit increase in internal motivation resulted in a decrease of 0.417 units on the intention to leave and a 1 unit increase in external motivation caused a decrease of 0.153 units in the intention to leave that the dominant dimension of motivation is the internal motivation in terms of effect of lowering the employee turnover rate. Upon examining the difference analyses, internal motivation was found to be higher among employees with work experience of 4 years or more, married employees, employees with high income and public-sector employees.

Given the expanding knowledge base in cancer genomics, risk-based screening is among the promising avenues to improve breast cancer (BC) prevention and early detection at the population level. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the perceptions of healthcare professionals (HPs) regarding the implementation of such an approach and identify tools that can support HPs. After undertaking an in-depth thematic content analysis of the responses, 11 themes were identified. These were embedded into a logical model to distinguish the potential eligible participants (who?), the main clinical activities (how?) and associated tools (what?), the key factors of acceptability (which?), and the expected effects of the strategy (why?). Overall, it was found that the respondents positively welcomed the implementation of this strategy and agreed on some of the benefits that could accrue to women from tailored risk-based screening. Some important elements, however, deserve clarification. The results also highlight three main conditions that should be met to foster the acceptability of BC risk stratification: respecting the principle of equity, paying special attention to knowledge management, and rethinking human resources to capitalize on the strengths of the current workforce. Because the functioning of BC risk-based screening is not yet well defined, important planning work is required before advancing this organizational innovation, and outstanding issues must be resolved to get HPs on board.

Highlight the importance of the present study in developing a methodology for consideration in view of the expected contribution to clarifying the theoretical profile "for the operation management" in addition to its contribution to the transfer of the monuments of supporting regulatory dimensions and the technological information tools to the experimental field. Here is a modest contribution where there is a dire need for further research. Therefore, the research goals can be specified as attempt to explore scientific assets for theoretical concerns of the subject knowledge, tools, and strategies. (The contents of this effort aimed at establishing a new understanding of the meaning of knowledge management contents of organizational knowledge dimensions and its operational tools).

The present work assumes the concepts of organizational learning and knowledge management are related, although not identical. Through literature review, we provide clarification on the specificities of each conceptual construct: even if the basic processes and objectives of knowledge management and organizational learning are mutual, we contend that knowledge management refers to a conceptual construct which primarily focuses on knowledge content, while organizational learning entails all aspects of data, information and knowledge. So, clear differences can be presented when comparatively analysing such conceptual constructs, which we summarized into five distinctive core vectors, operating at the level of the conceptual approach (interest of academics vs. interest of practitioners), the goal (process vs. result), the scope (system vs. subsystem), the agents (individual level vs. collective level) and the products (individual memory vs. organizational memory). Nonetheless, based on the common elements vividly detected, shared purposes are identified, once such notions jointly thrive towards enhanced information and knowledge that allow organizational behaviours, impelling on superior organizational performance, objectives which guide the solidification and the expansion of a knowledge value chain model able to incorporate and objectivize the basis for a framework towards the progress in knowledge management programs and in the enhancement of a learning organization.

This study proposes a novel research model to investigate the neglected and pivotal mediating role of knowledge-worker productivity between knowledge management processes (knowledge generation, knowledge sharing, and knowledge application) and innovation. The data were collected from the 369 knowledge workers in the IT sector of Pakistan and analyzed using the SmartPLS 3 Version 26. The results indicate that knowledge-worker productivity mediates between two knowledge management processes (knowledge creation and knowledge utilization) and innovation. However, surprisingly, it does not mediate between knowledge sharing and innovation. The results support the pivotal role of knowledge-worker productivity-the most striking challenge for the management discipline in the 21st century-in knowledge-based innovation. Moreover, the results signify the overarching role of the human and cultural approach to knowledge management over the Big Data and IT and system-based approaches.

The present study aims to empiricaly demonstrate the viability and benefits of an awareness-based approach to diversify knowledge between potential learning partners. Groups of four learners studied lesson material on biology. After a knowledge test, the groups were to form collaborative learning dyads. Based on the test, a novel knowledge discrepancy calculation tool discerned group configurations with maximal and minimal discrepancies in knowledge between potential learning partners. In the experimental condition, groups were made aware of the results of this calculation; in the control condition, groups were asked to form dyads absent any additional guidance. The significant majority of groups in the experimental condition formed dyads with maximal knowledge discrepancy between partners. The majority of groups in the control condition formed dyads based on factors unrelated to learning. We anticipated that in dyads with discrepant knowledge, partners will be better able to fill each other's knowledge gaps. Although a significant difference between conditions did not transpire, there was a significant correlation between knowledge discrepancy and learning gain across conditions. The implications of these findings for effective learning group organization are discussed; implementation of the calculation tool in classrooms and MOOCs is proposed.

This paper contributes the economics of knowledge and innovation with the analysis of the knowledge cost function and sheds light on the determinants of the large variance in the cost of innovation across firms. The amount and the structure of external knowledge and the internal stocks of knowledge that firms can access and use in the generation of new technological knowledge help firms to reduce the costs of innovations. The empirical section is based upon a panel of companies listed on UK and the main continental Europe financial markets (Germany, France and Italy) for the period 1995 – 2006, for which information about patents have been gathered. The econometric analysis of the costs of knowledge considers the unit costs of patents on the right hand side, and on the left hand side next to R&D expenditures, the stock of knowledge internal and external to each firm. In order to articulate the different facets of the external knowledge that is made accessible by proximity with firms co-localized in the same region (NUTS2), we further include other variables proxying for regional variety, complementarity and similarity. The results confirm that the stock of internal knowledge and the access to external knowledge play a key role in reducing the actual cost of the generation of new technological knowledge at the firm level.

Our article addresses the question how to assess and measure the value or price of knowledge, and probes the issue from a variety of social scientific and practical perspectives. Against the background of a sociological concept of knowledge, economic, political, social, and juridical perspectives that may lead to a price of knowledge are discussed. We observe that knowledge is seen to play an ever greater role within as well as across economies and politics; that its embodiment makes it difficult to divorce it from its carriers; and that knowledge is deeply entrenched in questions of social relations and stratification. As such, it is cannot be captured in a straightforward manner, especially given the persistent stand-off between its individual, economic, and public relevancies and benefits. A simple arithmetic of the price of knowledge fails.

The knowledge value chain has multiple stakeholders such as researchers and policy-makers. These are conventionally knowledge producers and knowledge users, respectively. Knowledge producer...

Knowledge Management is gaining momentum and organizations look towards knowledge management for improving the individual capacity of employees. Knowledge creation is a continual process and effective management and creation of new knowledge is an integral part of any organization. Organizations should provide an environment to nurture and create new knowledge. This paper explores the knowledge creation practices and how does it influence the work performance of employees. Research model has been developed to determine the impact of knowledge creation on work performance of employees and to understand which of four knowledge creating ‘ba's has a greater impact on work performance. The research revealed that of the four ‘ba's, dialoguing ba showed significant impact on work performance, thus illustrating that most of new knowledge created is mainly through dialogues and interaction among employees. The study further discusses how the organizations can develop the enabling context and conditions for creation new knowledge.

How should digital platforms engage with and invest in their online communities to shape innovation and knowledge contributions from members in their platform ecosystems? This is an important question because user contributions are important drivers of technological progress and business value. We examine the effect of platform sponsors’ investments in online communities on user knowledge contributions, using fine-grained longitudinal data from a leading enterprise software vendor’s community network. We focus on the sponsor practice of knowledge seeding, in which its employees provide free technical support by answering questions posted in discussion forums. We define user knowledge contribution as peer-evaluated, quality-weighted solutions that community members provide to help resolve the questions their peers raise. We show that the platform sponsor’s investments in knowledge seeding have a positive, significant association with user knowledge contribution. We also find temporal and geographical variations in returns on the sponsor’s knowledge investments. Specifically, returns (i.e., amount of user contribution that is stimulated) decrease with the age of the community, consistent with the observation that the most active contributors are lead users who tend to join the community early. In addition, returns vary across different countries, such that greater returns are realized when the investment is made in countries with higher levels of information technology (IT) infrastructure, partly because country-level IT infrastructure may be associated with greater absorptive capacity of these countries. We discuss the implications for research and practice.

In the past decade, the number of knowledge networking platforms has been rapidly increasing, in part to support data intensive and cross-disciplinary research in growing fields such as health and life sciences. To promote knowledge sharing, it is important to understand why scientists want to or hesitate to share knowledge with other research communities. We examined five determining factors (reciprocal benefit, anticipated relationship, reputation, altruism and fear of being scooped) that impact scientists' intention to share explicit and implicit knowledge and built a predictive research model. The proposed model was then evaluated using partial least squares (PLSs) method against 141 valid survey responses. The results suggested that reciprocal benefit and fear of being scooped were significant in affecting implicit and explicit knowledge sharing behavior in health and life sciences research communities. Reputation had a main effect on scientists' intention to share explicit knowledge and anticipated relationship had an effect on scientists intention to share implicit knowledge. However, altruism showed no main effects on knowledge sharing. We concluded by discussing strategies, derived from analyzing our survey data, to assist user experience practitioners in designing and promoting knowledge networking support in complex scientific domains. This study examines the factors that affect knowledge sharing behavior in health and life sciences research communities.Two types of knowledge are considered; implicit knowledge and explicit knowledge.Reciprocal benefit and fear of being scooped are critical in explicit and implicit knowledge sharing behavior.Anticipated relationship influences one's implicit knowledge sharing behavior.Reputation affects one's explicit knowledge sharing behavior.

Purpose Knowledge management (KM) is the central know how for the construction industry. However, the delivery of construction projects is often plagued by schedule delays and cost overruns due to lack of working knowledge of project personnel. Hence, the need to appraise the practices of knowledge management in the construction industry has become all the more germane. This paper aims to determine the awareness of KM practices in Malaysia-based construction small and medium enterprises, and to investigate the benefits, tools and techniques, and challenges associated with knowledge management implementation so that effective measures can be devised to address them. Design/methodology/approach The research data were gathered using a structured questionnaire survey disseminated in the Klang Valley region in Malaysia. Responses were collected from 107 industry practitioners. The quantitative data are subjected to descriptive statistics, and the ranking with category of significance of the hypothesised variables is determined using the relative importance index (RII) technique. Findings The key benefits of KM practices are predominantly raising efficiency, quality, productivity and decision-making. The most preferred KM techniques are “face-to-face interaction”, “mentoring” and “documents and reports”. The highly significant tools are “groupware” and “telephone”. The major organisational issue hampering the implementation of knowledge management practices is “lack of motivation” while the critical cultural issue is relating to “bureaucracy and hierarchical”, and the vital people issue concerns “lack of trust”. Research limitations/implications The respondents were limited to only small and medium construction enterprises located in the Klang Valley region in Malaysia, which makes generalisation challenging. Practical implications KM provides not only a pragmatic but also a proactive approach to raising the competitive edge and capabilities of a construction company. Identification of the critical attributes of KM provides the basis for project managers in formulating KM strategies to enhance the chances of successful delivery of future projects. Originality/value The study contributes to the debate on the knowledge agenda in the construction industry, particularly from a fast developing economy’s perspective, where an effective KM can further contribute to realising a reasonable level of competitiveness operation.

Effective knowledge management practices in organizations are focused on knowledge creation and knowledge transfer activities. Thus, intelligence and competencies matters at the organizational workplace. For most knowledge intensive organizations is fundamental the continuous availability and development of domain expertise. This paper describes an ongoing research project to develop an organizational knowledge architecture that is being specified and developed to support collaboration tasks as well as design and model predictive data analysis and insights for organizational development. The primary goal of this research is to create a suitable architecture for use, initially, in intranet (corporate portal) collaborative procedures, but also scalable for later use in more generic forms of ontology-driven knowledge management systems. The designed architecture and functionalities aim to create coherent web data layers for intranet learning and predictive analysis, defining the vocabulary and semantics for knowledge sharing and reuse projects. Regarding intellectual capital definition, this research argues that effective knowledge management are based on the dynamic nature of the organizational knowledge, and predictive data analysis and insights identification can transform and add value to an organization. This paper presents a knowledge management and engineering perspective (ontology based) for the application of predictive analysis and insights at the organizational (corporate) workplace towards the development of the organizational learning network.

Purpose Though online communities offer unprecedented opportunities to involve people in knowledge sharing, the reasons why users would like to participate in those activities in online communities have still been under-explored. In this research, the authors aim to use the value co-creation theory to build and test a continuance usage model, which focuses more on experiential values resulted from the knowledge sharing behavior. Design/methodology/approach An integrative research model is built to investigate how knowledge sharing behavior affects users’ co-creation value and then drives their continuance usage in online communities. Online survey data collected from 239 Sina Microblog users in China are utilized to validate the proposed model and hypotheses. Findings Empirical results indicate that the knowledge sharing behavior helps improve users’ co-creation value, including customer learning value, social integrative value and hedonic value. This co-creation value can subsequently affect users’ future participation intention in online communities. Originality/value This paper seeks to fill the research gap by examining customers’ motivations or perceptions underlying their knowledge sharing behavior at the usage-stage, instead of the pre-usage stage mainly concentrated on by previous studies. The managerial implications can be utilized for policy making to encourage customers’ participation and operate a better online community.

Purpose Project knowledge in the construction context needs to be disseminated within organisations to improve organisations’ performance and learning. Much of project knowledge is tacit, residing in social interactions in team relationships, and likely to be disseminated through social networks and processes within organisations. Social capital comprises both the network of strong personal relationships and the knowledge resources that may be mobilised through that network. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of “networks” in disseminating project knowledge within the construction organisations in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach The case study research method was used to investigate the research problem. The principal data collection technique used was semi-structured interviews. Content analysis, tables and cognitive maps were used to analyse data. Findings The findings revealed that strong network ties created with equal interaction of project and head office (H/O) individuals, frequent connectivity and much closer relationships enhance the flexibility of sharing project knowledge. The available invisible informal social networks within project and H/O individuals play a key role in disseminating project knowledge compared to business networks. Originality/value This research offers useful implications for construction organisation, in particular, to pay careful attention to nurture networks within their organisations in order to benefit from disseminating project knowledge widely within the organisations for effective re-use in future.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to propose a framework for developing standards for knowledge management education programs from primary through tertiary levels. The lack of standards for knowledge management education is a significant challenge for the advancement of the field, for the sustainability of institutional programs, the future competencies of knowledge workers and the effective growth of knowledge organizations. Design/methodology/approach The research adopts and adapts the framework and methodology used to establish educational standards in computer science. The framework is presented as a focal point for discussion across the profession. Nine strands are derived from historical treatment of the discipline. Seven levels of learning are identified. Learning goals and objectives are developed for each level. Findings The research suggests that a lifelong learning model is definable for the field of knowledge management, just as it has been for other disciplines. The progressive learning model may produce high school graduates who are better prepared for knowledge work, a larger population of knowledge practitioners and professionals prepared to support and lead knowledge organizations and increased quantities and improved quality of knowledge management research. Finally, the progressive learning model may generate a new and increased demand for lifelong learning opportunities in the field of knowledge management. Research limitations/implications The research is intended as a focal point for discussion and review by knowledge management professionals and particularly educators around the globe. The research represents an important stage of development, but adoption is the final stage of this research. Originality/value While this research draws upon established theories and practices in the field, and learning frameworks from other domains, the context and the research results are unique.

People use social media to help them solve problems and enhance performance. Users may engage in diverse social interactions online, increasing their knowledge base through both weak and strong tie...

The ability to access and exploit knowledge resources is one of the key challenges for today’s multinational corporations (MNCs). However, there is still a lack of consensus about the exact nature of the role played by culture in affecting knowledge transfer in multinational contexts. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the dynamics of national culture influence an organization operating in a cross-cultural business environment and how the company can benefit from cultural differences. We focused on a holistic single case study, the Generali Group, by performing content analysis of the evidence collected with qualitative coding techniques. We propose a framework, based on the integration of intercultural competences and the use of specific knowledge facilitation mechanisms, which allows knowledge to spread in a more easy and fluid way in multinational environments and supports MNCs in reconciling the knowledge transfer dilemma.

Industry is faced with increased challenges relating to transferring knowledge due to the complex nature of the manufacturing process. This paper is part of a comprehensive research study to develop a knowledge transfer model for improving productivity. Although knowledge management research generally flourishes, few investigations have been made into the transfer of knowledge in the cable industry. A questionnaire survey was therefore conducted with a total of 135 respondents. Taking the view that cable systems are a production processes, this paper develops a conceptual framework for improving the productivity rate, and affords a preliminary validation. Not much research has surveyed this concept of knowledge transfer in the manufacturing sector. The findings will therefore add to the existing body of knowledge and improve the productivity ratio in cable firms. The model suggests that management can create a working environment which promotes knowledge transfer which requires a large amount of interacti...

PurposeThe purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the relevance and impact of knowledge in the context of Uruguay’s present and future socioeconomic development through the lens of the knowledge-based theory of the firm (KBTF).Design/methodology/approachThe perspectives of 47 key informants, predominantly representatives of public and private Uruguayan institutions, including chambers of commerce and producer associations, were gathered through unstructured, face-to-face interviews.FindingsAligned with the KBTF, the significance of tacit knowledge, complemented with explicit knowledge, was revealed, particularly in the more traditional industries. Indeed, industry-based (tacit) knowledge evolving for generations has been strengthened by innovative practices, enhancing the appeal and image of key commodities and the nation’s exports. Additional elements highlighted in the KBTF, such as problem-solving, knowledge integration and application and knowledge specialisation, were identified.Originality/valueEssentially, the study highlights the different associations between the KBTF, the various forms of acquiring knowledge (tacit, explicit), innovation and resulting impacts on food quality and increased product recognition for a developing economy. Moreover, the findings, which illustrate that crucial improvements can be achieved through knowledge-based approaches, could also be considered in the context of other emerging economies that are aiming to attain further socioeconomic development through maximising the benefits of knowledge. In addition, the study addresses a theme that has been sporadically presented in the academic literature, especially when studying developing economies and their industries.

Purpose A multinational corporation (MNC) looking to locate within a cluster is mainly interested in gaining access to scarce and highly valuable tacit knowledge. The transfer of such resources first requires sharing a certain degree of architectural and component knowledge. The social, organizational, cultural, institutional, technological, and physical distances between a MNC and the new subsidiary, as well as its local partners, offer a good indication of the way the architectural and technological knowledge is shared. The purpose of this paper is to examine the transfer of systemic technological expertise (component tacit knowledge) that is incorporated into organizational practices (architectural knowledge). Design/methodology/approach The mathematical expression of localization performance is inferred from a conceptual research that formulates hypotheses regarding the impact of these variables on knowledge transfer. The MNC chooses its location in such a way as to maximize this performance. Findings This research contributes to a better understanding of how knowledge transfer effects may interact with local effects, while explaining a subsidiary’s performance with regard to location. Research limitations/implications In order to apply this model, one would need to numerically compute the variables of this model and the performance in order to obtain a numerical estimation of the variables, by the econometric methods, which intervenes in the performance. Then one could use this numerical expression of the performance as a specific criterion of localization. Indeed it would be sufficient to evaluate both architectural and component knowledge which could be exchanged as well as different distances and the motivation for each of possible localizations and to select the one which gives the maximal numerical value for the performance. Practical implications The authors deduced from the mathematical model a simple decisional criterion for a manager in search of an optimal location. Originality/value This research provides an interpretation of the concept of knowledge embeddedness by showing that the effective transfer of architectural and component knowledge involves the prior sharing of a certain amount of this knowledge.

Purpose The aim of this study is to provide some important insights for knowledge stickiness from the perspective of the characteristic of knowledge and the people engaged in the knowledge transfer. It proposes an empirical model about factors that influence knowledge stickiness. Design/methodology/approach Based on knowledge-based view (KBV), this paper systematically elaborated the research model, and then conducted a survey to test the hypotheses. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews in R&D team of knowledge-intensive firms in China. The empirical results generally support the proposed hypotheses. Findings The paper provides empirical insights about how the knowledge transfer willingness, transfer ability, knowledge residence, knowledge articulability and absorption ability affect the knowledge stickiness in the process of knowledge transfer in R&D team. Research limitations/implications This paper provides guidelines about how firms should optimally respond to knowledge stickiness in knowledge transfer process practically. Practical implications The proposed framework helps to understand what factors impact knowledge stickiness in R&D teams. Furthermore, the research also provides guidelines about how firms should optimally respond to knowledge stickiness in knowledge transfer process practically from both aspects of characteristics of knowledge itself and people involved in knowledge transfer. Originality/value This study, grounded on KBV, constructs a countermeasure model of weakening knowledge stickiness, which contributes to an understanding of factors leading to the success or failure of knowledge transfer. It eventually theoretically extends the KBV of the firm and commits to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of knowledge transfer practically.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze knowledge integration in manufacturing technology development projects required to build competitive advantages.Design/methodology/approachA longitudinal case study has been conducted at a Swedish manufacturing company by following a manufacturing technology development project in real time during a two-year period.FindingsThe results show that three different knowledge integration processes exist when developing unique manufacturing technology: processes for capturing, for joint learning, and for absorb learning. The findings of the current research suggest that the three knowledge integration processes are highly interrelated with each knowledge integration process affecting the other two.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitation of the research is primarily associated with the single case, which limits generalizability outside the context that was studied.Practical implicationsThe findings are particularly relevant to manufacturing engineers working with the development of new manufacturing technologies. By using relevant knowledge integration processes and capabilities required to integrate the knowledge in manufacturing technology development projects, companies can improve design and organize the development of manufacturing technology.Originality/valuePrevious research has merely noted that knowledge integration is required in the development of unique manufacturing technology, but without explaining how and in what way. This paper’s contribution is the identification and analysis of three knowledge integration processes that contribute to the building of competitive advantages by developing unique manufacturing technology and new knowledge.

Purpose During this current era of the knowledge economy, knowledge activities have greatly impacted manufacturing activities, with knowledge being treated as a critical factor that creates and sustains competitive advantages. Past studies tended to relate knowledge works with organizational tasks and assumed that knowledge workers implement those tasks to achieve organizational goals. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to employ the perspective of task domain as the basis to clarify the impact of manufacturing task domains on the manufacturing strategy, as well as the mediating effects of knowledge advantage on such an impact. Design/methodology/approach The authors follow Becerra-Fernandez and Sabherwal’s (2001) task which focus/task breadth dichotomy as the basis to define market-based task domains, employs Leonard-Barton’s (1995) T-shaped skill as the theoretical base to construct knowledge advantages, i.e., knowledge depth (I-shaped skill), diversity (hyphened skill), and convergence (T-shaped skill), and uses the conventional typology to measure the manufacturing strategy (i.e. cost, quality, flexibility, and delivery). The empirical study is conducted via a questionnaire survey and selects Taiwan’s top 600 manufacturers as the population and accordingly collects 131 effective observations. Findings The empirical evidence indicates that firms’ priorities on cost and delivery are positively caused by the focus orientation of the tasks, while their priorities on quality and flexibility are positively caused by both focus and diversity orientations of the tasks. The results also signify that knowledge advantages perform complete mediation on the previous relationships. In more detail, knowledge depth presents mediation on focus orientation, and knowledge convergence exhibits mediating effects both on focus and breadth orientations. The statistics point out that knowledge depth has the highest impact on the manufacturing strategy, but knowledge diversity fails to significantly explain the manufacturing strategy. Originality/value Literature assumed that knowledge activities are task-driven issue; this study hence examines knowledge advantage based on the task domain perspective to clarify the architecture and contents of knowledge advantages.

The process of knowledge creation is continuous and has dynamic interactions amid tacit and explicit knowledge which generates a substantial context. This paper is aimed to establish a technology-based virtual knowledge ba, which enables the combination of an open flow of diverse knowledge and thus leads to the creation of more knowledge. A case study which focuses on a Ford car dealer is presented in order to identify how these IT tools work as a virtual interactive place on the website to affect the process of knowledge creation via the SECI modes and ba. The virtual knowledge ba creates the opportunity for participants to work together in a creative place (e.g. in a community or an enterprise) for an organization which desires to promote knowledge creation on the website, in addition to proceed with the implementation of knowledge management systems to escalate the corporate knowledge management and improve the organization’s competitiveness effectively.

Despite significant advances in requirements engineering, the problem of eliciting the appropriate and correct requirements persists, partly due to the difficulties to transfer and transform knowledge. In this paper, the final revised version of a requirements elicitation strategy based on a full knowledge management perspective is presented. We assume that a knowledge management perspective is a useful approach for addressing certain inherent problems of requirements elicitation; especially in domains characterized by informal and unstructured information and where domain specialists use large amounts of tacit knowledge to solve everyday situations. Our motivation is to give competitive advantage to any business that faces the challenge of eliciting requirements to design products, find solutions or structure its own valuable knowledge. The promising results of applying the strategy to different real case studies provide empirical insights about the usefulness and value of the strategy.

Best-in-class organizations recognize that knowledge management provides a competitive advantage. Opportunities to share knowledge enhance knowledge sharing attitudes. Organizations use training to...

In scientific discourse, opinions exist about the passing of knowledge management. These voices are incompatible with an argument that, in the era of knowledge-based economies, organizations need to be moving towards this concept of knowledge management. Such divergence requires examination. Hence, this paper presents the findings of a thorough literature review aiming to examine how widespread knowledge management solutions have been adopted in organizations as well as to identify the traits that define a knowledge worker. Also, the paper identifies the relationship between knowledge management and human resource management in the context of supporting knowledge workers. A critical analysis of literature together with theoretical conclusions are the main research methods used. The article is the basis for further empirical verification of the problem. The results indicate that the implementation of knowledge management can be a trend without formal acknowledgment. Thus, without obvious intention, the organization implements a management method that fulfills the premises of knowledge management. This paper presents an interpretation of knowledge management that invalidates the passing of this knowledge field

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate knowledge replication-imitation speed differentials in the context of patents as the target knowledge. Design/methodology/approach This study analyzes patent citations in the electric digital data processing class employing an accelerated failure-time model. Findings This study finds that replicators can turn the private aspect of knowledge into an advantage against imitators with respect to the speed of knowledge transfer, even after the knowledge is codified in a patent. Specifically, being a replicator provides no knowledge transfer speed advantage over imitators. Instead, a joint consideration of knowledge characteristics and organizational boundaries is necessary when explaining knowledge replication-imitation speed differentials. Thus, “organizational advantage” in knowledge transfer is knowledge characteristic-specific rather than general. Originality/value This study illuminates the differential effects of organizational boundaries on knowledge transfer by investigating both replication and imitation in conjunction with each other, which has been a weakness in previous studies. This study also investigates knowledge transfer speed, another void in extant research.

Previous research into regional innovation clusters has argued that high technology clusters exchange primarily technological knowledge in developing innovations. In this paper, I propose that high technology innovation clusters will include technological knowledge but also may include two other types of knowledge. Drawing from market pull research, I examine the role of market knowledge and then I introduce the concept of managerial knowledge to regional innovation clusters research. I propose that the communication of different kinds of knowledge between organisations – through formal and informal ties – creates different knowledge flows that produce different types of networks. To explore these arguments, I analyse whole-network data for 56 electronic information firms in a Dongguan, China cluster. Specifically, I identify and illustrate these different knowledge networks for a focal company, analyse the resulting network structures for each type of knowledge, and explore which actors in the ne...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of absorptive capacity, learning motivation and acquired knowledge on knowledge transfer from business schools to business organizations, as it has been realized that in-service training business students can serve as a channel as well as a source in this type of knowledge transfer. The study also examines the mixed moderating role of job autonomy in the relationship between acquired knowledge and knowledge transfer. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 344 in-service training business students in Vietnam was surveyed to collect data. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the measures, and structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings The findings reveal that absorptive capacity positively affects acquired knowledge but it does not have an effect on knowledge transfer. Learning motivation, however, has positive effects on both acquired knowledge and knowledge transfer. The findings also indicate that acquired knowledge is a determinant of knowledge transfer. Finally, job autonomy plays the role of a mixed moderator in the relationship between acquired knowledge and knowledge transfer. Practical implications This study signals the participating parties –business schools, business organizations and in-service training business students –that absorptive capacity, learning motivation, acquired knowledge and job autonomy are critical to the transfer of knowledge from business schools to business organizations. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on university-to-industry knowledge transfer by providing empirical evidence for key determinants of knowledge transfer from business schools to business organizations through a new channel of knowledge transfer – in-service training business students.