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In this paper we outline an increasingly predominant, “communal,” perspective of the emerging knowledge economy and explore its emphasis on various nonmarket mechanisms of production. Although the communal perspective suggests organizational forms, governance mechanisms, and knowledge processes that may facilitate knowledge creation and knowledge transfer, we argue that it misses the seemingly contradictory trends of organizational disaggregation and the foundational importance of market mechanisms in knowledge creation. We contrast and partly reconcile these two perspectives of the knowledge economy and highlight key considerations related to the microfoundations of knowledge and human capital management. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tacit assumption that increased product modularity is associated with advantageous increases in organizational modularity underlies much of the literature on modularity. Previous empirical investigations of this assumption, few in number, have faced numerous confounding factors and generated conflicting results. I build a causal model for the relationship between product and organizational modularity, which I test using a distinctive empirical setting that controls for confounding factors present in previous studies. I find support for only part of the assumed relationship, showing that modularity is a more multifaceted concept than previously recognized. In particular, increased product modularity enhances reconfigurability of organizations more quickly than it allows firms to move activities out of hierarchy. The paper contributes to the emerging stream of research that focuses on the previously underappreciated costs of designing and maintaining a modular organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Processes as one of the valuable knowledge resources can create sustainable competitive advantages in organizations. There is a large number of processes in organizations. They generate a high volume of process data that leads to the high‐dimensionality problems, complex relationships, dynamic changes, and difficulties in the understanding of the process by human resources. Traditional process improvement methodologies have weaknesses in environment with the large number of processes. Data mining techniques can support process improvement in this environment. They can recommend the improvement suggestions through extracting valuable patterns from a high volume of the process dataset. Recently, knowledge‐intensive processes have been increasingly concentrated in the field of process improvement. These types of processes can induce a competitive behavior over the other processes. The main problem is the improvement of competitive and knowledge‐intensive processes in a high volume of process dataset. The main purpose of this paper is to present a model to identify the behavior of competitive and knowledge‐intensive processes and recommend improvement suggestions. For this purpose, data mining techniques are applied to extract valuable patterns hidden in a high volume of process dataset. In this regard, K‐means clustering and C5 classification algorithms are applied to extract valuable patterns. A real process dataset was used to evaluate the effectiveness and applicability of the model. The results confirmed that the proposed model can apply data mining techniques to support competitive and knowledge‐intensive process improvement in a high volume of process dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms' boundary choices have undergone careful examination in recent years, particularly in information services. While transaction cost economics provides a widely tested explanation for boundary choice, more recent theoretical work advances competing knowledge-based and measurement cost explanations. Similar to transaction cost economics, these theories examine the impact of exchange attributes on the performance of markets and hierarchies as institutions of governance. These theories, however, offer alternative attributes to those suggested by transaction cost economics or offer alternative mechanisms through which similar attributes influence make-buy choices. Traditional empirical specifications of make-buy models are unable to comparatively test among these alternative theories. By developing and testing a model of comparative institutional performance rather than institutional choice, we examine the degree of support for these competing explanations of boundary choice. Hypotheses are tested using data on the governance of nine information services at 152 companies. Our results suggest that a theory of the firm and a theory of boundary choice is likely to be complex, requiring integration of transaction cost, knowledge-based, and measurement reasoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the knowledge‐based view of the firm as its starting point, and acknowledging that knowledge can lie outside the firm, this research extends our understanding of how the growing social media trend can contribute to open innovation. It focuses specifically on small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), which tend to be resource constrained and might benefit particularly from leveraging social media platforms. The authors bring forward the notion that people flock to social media because they are motivated by a desire for social interaction. Indeed, the findings suggest that SMEs that put effort into connecting customers on social media – which the authors refer to as having a 'social strategy' – are likely to reap both customers' involvement in innovation on social media and new knowledge of value for innovation. Examining differences between social media platforms used primarily for personal purposes and those used primarily for professional purposes, the authors find that a social strategy is more effective in the first category than in the second. This probably reflects differences in the social identities that people adopt on these two types of social media platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of switching costs on vendor selection and contract efficiency in the outsourcing of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). We show that under most plausible scenarios in KIBS outsourcing, there is an intrinsic tension between vendor selection and contract efficiency: in the process in which the winning vendor's bid constitutes the terms of the contract between client and vendor (e.g., competitive bidding), there is good selection but contract inefficiency (positive information rent paid by the client). If, by contrast, the client establishes the contract terms, then its performance yields contract efficiency but poor selection. We also highlight the implications of performance metrics for contract design in KIBS outsourcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translation theory has proved to be a versatile analytical lens used by scholars working from different traditions. On the basis of a systematic literature review, this study adds to understanding of the 'translations' of translation theory by identifying the distinguishing features of the most common theoretical approaches to translation within the organization and management discipline: actor-network theory, knowledge-based theory and Scandinavian institutionalism. Although each of these approaches already has borne much fruit in research, the literature is diverse and somewhat fragmented, but also overlapping. The authors discuss the ways in which the three versions of translation theory may be combined and enrich each other so as to inform future research, thereby offering a more complete understanding of translation in and across organizational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a framework of how family involvement influences innovation management based on ability (discretion to act) and willingness (disposition to act), two drivers that distinguish family firms from nonfamily firms and lead to heterogeneity among family firms. Paradoxically, family firms have superior ability yet lower willingness to engage in technological innovation. Resolving this paradox should yield new insights about innovation management in general. We summarize and position the papers in this special issue according to these drivers and set out an agenda for further research that will contribute to a better understanding of family firms' heterogeneous and paradoxical behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a fascinating concept, organizational memory attracts many researchers from a variety of disciplines. Of particular interest are the components of organizational memory, which include declarative memory (i.e., memory for facts, events, or propositions including know-what, know-why, or know-when) and procedural memory (i.e., memory for how things are done or can be done, routines, or procedures). Given the importance of (1) declarative memory that allows people to analyze new problems, generate new interpretations of current information, and use that information in a variety of applications, and (2) procedural memory for guiding and influencing actions of individuals, and facilitating automatic behaviors and skills to speed up task executions in the organizations, it is clear why researchers indicate that these memory contents are critical for innovativeness in the firm. On the other hand, remarkably, there is sparse research in the literature on the emotional aspect of organizational memory (emotional memory) and its effect on firm innovativeness. Emotional memory in general is the storage of past emotional experiences or events in organizations. In this study, we operationalized an organization's emotional memory as a multidimensional construct involving past emotional experience level, dispersion, and storage in organizations. We also identified the past emotional experience vividness or clearance as a moderator factor determining the availability of the emotional memory in organizational memory. By studying 103 firms, and using the partial least squares method, we found that (1) emotional experience storage influences organizational declarative and procedural memory; (2) emotional experience dispersion impacts organizational procedural memory; and (3) emotional experience level affects the organizational declarative and procedural memory to the extent that emotional experience vividness or clearance increases. We also found that emotional experience dispersion has a direct influence on firm innovativeness. Finally, we demonstrated that organizational declarative memory partially mediates the relationship between organizational emotional memory and firm innovativeness, such that emotional experience storage influences innovativeness in the firm via organizational declarative memory. This study concludes with several theoretical and managerial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A continuous and radical change creates value if heterogeneous competences and research fields are mixed, whereas episodic changes are expensive and dangerous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the determinants and relative contributions of different types of research partnerships among Chinese firms. Using a large sample of innovating firms, it is found here that factors that determine the needs of the firms for external research and development (R&D) resources and the ability to utilize the knowledge learned through partnerships (i.e., firm size, industrial sectors, internal R&D intensity, and foreign competition) are major antecedents for research partnerships in China. In addition, these factors are found to have different effects on three different types of research partnerships, which, in turn, have different effects on product innovation and patent innovation. ( JEL O32) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The globalization of markets and business operations is a trend that will continue strongly in the coming decades. One inescapable aspect of globalization has been the trend toward global outsourcing, especially that of knowledge-based services. Due to firms' compulsion to reduce costs in the developed world, the issue is not if a particular firm will outsource or offshore work but when it will outsource it and how effectively it will leverage outsourcing to achieve superior competitive advantage. An important implication of the outsourcing of knowledge-based services is the management of intellectual property (IP). Managers and researchers alike are interested in understanding the effects of global outsourcing of knowledge-based services on the management of IP. The challenge of accessing, exploiting, and defending IP in global outsourcing relationships is first examined in this paper. IP can be managed by balancing the trust and control and verification in the outsourcing relationship. Given that defending IP is a major concern for outsourcing firms, the moderating roles of multitier suppliers, supplier country legal regimes, and global supplier communities of practice on defending IP is examined in detail through moderating effect propositions. Finally, the paper examines the effect of accessing, defending, and exploiting IP in global outsourcing relationships on the generation of incremental and radical innovation for the outsourcing firm. This research tries to extend current academic research on global outsourcing in three ways. First, it offers a framework to understand the management of the buyer-seller relationship in the global outsourcing of knowledge-based services and its relationship to the management of IP and innovation generation. Second, the framework takes a broader perspective of outsourcing and innovation generation, including globalization, tiered suppliers, supplier country legal regimes, and global supplier communities of practice on defending IP. Third the research examines the effect of accessing, exploitation, and defense of IP on generation of incremental and radical innovation for the outsourcing firm. Managerial implications of this research and future research directions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprise production is becoming more and more knowledge oriented nowadays and knowledge management is playing a key role in making commercial profit and maintaining enterprise competence. Knowledge characterization and measurement are the bases of knowledge management, and this paper aims to develop a method for characterizing and measuring knowledge in a comprehensive and practical way. Knowledge in its static state is modelled as a vector, whose values vary with the situation, and changes in state are modelled as a finite state machine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual capital emerged approximately twenty years ago as an alternative paradigm with the ambition to identify, measure, report and manage knowledge assets. While the need for regulatory frameworks to account for knowledge assets and intangible drivers of value was pressing in the setting of the 'new economy', intellectual capital has yet to establish itself as a dominant solution for accounting theorists, corporate professionals and regulators. This paper analyzes intellectual capital as a tool to meet practical needs with respect to accounting for and managing knowledge-based, intangible wealth. Several explanations are provided on the extent of acceptance of intellectual capital as a management accounting alternative. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of project-based firms is increasing, as they fulfill the growing demands for complex integrated systems and knowledge-intensive services. While project-based firms are generally strong in innovating their clients' systems and processes, they seem to be less successful in innovating their own products or services. The reasons behind this are the focus of this paper. The characteristics of project-based firms are investigated, how these affect management practices for innovation projects, and the influence of these practices on project performance. Using survey data of 203 Dutch firms in the construction, engineering, information technology, and related industries, differences in characteristics between project-based and nonproject-based firms are identified. Project-based firms are distinguished from nonproject-based firms on the basis of organizational configuration, the complexity of the operational process, and the project management capabilities of the firm. Project-based firms also differ with regard to their level of collaboration and their innovation strategy, but not in the level of autonomy. A comparison of 135 innovation projects in 96 of the firms shows that project-based firms do not manage their innovation projects different from other firms. However, the effects of specific management practices on project performance are different, particularly the effects of planning, multidisciplinary teams and heavyweight project leaders. Differences in firm characteristics provide an explanation for the findings. The implication for the innovation management literature is that “best” practices for innovation management are firm dependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how small and medium enterprises manage their international partners across different market servicing modes, namely exporting, joint ventures and wholly owned subsidiaries. The international business literature has placed emphasis on soft issues of international partner management (such as trust, cultural sensitivity etc.) in each mode category independently. Since network arrangements and knowledge sharing are involved in all these modes, we contribute to the literature by providing evidence on the mechanisms of international partner management across market modes. Specifically, based on agency and knowledge-based theories, we seek to understand the extent to which small and medium enterprises assign rights to make decisions to partners abroad, and the types of incentives and performance monitoring schemes they use. These mechanisms are drawn from agency theory. In-depth case studies were carried out in 14 Greek small firms that employed different modes to collaborate with their partners abroad. Seven of these firms had high levels of international performance while the other seven had low levels. We identify two distinguishable combinations of governance mechanisms being implemented by these two sets of firms: high performers pursue situational decision-making with outcome-oriented incentives/performance monitoring schemes, whereas low performers pursue centralized decision-making with behaviour-oriented incentives/performance monitoring schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful innovation depends on the management of a firm's knowledge base. This paper empirically investigates the determinants of knowledge regulation. Using a unique survey dataset, the analysis suggests that research and development managers do not leak knowledge randomly, but rather regulate knowledge consciously. I find that the source and the channel of knowledge inflows impact knowledge regulation. The findings reveal that the more a firm profits from knowledge inflows from competitors, the fewer actions it takes to regulate outgoing knowledge. I do not find that the extent of knowledge inflows from collaborating firms impacts knowledge regulation. However, the type of channel being used to acquire knowledge matters. Compared with public channels, the different types of private channels used to access knowledge inflow and the type of the competitive relationship influence the firms' decision to regulate knowledge outflow in the following way: concerning relationships with competitors, firms regulate knowledge outflow more when using formal channels, but less when using informal channels; concerning collaborative relationships, firms regulate knowledge outflow less regardless of whether they are using formal or informal private channels compared with using public channels. Presumably, firms that acquire knowledge from competing firms through formal private channels try to establish opaque and soundproof fences to surround them, whereas firms that acquire knowledge from collaborating firms through formal or informal private channels do not want to restrict circulation, but rather facilitate inter-firm knowledge exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a knowledge- and skill-centric organization, the process of knowledge management encompasses three important and closely related elements: (i) task assignments, (ii) knowledge acquisition through training, and (iii) maintaining a proper level of knowledge inventory among the existing workforce. Trade-off on choices between profit maximization in the short run and agility and flexibility in the long term is a vexing problem in knowledge management. In this study, we examine the effects of different training strategies on short-term operational efficiency and long-term workforce flexibility. We address our research objective by developing a computational model for task and training assignment in a dynamic knowledge environment consisting of multiple distinct knowledge dimensions. Overall, we find that organizational slack is an important variable in determining the effectiveness of training strategies. Training strategies focused on the most recent skills are found to be the preferred option in most of the considered scenarios. Interestingly, increased efficiencies in training can actually create preference conflict between employees and the firm. Our findings indicate that firms facing longer knowledge life cycles, higher slack in workforce capacity, and better training efficiencies actually face more difficult challenges in knowledge management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research was to examine whether a firm's learning capability interacts with industry technological parity to predict innovation mode use. Learning capability is conceptualized in the current research as a firm's ability to develop or acquire the new knowledge-based resources and skills needed to offer new products. Industry technological parity is conceptualized as the extent to which similarity and equality exist among the technological competencies of the firms in an industry. Three generic modes of innovation are considered: internal, cooperative, and external innovation. These modes reflect the development of new products based solely on internal resources, the collaborative development of new products (i.e., with one or more development partners), and the acquisition of fully developed products from external sources, respectively. The premises of this research are that (1) technological parity can create incentives or disincentives for innovating in a particular mode, depending upon the value of external innovative resources relative to the value of internal innovative resources and (2) firms will choose innovation modes that reflect a combination of their abilities and incentives to innovate alone, with others, or through others. Survey research and secondary sources were used to collect data from 119 high-technology firms. Results indicate that firms exhibit greater use of internal and external innovation when high levels of industry technological parity are matched by high levels of firm learning capability. By contrast, a negative relationship between learning capability and industry technological parity is associated with greater use of the cooperative mode of innovation. Thus, a single, common internal capability—learning capability—interacts with the level of technological parity in the environment to significantly predict three distinct innovation modes—modes that are not inherently dependent upon one another. As such, a firm's internal ability to innovate, as reflected in learning capability, has relevance well beyond that firm's likely internal innovation output. It also predicts the firm's likely use of cooperative and external innovation when considered in light of the level of industry technological parity. A practical implication of these findings is that companies with modest learning capabilities are not inherently precluded from innovating. Rather, they can innovate through modes for which conditions in their current environments do not constitute significant obstacles to innovation output. In particular, modest learning capabilities are associated with higher innovative output in the internal, cooperative, and external modes when industry technological parity levels are low, high, and low, respectively. Conversely, strong learning capabilities tend to be associated with higher innovative output in the internal, cooperative, and external modes when industry technological parity levels are high, low, and high, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If populist politics reveals a paradigm, in countries where populist politics are acceptable, effective paternalistic business leaders must offer unlimited protection in exchange for similarly unlimited allegiance from the workers. The reverse interview survey reported here suggests that, within knowledge-based industries, the knowledgeable leader might override paternalistic considerations that nonetheless rule for the larger segment of Brazilian workers, who may shun the foreign-appointed boss the most. Unfortunately, multinationals tend to expand abroad when they are mature businesses whose people-oriented founders may be long gone. Their more technocratic successors are more likely to appoint the most despised leaders at subsidiaries. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We merge research into knowledge management, absorptive capacity, and dynamic capabilities to arrive at an integrative perspective, which considers knowledge exploration, retention, and exploitation inside and outside a firm's boundaries. By complementing the concept of absorptive capacity, we advance towards a capability-based framework for open innovation processes. We identify the following six ‘knowledge capacities’ as a firm's critical capabilities of managing internal and external knowledge in open innovation processes: inventive, absorptive, transformative, connective, innovative, and desorptive capacity. ‘Knowledge management capacity’ is a dynamic capability, which reconfigures and realigns the knowledge capacities. It refers to a firm's ability to successfully manage its knowledge base over time. The concept may be regarded as a framework for open innovation, as a complement to absorptive capacity, and as a move towards understanding dynamic capabilities for managing knowledge. On this basis, it contributes to explaining interfirm heterogeneity in knowledge and alliance strategies, organizational boundaries, and innovation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence suggests that a ‘reverse brain drain’ of engineers and scientists trained in the USA or Europe can accelerate technological upgrading in knowledge-based firms in emerging countries. This study, through case studies of four innovative Indian pharmaceutical firms, considers Human Resource Management strategies adopted by firms in a developing country to attract and retain their scientific workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights a new emerging division of labour among Chinese Research and Development (R&D) workers in Beijing's Zhongguancun Science Park, which emphasises learning through external networks. Such learning relies on the ability to develop common practices and ‘translate’ external knowledge to the firm. The discussion highlights the significant costs that can be associated with developing and establishing such skills and the underlying practices that can support this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates how pre-entry experience, post-entry experience and innovative activity affected the survival of German automobile firms over the period 1886–1936. A statistical survival analysis is performed which links instrumental variable estimation with the Cox regression. The main results are that all three knowledge components exert an independent and significantly positive effect on firm survival. Moreover, innovative activity is able to compensate for post-entry experience, in accord with Schumpeterian creative destruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very little systematic research has examined the applicability of strategic management concepts including SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis, industrial organization, resource-based view and core competency, knowledge-based view, Balanced Scorecard and intellectual capital (IC) through the lens of strategic management development in the non-profit context. This paper aims to examine the above concepts in the light of the unique non-profit environment and determine which one is most applicable to social service non-profit organizations (SSNPOs) in the knowledge economy. Based on a review of the development of strategic management with a focus on the above concepts within the non-profit context, this paper argues that the IC concept is more effective compared with the other concepts in the social service non-profit sector. The paper is considered as a starting point and serves as a milestone in applying IC as a strategic management conceptual framework in the social service non-profit sector. It helps to build a nascent body of literature suggesting that IC can be used as a competent strategic management conceptual framework in the social service non-profit sector. A better understanding of the strategic management development in the non-profit context also helps non-profit leaders to appreciate that IC is the most appropriate strategic management concept in SSNPOs. The increased awareness of the IC concept in SSNPOs, as a result of this paper, will probably generate further research from both academic scholars and non-profit practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial body of literature on new forms of organizing has forecast the end of bureaucracy. More recent empirical studies, however, indicate that high-performing organizations are adopting dual forms of organizing in which the controllability advantages associated with traditional forms work to complement and support the responsiveness attributes of new forms of organizing. The paradox is that, if organizations discard the key planning, co-ordinating and direction-setting mechanisms of traditional forms of organizing, they also remove the stabilizing dimensions of organizational form that are essential in periods of uncertainty and change. The challenge for organizations lies in learning how to manage the tensions or dualities between traditional and new forms of organizing, a process demanding the arbitration of continuity and change. This paper explores the concept of dualities and its salience in the management of organizing forms. First, the nature of dualities is explained; secondly, a set of characteristics is developed to describe the behaviour of dualities; and thirdly, suggestions are presented for arbitrating the tensions that exist in organizing form dualities. These three contributions are relevant because they signal the route to the effective creation and management of organizing form dualities, the benefit of which is the constructive combination of dynamic capabilities (underpinning innovation and responsiveness, the hallmarks of new forms of organizing) and operational capabilities (underpinning stability and efficiency, the hallmarks of traditional forms of organizing). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the role of institutional settings in determining rent appropriation by employees. Based on an inductive historical study of owner–player relations in Major League Baseball from the inception of professional baseball to the present, we show that both formal and informal institutional rules can dramatically influence rent appropriation. We draw upon anthropology research on social relations to understand how differences in informal norms regarding the social relations between the owners and the players affect appropriation. Our findings show that when social relations are defined by authority ranking, pay is determined more by fiat than by market forces or bargaining. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of knowledge management (KM) processes for organizational performance is now well recognized. Seeking to better understand the short-term impact of KM on firm value, this article focuses on public announcements of information technology (IT)-based KM efforts, and uses cumulative abnormal return (CAR) associated with an announcement as the dependent variable. This article employs a contingency approach, arguing that the KM announcement would have a positive short-term impact on firm value in some conditions but not in others. Thus, it pursues the following research question: What are the effects of contextual factors on the CAR associated with the announcement of an IT-based KM effort? Specific hypotheses are proposed based on information-processing theory, organizational learning theory, the knowledge-based theory of the firm, and the theory of knowledge creation. These hypotheses link CARs to alignment between industry innovativeness and the KM process, alignment between firm efficiency and the KM process, firm-specific instability, and firm diversification. The empirical study utilizes secondary data on 89 KM announcements from 1995 to 2002. The results largely support the hypotheses. Overall, this article provides empirical support for the theory-based arguments, and helps develop a contingency framework of the effectiveness of KM efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge application is of key importance in the development of successful new products. Knowledge application refers to an organization's timely response to technological change by utilizing the knowledge and technology generated into new products and processes. This study uses the knowledge-based theory of the firm and considers its roots in the information-processing approach to organization theory to identify and structure potential antecedents of knowledge application. This study develops four hypotheses concerning antecedents of knowledge application. The hypotheses are tested using data collected from 277 high-technology firms. Empirical results indicate that a long-term orientation supported by a research and development (R&D) budget, formal rewards, and information technology directly increases the level of knowledge application, while R&D co-location indirectly increases the level of knowledge application. It is surprising to find that an increase in the level of organizational redundancy reduces the level of knowledge application. The findings also suggest that information technologies, lead-user, and supplier networks do not appear to significantly influence organizational redundancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By building on a knowledge-based view of the firm, this paper addresses a relatively unexplored area of roles and dynamics of corporate governance in younger, threshold firms that are undergoing a transition from the emergence to the professional management stage. Our analysis is focused on the process of capability development, exploring the effect of the asymmetry in knowledge that often exists between directors and senior managers on the governance of threshold firms. We examine the key sources of this asymmetry, explore ways directors and senior executives learn, and then discuss the implications of this learning on the evolution of governance systems in the threshold firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that the challenges faced by threshold firms are deeply rooted in governance characteristics (i.e. the incentives, authority and legitimacy) which imbue them with characteristic capabilities, disabilities and path dependencies. Whereas Zahra and Filatotchev (2004) reason the principal problem facing threshold firms relates to organizational learning and knowledge management, we posit resource acquisition and utilization to be equally important. Moreover, we argue governance theory is more able than a knowledge-based perspective to explain the root causes of the learning and resource issues faced by threshold firms as well as the complex set of processes involved in their effective management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Joint ventures (JVs) are becoming an increasingly important organizational form in international business. When JVs are formed, valuable learning opportunities may be created for the venture partners. The primary objective in this paper is to explore the conditions under which firms exploit JV learning opportunities through the acquisition of knowledge. A framework of knowledge acquisition by JV partner firms is proposed. Using JV partner organizations as the primary level of analysis, the paper identifies various factors that influence the acquisition of learning, its value to the learning organization, and the migration of knowledge from the JV to the parent. Two firm specific learning-based concepts are developed: alliance knowledge accessibility and knowledge acquisition effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to technological convergence, complexes of interrelated industries are emerging. This paper presents a conceptual framework of the role different organizational forms and combinative capabilities play in the management of organizational knowledge integration in this context. The focus is on firms previously operating in one of the relatively stable constituting industries. We argue that a firm's organizational form has to be matched with appropriate combinative capabilities in order to integrate component knowledge into architectural knowledge that consequently serves as a platform for generating new product-market combinations. The framework is empirically illustrated using the example of two Dutch publishing firms moving into the multimedia complex, which is currently emerging around information and communication technologies. The empirical analysis shows that the framework offers strong potential for improving the understanding of the complex process of organizational knowledge integration, as the prerequisite for developing new business in an emerging industrial complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been increasingly often argued that strategy research should aim for a 'strategic theory of the firm', that is, a theory explains the existence, boundaries, organization and competitive advantage of the firm within a unified theoretical framework. This paper discusses two archetypal strategies in research in the strategic theory of the firm, namely 'isolationism' and 'integrationism'. While the former is representative of the positions that either the knowledge-based view or the modern economics of organization can develop into full-blown strategic theories of the firm, the integrationist strategy stresses that progress is more likely to emerge from a combination of insights and research procedures from both the knowledge-based view and the modern economics of organization. The paper argues in favour of integrationism. In addition, the paper presents some novel criticisms of both the knowledge-based view and the modern economics of organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management consultancy industry is attracting more and more attention. The critical literature in particular has questioned how a non-codified body of knowledge like 'consultancy' could become so apparently influential. The answering emphasis has been on the symbolic nature of consultant strategies and consultancy as a powerful system of persuasion. However, an emerging structural perspective has developed a rather different view, focusing on the limits of the industry discourse, and the constraints of a consultancy role defined largely by external forces. While it is useful to contrast the two perspectives--strategic and structural--they can also be viewed as complementary, and indeed a number of writers have been well aware both of the importance of consultant strategies and the context of consultancy work. In particular, they have explored the interaction between consultant and client, and called attention to factors like the countervailing power of client organizations and the uncertainty of the management task. The paper aims to contribute to this debate and draws on case studies of consultants' role in the management of organizational change--one of clients with considerable market power, and another of interdependency between consultant and client. The point stressed is that the consultancy process contains no 'necessary' structures (which may be implied by pairings such as the dependent client and indispensable consultant, or alternatively the resistant client and vulnerable consultant). Instead the consultant-client relationship is best regarded as part of an overarching managerial structure and a contingent exchange that assumes a variety of forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the processes and routines firms employ for developing new global products. Observations from 13 Japanese, American and European multinational companies reveal that global new product development processes vary in terms of the involvement of overseas subsidiaries in project teams and the generation of new product concepts. In particular, when the knowledge about different product design requirements among overseas markets or plants is tacit, firms employ cross-national product development teams and use overseas subsidiaries as sources of new product concepts. Anchoring these findings on information processing theory, we develop a set of research propositions on global new product development processes and suggest directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the concepts of knowledge-intensive workers and firms. The functional view is questioned and a perspective on knowledge as institutionalized myth and rationality-surrogate is proposed. The ambiguity of knowledge work is emphasized and it is argued that a crucial dimension of a knowledge-intensive organization concerns the struggle with this ambiguity, which leads to efforts to refine various rhetorical strategies. Besides those stressing knowledge, science and rationality, the article points to rhetoric describing employees in knowledge-intensive firms as possessing other personal qualities and orientations than personnel employed in bureaucracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the strategic management issues faced by nine knowledge-based architectural firms. The article defines knowledge-based organizations (KBOs) as distinct from those companies that produce a product because of their standardized intangibility. The author develops a typology of KBOs, explains why architectural firms could be considered KBOs, and presents a picture of the competitive context in which these firms operate. The article goes on to address the market positioning and various marketing and planning strategies of these firms.

In summarizing the issue, the editor calls for further research into the area of knowledge work. In this article, the authors attempt to clarify the debate by defining relevant terms and identifying the more important areas for future research. The article defines knowledge work, organizational knowledge, knowledge workers, and knowledge-intensive firms. Further research is recommended in the areas of esoteric knowledge workers, flexible organizational structures, the expansion of the knowledge and competency base within an organization, and the resulting institutional reform that comes from the rise of knowledge work and knowledge-based firms.

The article discusses the practice of learning within knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs). KIFs are defined as a business enterprise in which knowledge is accepted as the most important input. The author reviews the work done by experts when dealing with KIFs, offering reasons for the difficulties associated with KIFs and organizational learning. Observations based on empirical evidence are made regarding the activities within KIFs. KIFs typically learn through managing personnel turnover and training, as well as the creation of routines, organizational culture, and social capital.

The article focuses on information flow in organizations and data processing. Technical aspects of information or communications theory include coding and decoding, noise and error, channel capacity and other performance measures, format and display or how the message is presented to receivers, and who should receive information. An analogy comparing information and physical products is mentioned, as well as information economics, which is the amount of resources that are allocated for producing and disseminating information. The activities in a data processing facility include: data storage; data handling; and transmission of a message. Type of activities that generate data include: internal and external sources; and historical and current events.