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The importance and value of tracking and sharing the dispersed knowledge resources of contemporary organizations have received widespread rec- nition in recent years. It is widely believed that with the transition from the industrial to information-based economies, organizational knowledge has emerged as the single most critical resource at both macro- and mic- levels. A major challenge for most organizations during this transition and beyond is to learn to deal with the intricacies of discovering knowledge from the vast amounts of data being generated, identifying pockets of - portant knowledge in various forms, to devise strategies and techniques to formalize parts that lend themselves to codification, and to nurture tech- cal and other solutions with which useful knowledge can be shared among relevant participants. This has the potential to produce greater knowledge utilization leading to multiplier effects in organizational performance. This calls for an approach in which both the organizational and technological dimensions of the challenge are better understood and effectively integ- ted. The papers included in this volume were selected from a collection of papers presented at an invitation-only workshop entitled'Knowledge - nagement (KM) and the Global Firm: Organizational and Technological Dimensions'held at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia in February 2003. The workshop was made possible by a generous grant from the Carnegie Bosch Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Pit- burgh, USA.

Dieses Buch vereint die Vielfalt der Themen, die zurzeit unter dem Begriff Corporate Governance diskutiert werden und präsentiert die Perspektiven der wichtigsten Akteure im Spannungsfeld der Corporate Governance: Wissenschaft, Unternehmen, Aktionäre und Gewerkschaft. Das Buch richtet sich an Führungskräfte sowie Studierende und Dozenten, die sich mit der Frage der Unternehmenssteuerung und -kontrolle beschäftigen. Es gliedert sich in drei Kapitel: konzeptionelle Gestaltungsansätze von Corporate Governance Systemen, Sichtweisen und Corporate Governance Verständnis der Akteure und kritische Bewertung ausgewählter Instrumente der externen und internen Unternehmenssteuerung und -kontrolle. Der Band gibt einen Überblick über das Thema Corporate Governance, der bisher nur durch zeitaufwändige Recherchen möglich war.

Mit der Etablierung des Internets als Informations- und Vertriebskanal nehmen E-Business und E-Commerce eine bedeutende Stellung für den Unternehmenserfolg ein. Electronic Customer Care ermöglicht es dabei erstmals, bis zu einem bestimmten Grad die obligatorische'physische'durch'digitale'Kundennähe zu substituieren, was ein enormes Kostensenkungs-, Gewinnmaximierungs- sowie Kundenbindungspotenzial beinhaltet. Das Phänomen'digitale Kundennähe'wird in diesem Buch von interdisziplinären Wissenschaftlern und von Praktikern aus innovativen Firmen branchenübergreifend beleuchtet. Das Handbuch richtet sich in erster Linie an Praktiker in Unternehmen aller Branchen, die sich mit der (Weiter-) Entwicklung der elektronischen Kundenbeziehung befassen. Es vermittelt die Grundlagen, zeigt erfolgreiche Umsetzungsmöglichkeiten von Electronic Customer Care auf und bietet wertvolle Hinweise für die Unternehmenspraxis.

Data Warehousing hat in den letzten Jahren in vielen Unternehmen stark an Bedeutung gewonnen und ist dabei zu einer der zentralen Herausforderungen im Informationsmanagement geworden. Für viele Anwendungen, wie beispielsweise Customer-Relationship-Management oder Führungsinformationssysteme, bilden Data-Warehouse-Architekturen eine wesentliche Grundlage.Der Tagungsband zur Konferenz'Data Warehousing 2000 - Methoden, Anwendungen, Strategien'gibt einen Überblick zum State-of-the-Art sowohl im Bereich Entwicklung aus technischer und organisatorischer bzw. betriebswirtschaftlicher Sicht als auch im Bereich der vielfältigen Anwendungsmöglichkeiten einer Data-Warehouse-Architektur. Neben Aufsätzen aus dem wissenschaftlichen Bereich finden sich auch Berichte aus laufenden und abgeschlossenen Projekten im Umfeld des Data Warehousing.

In vier Abschnitte gegliedert, greift dieses Buch zwei erfolgversprechende Konzepte für Unternehmungen auf.'Strategische Entscheidungen durch neue IT-Konzepte'beschreibt die Herausforderungen und Veränderungen, die das Digital Business mit sich bringt.'Neue Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten von Kundenbeziehungen'erläutert die Vorteile neuer Vertriebswege und die Steigerung des Kundennutzens.'Risk Management und Nutzenanalyse im Unternehmenscontrolling'stellt die Auswirkungen neuer Organisations- und IT-Konzepte auf das Controlling dar und analysiert sie.'Realisierung und Anwendung von Knowledge Management'schließlich widmet sich der Umsetzung der Konzepte in die Praxis und behandelt beispielsweise multimediale Lernwelten oder den Aufbau von Kompetenznetzwerken.Somit liefert dieser Band entscheidende Ideen und neue IT-Lösungen für das strategische Management und den Erfolg Ihrer Unternehmung.

Die gedankliche Umgrenzung einer Problemsituation ist die erste Aufgabe jeder Problembearbeitung. Im Management, d.h. im Handeln in dynamischen und hochkomplexen Situationen, ist sie meist problematisch und birgt die Gefahr, den Versuch einer Problemlösung bereits zu Beginn in falsche Bahnen zu lenken. Unterstützung kann hier eine Systemmethodik geben, die auf bewährten systemtheoretischen Begriffen und Erkenntnissen beruht und die mit dem Konzept der Systemgrenze Antworten auf diese Frage bereithält. Mit dem vorliegenden Buch werden diese über eine breite Literatur verstreuten Antworten zum Abgrenzungsproblem instruktiv dargestellt und auf ihre Anwendbarkeit im Management beurteilt. Auf der Grundlage der allgemeinen Systemtheorie wird ein Konzept der Systemgrenze formuliert, welches dann dem Grenzverständnis gegenübergestellt wird, das der vielfach erprobten Weichen Systemmethodik zugrundeliegt. Die Diskussion führt zu der Unterscheidung zwischen rein konzeptionellen Systemgrenzen, mit deren Hilfe im Verlauf der Problemsituation ganzheitliche Systeme klar definiert werden, und der Umgrenzung der tatsächlich bestehenden Problemsituation. Systemgrenzen strukturieren aufgrund ihrer Klarheit den Lernprozeß in einer Problemsituation. Die Situation selbst sollte jedoch nie endgültig abgegrenzt werden, um ihrer Vielschichtigkeit Rechnung zu tragen, die immer wieder neue Askpekte als entscheidend erscheinen lassen kann. Dem wissenschaftlichen Leser bietet das Buch ein ausgewogenes Gesamtbild der Systemtheorie und der in ihr vertretenen Aussagen zum Konzept der Systemgrenzen. Es leistet die Aufarbeitung der gegenüber der amerikanischen Literatur häufig vernachlässigten britischen Autoren wie Vickers und Checkland. Für den Praktiker ist die anhand eines Anwendungsfalles dargestellte Weiche Systemmethodik von Wert für die Entwicklung seiner eigenen Problembearbeitungsfähigkeit.

Globalisierung und Virtualisierung der Geschäftsbeziehungen vergrößern Bedeutung und Komplexität logistischer Herausforderungen. Die Gestaltung und das Management von Logistiknetzwerken oder der Beziehungen zu Logistikdienstleistern werden so zu wesentlichen Wettbewerbsfaktoren. Dies wurde von Forschung und Praxis erkannt und führt zur Entwicklung und Diskussion von Strategien, Methoden und Werkzeugen, welche es ermöglichen sollen, den gestiegenen Anforderungen gerecht zu werden. Das Buch wie die entsprechende Tagung haben zum Ziel, den internationalen Gedankenaustausch und die Diskussion zwischen Wissenschaft und Praxis über aktuelle Problemstellungen, erzielte Lösungen und zukünftige Entwicklungen in der Logistik zu fördern.

Mit dem'Gesetz zur Kontrolle und Transparenz im Unternehmensbereich'aus dem Jahre 1998 hat der Gesetzgeber der häufig vernachlässigten Früherkennung unternehmerischer Risiken größere Bedeutung verschafft. In vielen Unternehmen wurde dieser Anlass dazu genutzt, ein Risikomanagement einzuführen, das in die allgemeine Unternehmensführung integriert werden muss. Dieser Sammelband liefert einen breiten Überblick über die vielfältigen Facetten des Risikomanagements, indem sowohl dessen Grundlagen und Konzepte (insbesondere rechtliche Anforderungen, prozessuale Aspekte sowie Risikocontrolling) als auch spezifische Risikoarten (finanzielle, steuerliche, rechtliche, standortabhängige sowie Beschaffungs- und Absatzrisiken), Besonderheiten des Risikomanagements in spezifischen Branchen (Industrie, Bauwirtschaft, Banken und Venture Capital Gesellschaften) sowie ausgewählte Instrumente behandelt werden.

Viele kleine und mittlere Unternehmen haben in den letzten Jahren versucht, dem verschärften Wettbewerb durch Einführung neuer, innovativer Organisationskonzepte entgegenzutreten. Die Etablierung zwischenbetrieblicher Kooperation in Form von virtuellen Organisationen stellt dabei einen viel beachteten Lösungsversuch dar. Durch flache Hierarchien und Fokussierung auf die Kernkompetenzen der einzelnen Teilnehmer sind solche Organisationen in der Lage, flexibel auf Markterfordernisse reagieren zu können. Das Buch bündelt die Ergebnisse von drei Forschungsprojekten, die Unternehmensnetzwerke auf dem Weg zur virtuellen Organisation untersucht haben. Neben der Darstellung der typischen Fragen und Herausforderungen zeigt das Buch in der Praxis erprobte Lösungskonzepte auf.

This book attempts to characterize a new organizational form that is now visible in many companies as a substitute of previous forms related to mechanized or mechanistic standards. The book is based on the approach of organizational structure and on Henry Mintzberg's work on organizational configurations. As a matter of fact, it attempts to supplement and update Mintzberg's organizational taxonomy, taking into account changes in the structure and work organization of business firms. The book is written for all people whose work is related to organizations and who are interested in the subjects it deals with.

A research network has examined how quality management is implemented in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe and what the consequences are for the qualification needs of employees. The research has taken place within the framework of the Leonardo da Vinci programme, which is an action programme of the European Commission DG XXII - Education Training and Youth. This book presents conclusions including three parts:'Results'deriving from the sector studies - specialised'Scientific contributions'of network partners -'Action-oriented dialogue'documenting comments of key actors in vocational training from the participating countries. Special objectives are: Support of quality-oriented development of SMEs and their staff; Support of quality-oriented development of vocational education and training; Support of implementation requirements including regional aspects.

Der chinesische Markt gilt nicht nur in der deutschen Wirtschaft als ein wichtiger Zukunftsmarkt. Neben den zahlreichen Chancen, die ein China-Engagement reizvoll erscheinen lassen, existieren jedoch auch erhebliche Risiken. In dem Buch werden Probleme, Konzepte und Lösungsmöglichkeiten auf den Gebieten der Führung und Organisation des China-Geschäfts deutscher Unternehmen dargestellt und diskutiert. Das Buch reflektiert dabei Erkenntnisse aus Wissenschaft und Praxis. Viele Autoren des Sammelbandes sind ausgewiesene China-Kenner. Sie haben Führungsfunktionen in China inne, das China-Engagement ihres Unternehmens intensiv begleitet oder beschäftigen sich wissenschaftlich mit verschiedenen Facetten deutsch-chinesischer Wirtschaftsbeziehungen.

Collaboration plays an important role in the early development of com- nies. Among others, they provide opportunities to combine complementary resources, develop additional competencies, and generate valuable signals for investors. They are particularly important for biotechnology firms, whose resource base often is not sufficient to realize the market potential of their R&D findings. Strategic alliances thus are an integral part of the business model of most biotechnology companies, but their economic re- vance is not yet fully understood, since research has thus far neglected most industry-specific drivers of alliance value. Based on an event study, Hady Farag analyzes the capital-market re- tion to alliance-related news announcements and assesses their complex - fects on company value. In this regard, the present work represents the first comprehensive study of European biotechnology alliances. In addition to this unique database, the research approach and techniques in sample - lection, econometric and cross-sectional analyses are state-of-the-art. The author develops and empirically tests an integrative dynamic model of collaborative value drivers. These reflect the specific characteristics of biotechnology firms and biotechnology alliances. Moreover, the work - tends to so far entirely unresearched dynamic aspects of alliances, such as the value of contractual flexibilities, the impact of environmental unc- tainty, and the evolution of alliances over time. Overall, Hady Farag's work underscores the need to consider pluralistic influences on the value of collaborative ventures.

I started researching the dramatic changes in the automobile industry of Central and East European countries in the late 1990s. My interest grew out of my previous work on the post-socialist transformation, foreign - rect investment and regional economic development. While researching the economic and regional development effects of foreign direct inve- ment, I was increasingly drawn to the automobile industry because of the speed and depth of its transformation through foreign direct investment and its potentially very significant economic and regional development - fects. In addition to working on the Central and East European automobile industry as a whole, I became interested in detailed case studies of ent- prise restructuring as I wanted to understand its complex nature and the role of different actors in the restructuring of the automobile industry. In order to achieve this goal, I visited dozens of automotive enterprises, es- cially in the Czech Republic (Czechia) to conduct in-depths interviews with key informants. I have also interviewed key informants at ministries, automotive associations and academia and collected various secondary data and information. This book is the outcome of this work. In this endeavor I have benefited from various support. The University Committee on Research and Creative Activity at the University of Nebraska at Omaha funded three field work sessions in Czechia to conduct interviews and research for this book.

Driven by the fascination about dramatic structural and competitive changes within telecommunication and information technology in dustries during the past decade, the convergence phenomenon has increasingly gained my personal attention throughout my work and studies. Therefore, not entirely coincidentally, this book was written as the result of my doctoral research at ETH Zurich, which turned out to be a challenging, yet highly rewarding endeavor. However, this work would not have been possible without the enduring support of several people. First, I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis supervisor Prof. Fritz Fahrni, for providing me with the opportunity to conduct exciting research projects in close collaboration with industry, and for supporting me with solid guidance and advice all the way. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Christian Marxt, for urging me to pursue the chosen line of enquiry, as well as for his devoted coaching, both at ETH and at Stanford, both within and beyond of?ce hours. Furthermore, I am grateful to Prof. Georg von Krogh, for his encouraging feedback and valuable comments during various inspiring discussions.

Although being huge by any measure, Chinese Railways are a bottleneck for economic growth in China. The state-owned enterprise returns a small profit but is severely capacity constrained and burdened with inefficiency. A comprehensive reform and efficiency improvement program needs to be developed in order to enable Chinese Railways to support further GDP growth in China. Application of industrial economics to the case of Chinese Railways suggests that moderate deregulation of e.g., the freight business could make Chinese Railways fit for future growth. Operational improvements need to complement this development, such as a redesign of the schedule or the introduction of value added services in the freight business. Based on interviews with Chinese experts, benchmarking with railways in the US, Germany, Russia, and Japan as well as broad coverage of Chinese-language sources, the book makes detailed recommendations on how to design a comprehensive turnaround program for Chinese Railways.

Customer integration in the early innovation phase has been considered the method of choice in theory and practice. Growing experience with the concept has shown unexpected side effects that may even outweigh its recognized advantages. Therefore, management needs to be able to assess in advance whether the involvement of customers will add overall value to each particular innovation project. To support but not to replace the final managerial decision, a mathematical formula is developed. It can be applied to all kinds of process structures, takes into account the risks and benefits contingent on a company's situation as well as risk-reducing and benefit-increasing measures and translates them into numerical values. The resulting figure indicates the prospective value of customer integration in a specific project.

Innovation is the key to firm competitiveness and growth yet studying innovation is much like the ancient parable about a group of blind men each touching a different part of an elephant. This book is a fresh new approach to understanding innovation – market linkages using one unified framework. The book examines an integrated innovation environment. Four market archetypes as well as the market outcome for each archetype are described. Innovation dynamics including commoditization, the constant innovation challenge and the sustainability of innovation are analyzed along with cases including the iPod, Lego, Barbie, the browser wars and Google. A diagnostic matrix is presented which enables one to take a ´snapshot´ of a product in the innovation environment. This book is an invaluable tool for the academic, the manager and the consultant to understand ‘where'a firm is located in an innovation environment, `why'it is so located and provides valuable clues as to ‘what'to do when designing strategy.

Do you know where your investments go? How effective and accountable are the resources used in the international development? How can intercultural frictions, governance scandals, or corruption be prevented? Based on a case study the author unveils a gap in the governance of development projects, a gap between implementation and governance, ultimately hindering effective, transparent and accountable usage of resources. Illustrated with entertaining examples the author, himself a senior manager in development and business, develops a Project Governance model. Overcoming shortcomings of the theories of corporate governance and business ethics, of best practices in development and project management, the Project Governance Model is a concrete model for practitioners and academics. Its six modules build an integrated, strategically oriented and ethically reflected platform for a more truthful and efficient cooperation in difficult projects or programs such as in development.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) create potentials for considerable productivity gains and for higher economic growth. However, ICTs also pose varied challenges to firms in order to benefit from these potentials. Highlighting the importance of innovations, firm-sponsored training, and recruitment of high-skilled workers, this monograph analyses why and to what extent firms differ in their capabilities to make ICT work productively. The work also comprises a detailed discussion of economic theory concerning ICT use and complementary firm strategies. In addition it provides a comprehensive treatment of various methodological issues concerning the measurement of firm-level productivity in econometric analyses.

Emissions trading challenges the management of companies in an entirely new manner. It does not only allow for a bigger flexibility in management decisions concerning emission issues like other marked based environmental policy instruments. Furthermore it changes the code by which environmental policy steers management decisions from hierarchical to monetary information. But is this change transmitted and mirrored in management decisions, processes and structures? And, how do they change? When flexibility is given to the companies they have several opportunities to react. Moreover different institutional architectures of emissions trading schemes are possible and have been implemented, like in the US, the UK or the EU. The 24 contributions discuss theoretically and empirically in four parts the following subjects: 1. Institutional design, decision making and innovation, 2. Investment and management strategies, 3. ET and business administration, 4. Effects of ET schemes existing and being implemented.

Standards play crucial roles in many different aspects of today's economy. They can define meanings of semantics, product interfaces, process steps, or performance levels. Interorganisational standards are specifications that define business-related semantics and processes, which are made accessible to other organisations'information systems. While modular organisation forms such as supply chain networks demand such standards for higher flexibility, XML-based Web Services offer a relatively new technological platform to develop such standards. The development of comprehensive interorganisational standards, however, is far from being completed. This book thus answers the questions, how interorganisational standards are developed and how different actors should get involved in it. The author uses actor-network theory to conduct two in-depth case studies on ebXML and RosettaNet. While researchers will find new explanations for the development of interorganisational standards, managers and executives will benefit from the strategic implications this book discusses.

The productivity in pharmaceutical research and development faces intense pres­ sure. R&D expenditures of the major US and European companies have topped US$ 33 billion in 2003 compared to around US$ 13 billion just a decade ago. At the same time, the number of new drug approvals has dropped from 53 in 1996 to only 35 in 2003. Moreover, the protraction of clinical trials has significantly reduced the effective time of patent protection. The consequences are devastating. Monopoly profits have started to decline and the average costs per new drug have reached a re­ cord level of close to US$ 1 billion today. As a result, any failure of a new sub­ stance in the R&D process can lead to considerable losses, and the risks of introduc­ ing a new drug to the market have grown tremendously. Particularly if a company is highly dependent on just a handful of mega-selling blockbuster drugs, the risks can be even greater. For example, Pfizer generated about 90% of its worldwide revenues in 2002 with just 8 products. Any shortfall of a promising late-stage drug candidate would have left Pfizer with a gaping hole in its product portfolio. In order to deal with these risks, many pharmaceutical companies have started to organize their R&D in partnership. In fact, more than 600 alliances in pharmaceutical R&D are signed every year.

In times of global markets, increasing competition and short product life cycles the effective and efficient management of industrial research and development (R and D) activities is of central importance for companies as well as for the whole economy. Traditionally the resources for R and D projects are allocated via planning- and budgeting procedures, evaluation methods and hierarchical decision-committees. This book presents resource allocation via internal markets as an alternative to such hierarchical decision procedures. It appears that the implementation of internal R and D markets has positive effects on the effectiveness and efficiency of internal R and D resource allocation processes. Internal R and D markets can help to overcome the weaknesses of traditional hierarchical structures, since they are characterised by short communication and decision procedures and thus contribute to the reduction of information asymmetries.

The ability to manage knowledge is relevant for millions of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that operate in high-tech environments. They strongly depend on external knowledge about customers, technologies, and competitors because, as opposed to large companies, they have limited internal knowledge resources and little power to control their business environments. Present KM literature, however, mainly focuses on large companies and therefore does not explain, how SMEs, for example, can successfully apply groupware, data mining, semantic networks, and knowledge maps. This book addresses this problem by introducing the concept of knowledge integration (KI) that places emphasis on the identification, acquisition and use of external knowledge. Drawing from this theoretical basis, the book presents concepts and instruments specifically designed for SMEs, as well as examples of their implementation and use in practice.

Building new business on the most recent version of the Web is no longer a multi-million dollar undertaking. Start-up companies are leveraging a decade of innovation of technology, driven by entrepreneurs not financiers. Past lessons led to new service that provides a sustainable revenue base from which to refine service offerings and the definition of a viable business model. Within this context, the volume examines the economics of platform structure and firm competition within and between online markets, modern theoretical treatments of regulatory intervention in online markets and the consideration of forward-looking experimental analysis of demand for yet to be provided services. The volume is divided into three parts: innovation and competition in online markets; regulation, pricing and evaluation with real options; and empirical approaches to market analysis.

Networks of firms have been in the focus of management research for several years. Recently, special attention has been paid to so-called business webs. Business webs are networks of firms which provide complements to a common product architecture. In the past, research focused on management issues of such webs but neglected the important question of how they actually came into being. The present book explicitly examines the formation and early growth of business webs. The author illustrates the early growth phases with two in-depth cases of the formation of the wireless internet ecosystem i-mode and the leading person-to-person online auction platform eBay. The book uncovers the contingencies under which the establishment of business webs is likely to succeed. Business researchers will benefit from the theoretical framework, while interested business managers will find explanations and advice for establishing a business web.