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Purpose – This paper aims to find and rank the barriers of the four knowledge management (KM) processes including generation, storage, distribution and application in the gas and petroleum sector. Design/methodology/approach – Reviewing the literature of KM and organizational learning, this paper extracted all of the barriers which impede KM processes. Then it designed a questionnaire for validating, ranking and categorizing barriers. Totally, 190 completed questionnaires were gathered from 26 gas and petroleum companies in Iran. Some statistical tests such as T, Friedman, Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney were used for analyzing data. Findings – Findings reviewed the current literature of KM barriers, validated and ranked the barriers of knowledge generation, storage, distribution and application separately. The importance of knowledge generation and knowledge application barriers were significantly different between gas and petroleum companies. Hence they were disjointedly ranked for gas and petroleum. Finally, KM barriers were ranked according to their contribution to KM processes and the average mean of their importance in KM processes. Practical implications – From the practical point of view, this paper suggests managers of gas and petroleum companies to emphasize solving high-priority barriers according to the KM process which they are focused on. Furthermore, the study provides a checklist that can be used as an assessment tool for evaluating KM processes considering barriers. Originality/value – This paper finds the importance of each barrier for each of the four KM processes and ranks the “critical barriers” according to their contribution to four KM processes in the gas and petroleum sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the impact of the overall strategic posture of the firm on the choice of entry mode into a foreign market. This framework identifies three underlying strategies—internationalization, growth, and business—that exert a powerful influence on the choice of an international joint venture as a means of achieving an organization's goals in a global market. After conceptualizing the different types of strategies and analyzing empirical cases, we develop an ordinal logistic regression model to examine the Spanish manufacturing sector for the 2000–2002 period. The results show that firms prefer an international joint venture over a wholly owned subsidiary when developing multidomestic and cost leadership strategies. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Este trabajo pretende estudiar la influencia que tiene la distancia cultural y el riesgo país en la decisión sobre la modalidad de entrada de la empresa, para ello se realiza una revisión de los trabajos empíricos desarrollados hasta el momento. Se procede a la revisión de los diferentes conceptos que aluden a la distancia cultural hasta llegar a una definición integradora. De igual manera, se delimita el compendio de variables que integran la distancia cultural para identificar las variables que deberá controlar la empresa en su proceso de internacionalización. Finalmente presentamos los estudios realizados que defienden diferentes correlaciones entre la distancia cultural y la modalidad de entrada para presentar un enfoque integrador que utiliza la variable riesgo país como moderadora de la decisión final adoptada por la empresa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discussion with respect to whether there exists a relationship between diversification strategies and a firm's business results has been the subject of abundant analysis in the specialized literature on the subject. The aim of this work is to analyze the theoretical evidence that exists on this relation, by way of an ample revision of the most important studies that have dealt with the question; at the same time emphasizing the most relevant conclusions that have been reached. Lastly, after revising the literature previously mentioned, this study's proposals are presented; as also a chart that synthesizes the different studies that have been made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to firstly analyze the forms of measurement of corporate diversification through a comparative analysis of existing measures and secondly, to understand the motivations of Spanish manufacturing companies to perform relational diversification. To this end, a preliminary literature review on forms of measurement was conducted and then, two theories were studied: The Theory of Industrial Economy and the Theory of Resources and Capabilities. These theories provided a solid foundation for explaining why companies diversify to related markets. To test the model, data was obtained from a database that contains information about the Survey of Managerial Strategies (ESEE), for the period between 1991 and 2002. Binomial logistic regression was performed on a complete set of observations of diversified manufacturing companies. The results of the study showed that industrial concentration, industrial profitability, and intangible assets are factors that determine company diversification toward related markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present business landscape, relations between firms are one of the most valuable assets. This work points out the main agents to which firms are related, and which build up their relational capital. This proposal highlights the gathering of agents in different levels; one of them constituted by the relations with customers, suppliers, partners, and investors; and the second one related to the relations with state or public sector entities, regulatory institutions, and with the community, as part of a wider or more general environment. Once presented, relational capital, the strategic relevance of corporate reputation is discussed, with a trigger and moderator role for all the previously mentioned relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational knowledge and its different forms play a critical role in order to effectively develop the products and processes of the firm (Kogut and Zander, 1996; Teece, 1998; Ategre and Lapiedra, 2005). This work explores the influence of the different forms of organizational knowledge (or Intellectual Capital) on the innovation capability of professional service firms. For reaching this purpose, in a first section, an exploratory factor analysis is earned out, obtaining the three main blocks of Intellectual Capital: Human Capital, Structural Capital, and Relational Capital. In the next step, the basic hypothesis about the positive influence of these kinds of Intellectual Capital (and their main dimensions) on firm innovation, are presented. From the empirical findings obtained for Spanish professional service firms, it is special worthwhile to highlight the role of customer relationships, as well as IT-based competences, alliances, and corporate reputation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]