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Due to their distinctive features, multiteamsystems (MTSs) face significant coordination challenges--both within component teams and across the larger system. Despite the benefits of informal mechanisms of coordination for knowledge-based work, there is considerable ambiguity regarding their effects inMTSs. To resolve this ambiguity, we build and test theory about how interpersonal interactions among MTSmembers serve as an informal coordination mechanism that facilitates team and system functioning. Integrating MTS research with insights from the team boundary spanning literature, we argue that the degree to which MTS members balance their interactions with members of their own component team (i.e., intrateaminteractions) and with the members of other teams in the system (i.e., interteam interactions) shapes team- and system-level performance. The findings of a multimethod study of 44 MTSs composed of 295 teams and 930 members show that as interteam interactions exceed intrateam interactions, team conflict arises and detracts from component team performance. At the system level, a balance between intrateam and interteam interactions enhances system success. Our findings advance understanding of MTSs by highlighting how informal coordination mechanisms enable MTSs to overcome their coordination challenges and address the unique performance tension between component teams and the larger system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: Theory posits hierarchy as a response to coordination challenges and emphasizes organization size and the need to transfer knowledge as the mainspring of these challenges. This connection, however, is largely based on the quantity of knowledge to be transferred rather than its characteristics. Building on the knowledge‐based view, we propose that knowledge scope—the variety of knowledge across an organization's members—affects coordination costs and hierarchy expansion. Using an economy‐wide database from Brazil, we show that firms are more likely to expand their hierarchy when knowledge scope increases. This effect varies with firms' capacities to manage knowledge; firms whose employees perform more similar tasks or have shared experience at previous employers are less likely to expand hierarchy in response to increases in knowledge scope. Managerial Summary: Growing organizations often struggle to coordinate the work of their employees within their current organizational structures. We distinguish coordination problems generated by increased size from problems generated by expanding the variety of knowledge used and argue that both spur organizations to hire additional managers. Using a database of Brazilian startups, we show that a greater variety of knowledge used is associated with the expansion of hierarchy. Additionally, we find that organizations whose employees have more shared work experience have a greater ability to coordinate and thus delay the expansion of hierarchy. Overall, our results show the importance of the characteristics of an organization's knowledge base for organizational structure and suggest building teams with shared experience can enhance an organization's ability to adapt to coordination challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: Solving non‐routine problems—problems for which current organizational, recurrent action patterns do not offer a predetermined, effective solution—can be an important source of value creation. When these problems occur in subsidiaries of multinational corporations, senior headquarters managers can potentially help solve them. However, whether their involvement is beneficial rests upon the assumptions that they know which knowledge is appropriate and that their involvement does not negatively influence the problem solving process. We challenge these assumptions and theorize that the involvement of senior headquarters managers is negatively related to solution effectiveness, unless senior subsidiary managers are also involved, and especially if problems have an external locus (i.e., primarily relate to the firm's products and services). Our robust results are consistent with our theory. Managerial Summary: Companies are often faced with new problems, which represent an opportunity for organizational improvements. But how different types of senior managers influence problem solving effectiveness has remained unclear. Studying problems occurring in foreign subsidiaries of multinational corporations, we find that the involvement of senior headquarters managers is negatively related to problem solving effectiveness. Two reasons explain this result: senior headquarters managers often lack necessary understanding of their subsidiaries' contexts; and their involvement diminishes active participation of subsidiary employees. The negative relationship is especially strong when problems relate to products and services (as opposed to internal processes). Furthermore, we find that senior subsidiary managers can mitigate the negative consequences related to senior headquarters managers' involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design for manufacturing and assembly (DfMA) has been widely applied to support the decisionmaking process in offsite construction. With a DfMA approach, cost estimation requires taking product design and production processes into consideration. Current studies conduct cost estimation built upon quantity takeoffs. However, they do not provide a vocabulary to relate cost estimates to offsite construction processes. This paper presents a new domain ontology, Offsite Housing Ontology (OHO) using the NeOn methodology framework to support cost estimation considering products, resources, and production processes. OHO semantically defines offsite construction domain terminology and relationships. This supports a unified model, required for efficient collaborative design management. The efficiency and effectiveness of the OHO approach are demonstrated in a real-world DfMA scenario through the development of a Knowledge-Based Engineering tool to automate cost estimation. The approach can be adapted and extended to accommodate a very wide range of offsite housing, delivering important optimization and automation benefit from DfMA solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: Strategy scholars view innovation through the lens of knowledge recombination, whereas organizational economics scholars view innovation through the lens of effective incentive design. This sets up a tension regarding how firms should structure their research and development (R&D) units. Namely, decentralization facilitates the effective use of incentives but comes with the cost of reduced intra‐organizational knowledge flows. In this study, I unpack this tension by examining the novelty of inventions that firms create and develop. I argue that R&D centralization facilitates the creation and development of inventions that are more novel, whereas R&D decentralization facilitates the creation of more inventions of lower average novelty and their progression through development. I find support for these arguments in the pharmaceutical industry between 1995 and 2015. Managerial Summary: When does the effective use of incentives or a firm's knowledge have a greater impact on a firm's innovation? This has important managerial implications as it shapes whether firms are better off centralizing or decentralizing their R&D units. Centralization enables firms to make better use of their knowledge and decentralization ensures the better use of incentives. More effective use of incentives associated with greater decentralization of R&D is more critical if firms wish to create and develop more inventions that are of lower average novelty. In contrast, more effective use of a firm's knowledge associated with greater centralization of R&D is more critical if firms want to create and develop a lower quantity of inventions that are of greater average novelty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies whether knowledge protection affects shareholder value and firms’ investment in knowledge assets using the staggered adoptions and rejections of the inevitable disclosure doctrine (IDD) by U.S. state courts as exogenous changes in the level of knowledge protection. We find positive (negative) abnormal stock returns around the IDD adoption (rejection) day for firms headquartered in the state, and we uncover a positive IDD treatment effect on firms’ investment in knowledge assets. Moreover, the effects on stock returns and knowledge assets investment are stronger in more knowledge-oriented industries and firms. Finally, enhancing knowledge protection does not discourage local entrepreneurial activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to develop a complementarity view of the heterogeneous knowledge archetypes. The study first employed a psycho-cognitive perspective to provide theoretical backing for the emergence of knowledge types. Then, a complementarity methodology was employed to synthesize the co-created, heterogeneous knowledge resources into an operation-friendly model. The study shows that, by using the psycho-cognitive lens, the explicit, implicit, and tacit knowledge types are co-created. And that knowledge is actually created as a bundle of heterogeneous but complimentary resources. The complementary view is built off the assumption that a bundle of resources grants a higher value and that a separate use of resource may produce zero value. This paper highlights the capability of the knowledge-as-a-bundle to offer higher values to organizations when deployed jointly rather than the separate use propagated with the dichotomous view of the knowledge resources (types). This paper, therefore, adds, to the existing literature in the knowledge management field, a complementarity lens of knowledge typologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health information exchange (HIE) capabilities are tied to health care organizations' strategic and business goals. As a technology that connects information from different organizations, HIE may be a source of competitive advantage and a path to improvements in performance. Purpose: The aim of the study was to identify the impact of hospitals' use of HIE capabilities on outcomes that may be sensitive to changes in various contracting arrangements and referral patterns arising from improved connectivity. Methodology: Using a panel of community hospitals in nine states,we examined the association between the number of different data types the hospital could exchange via HIE and changes in market share, payermix, and operatingmargin (2010--2014). Regression models that controlled for the number of different data types shared intraorganizationally and other time-varying factors and included both hospital and time fixed effects were used for adjusted estimates of the relationships between changes in HIE capabilities and outcomes. Results: Increasing HIE capability was associated with a 13 percentage point increase in a hospital's discharges that were covered by commercial insurers or Medicare (i.e., payer mix). Conversely, increasing intraorganizational information sharing was associated with a 9.6 percentage point decrease in the percentage of discharges covered by commercial insurers or Medicare. Increasing HIE capability or intraorganizational information sharing was not associated with increased market share nor with operating margin. Conclusions: Improving information sharing with external organizations may be an approach to support strategic business goals. Practice Implications: Organizations may be served by identifying ways to leverage HIE instead of focusing on intraorganizational exchange capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We extend the knowledge-based perspective to consider the impact of spin-out founders on knowledge transfer to new ventures.We argue that existing theory largely ignores the founder's role as a team catalyst who mobilizes a team and transmits the team's knowledge to a new venture. We address this gap by building theory on the role of a spin-out founder as a facilitator of co-mobility and whose impact on firmoutcomes is mediated by the size and organizational experience of the recruited team. The support for our hypotheses, through use of linked employee-employer U.S. Census data from the legal services industry, has theoretical and practical implications for the knowledge-based view and human resource strategies for both existing and entrepreneurial firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article has presented a technical concept for producing precisely desired Additive Manufactured (AM) metallic products using Artificial Intelligence (AI). Due to the stochastic nature of the metallic AM process, which causes a greater variance in product properties compared to traditional manufacturing processes, significant inaccuracies in metallurgical properties, as well as geometry, occur. The physics behind these phenomena are related to the melting process, bonding, cooling rate, shrinkage, support condition, part orientation. However, by controlling these phenomena, a wide range of product features can be achieved using the fabricating parameters. A variety of fabricating parameters are involved in the metal AM process, but an appropriate combination of these parameters for a given material is required to obtain an accurate and desired product. Zero defect product can be achieved by controlling these parameters by implementing Knowledge-Based System (KBS). A suitable combination of manufacturing parameters can be determined using mathematical tools with AI, considering the manufacturing time and cost. The knowledge required to integrate AM manufacturing characteristics and constraints into the design and fabricating process is beyond the capabilities of any single engineer. Concurrent Engineering enables the integration of design and manufacturing to enable trades based not only on product performance, but also on other criteria that are not easily evaluated, such as production capability and support. A decision support system or KBS that can guide manufacturing issues during the preliminary design process would be an invaluable tool for system designers. The main objective of this paper is to clearly describe the metal AM manufacturing process problem and show how to develop a KBS for manufacturing process determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation in firms is doubly embedded: in a social network of collaborations between researchers, and in a knowledge network composed of linkages between knowledge elements. The two networks are decoupled. Their structural features are distinct and influence researchers' exploratory innovation differently. Using the patent data of a leading U.S. microprocessor manufacturer, we constructed the firm's collaboration and knowledge networks, and examined the effects of two structural features in the two networks--structural holes and degree centrality--on researchers' exploratory innovation. Our findings show that a researcher with knowledge elements rich in structural holes in the knowledge network tends to explore fewer new knowledge elements from outside the firm, while structural holes in the collaboration network increase exploratory innovation. The average degree centrality of a researcher's knowledge elements in the knowledge network has an inverted-U-shaped relationship with his or her exploratory innovation, while degree centrality in the collaboration network has a negative effect. This study suggests that knowledge and social networks influence where researchers search for discoveries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses a major gap in our knowledge about the allocation of information technology (IT) decision rights between business and IT units at the application level, including the governance of applications delivered on-premise versus those delivered with a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Building on the findings from a multicase qualitative study of organizations that had adopted the same SaaS application, we draw on three theoretical lenses (agency theory, transaction cost economics, and knowledge-based view) to develop a theoretically grounded model with three organization-level factors, three application-level factors, and application-level IT governance. Hypotheses derived from the model, as well as a set of differential hypotheses about factor influences due to on-premise versus SaaS delivery, are tested with survey responses from 207 firms in which application-level governance is operationalized with two dimensions: decision control rights (decision authority) and decision management rights (task responsibility). Three antecedents (origin of the application initiative, scope of application use, business knowledge of the IT unit) were significantly associated with application governance postimplementation, and the on-premise/SaaS subgroup analyses provide preliminary evidence for the mode of application delivery as a moderator of these relationships. Overall, this study contributes to a growing body of research that takes a more modular approach to studying IT governance and provides theoretical explanations for differing application-level governance designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence of malfunctions, failures, and loss of effectiveness over time is an unavoidable aspect of any industry. In addition, the continuous ability to compete requires the machines to be in the best possible condition with maximum efficiency. In machinery, a good maintenance strategy means better productivity; more reliability and effectiveness; longer service time, and a safe workplace. The goal of the article is to introduce both the main general machine maintenance strategies and main techniques of the knowledge-based approaches in order to build a diagnostic maintenance Expert System, which can be used for all kind of machines. In addition, the article aims to find the most effective strategy to build a maintenance system that monitors marine engines' conditions in real-time and provides the most suitable recommendations based on a knowledge-based approach. Firstly, we briefly introduce different maintenance strategies, then highlight the knowledge-based approaches. After it we demonstrate the possibility of building an Expert System to diagnose different abnormal conditions in marine engines and give a perspective on challenges and potential opportunities. The significance of the article is the elaboration of the Expert System's conception for maintenance of marine engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant research on the theory of the firm has stressed the need to consider interdependencies when analyzing firm boundary choices. We study the existence of interdependencies between boundary decisions using a unique database that includes detailed organizational information on 59% of the construction projects undertaken in the Chilean housing sector between the years 2005 and 2009. Specifically, we show that integration between design and construction activities increases the likelihood of integration between ownership/development and construction activities (and vice versa). This result is of a large magnitude, supporting the view that boundary choices need to be studied in relation to each other. A careful identification strategy also allows us to shed light on the mechanisms that likely drive this interdependency: a “coordination effect,” a “transaction hazard effect,” and a “production effect.” The latter is shown to be the most important mechanism at work, suggesting that “boundary choice complementarity” is primarily motivated by the need to align investment incentives for the joint development of capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research Summary: Firms in technology‐based settings continuously mobilize the knowledge of individuals in the firm to execute new opportunities arising over time. Yet we have only a limited understanding of how individual‐level knowledge aggregates to shape firm‐level innovation. We use a computational model to develop a microfoundational theory of firm‐level innovation that captures both intra‐firm knowledge mobilization and inter‐firm competition. A key insight is that despite intuitions that knowledge mobilization should protect against rival imitation, knowledge mobilization can often benefit rivals more than the focal firm itself, due to a process of continuous knowledge spillover‐sharing among rivals. In addition, while knowledge‐based advantages are often thought to be temporary without some isolating mechanism, sustainable advantage may emerge under limited conditions under which knowledge‐mobilizing firms outrace rivals' imitation efforts. Managerial summary: Managers in fast‐moving technology‐based industries innovate by mobilizing the knowledge of individuals in their firm to execute new market opportunities arising over time. A central challenge in such settings is that competitors may imitate this knowledge, thereby diminishing the advantages to the focal firm that derive from its innovations. We highlight the conditions under which such efforts at mobilizing individual knowledge within a firm can backfire and thus accelerate imitation as a result of knowledge spillover‐sharing among the firm's industry rivals. To protect themselves, innovative firms in highly complex industries can use a recombination process to outrace their imitating rivals and generate sustainable advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effects of information technology (IT) capability and absorptive capacity (ACAP) on firm performance. The theoretical framework is based on the link between the resource-based view (RBV) and the knowledge-based view (KBV). Moreover, an analysis of 134 marketing service companies was performed with structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that IT capability drives firm performance and supports the ACAP process in the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically reviews and synthesizes the contributions found in theoretical and empirical studies of firm-level innovation search processes. It explores the advantages and disadvantages of local and non-local search, discusses organizational responses, and identifies potential exogenous triggers for different kinds of search. It argues that the initial focus on local search was a consequence, in part, of the attention in evolutionary economics to path-dependent behavior, but that as localized behavior was increasingly accepted as the standard mode, studies began to question whether local search was the best solution in all cases. More recently, the literature has focused on the trade-offs being created, by firms having to balance local and non-local search. We account also for the apparent “variety paradox” in the stylized fact that organizations within the same industry tend to follow different search strategies, but end up with very similar technological profiles in fast-growing technologies. The article concludes by highlighting what we have learnt from the literature and suggesting some new avenues for research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This empirical study compares the determinants of innovation in manufacturing and services through descriptive and regression analyses of sales from innovative products and services. A particular focus is on the effects of R&D investments and breadth in knowledge sourcing and innovation objectives. The results suggest that, contrary to earlier research, R&D investments play a statistically and economically significant role in service innovation. We suggest that this results from the growing engagement of service firms in regular R&D activity. Both service and manufacturing firms also benefit from breadth in external knowledge sourcing strategies. In contrast, breadth in terms of pursuing parallel innovation objectives appears to have detrimental effects on innovation in service industries. We interpret the latter results through reference to service firms’ R&D management capabilities: Managing multiple innovation projects is challenging, and some service firms may not have accumulated the requisite managerial processes and capabilities to benefit from these strategies. The available data provide support for this conjecture. The detrimental effects of breadth in innovation objectives are significantly mitigated by regular R&D activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing on a knowledge-based view and strategic choice theory, this study develops and empirically tests a conceptual framework to assess the effect of knowledge sharing on the development of supply chain capabilities and the effects of such capabilities on supply chain performance. Employing path analysis, it is shown that strong associations exist between the sharing of both explicit and tacit knowledge and the development of supply chain capabilities, including cost efficiency and innovation capabilities. The results also indicate significant moderating effects of cost and innovation orientations on supply chain capabilities, which in turn exert effects on the improvement of supply chain performance. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed, and future research directions are also suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project failures are common. We theorized and found that although time heals wounds (reduces the negative emotions from project failure), it heals differently depending on the strength of individuals' specific coping orientations. Further, wounds are shallower for those who perceive that their organization normalizes failure. We conjointly consider learning from failure and affective commitment to an organization as determining how individuals move forward from project failure. Findings suggest that studies framing moving forward solely as learning from failure will likely overstate the benefits of a "loss orientation" and understate the benefits of both a "restoration" and an "oscillation orientation." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, financial analysts are influencing the strategy formation process of corporations, but so far little attention has been paid to the complex processes of interaction and the corresponding strategic outcomes. This article discusses these influences through different theoretical lenses (strategic management, finance and accounting theory and economic sociology, institutional and systems theory). Based on case study evidence from three companies, we describe how the interactions between financial analysts and business firms take place, and formulate several propositions on the relationship between financial analysts and business firms as well as on its influence on the strategic outcome of business firms. The results suggest that the influence of financial analysts is indeed significant but depends on a number of contextual factors, such as the financial situation of the company or the need for capital. Practicing managers can learn how to handle a turbulent environment such as the financial analyst community and how they can change their planning processes to absorb as much information as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To extend the knowledge-based view of the firm, we examine how managing the dynamic balance that a firm must undertake between applying knowledge stocks and accessing knowledge flows may determine innovativeness. We found that while the effect of scientist’s recruitment and alliances as two sources of knowledge flow decay overtime, high degrees of human and social capital stock reduces the speed of new assets erosion. Failing to account for the interactions between knowledge stocks and flows, as well as the underlining causalities associated with each knowledge source, will result in an incomplete picture of the relationship between knowledge development efforts and innovative success. We test our assumptions on a longitudinal event history data set of the complete US biotech population of 857 firms founded during the period 1973–1999. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on a sociological conceptualization of knowledge as residing in groups of practitioners, epistemic communities, this article proposes a new perspective within the knowledge-based view of the firm. It argues that the cost of governing knowledge processes depends as much on the cognitive background of the exchange partners as on the tacitness of their knowledge. The perspective supports and explicates previous arguments regarding the ability of firms to enable and support integration and combination of tacit knowledge across the epistemic boundaries of professional expertise, but suggests that knowledge transactions that take place within such epistemic communities—articulation and replication—can be accommodated equally well, and often better, in other institutional settings, such as those of markets, guilds, or universities. Firms often become epistemic communities in their own right, providing them with superior enabling and motivational conditions for the combination and integration of tacit functional or occupational expertise. The establishment of a firm as an epistemic community requires transaction-specific investments on part both of the owners, managers, and employees which is why these conditions are difficult to create under market and other non-firm modes of governance. In the case of codified knowledge, the problems associated with the crossing of epistemic boundaries can be overcome by the definition of clear interfaces between knowledge domains. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper we aim to give insight to how manufacturing strategies, represented by manufacturing paradigms are linked to different approaches to knowledge. Strategies are closely related to the development of core competence and how to deal with knowledge in general. In this paper we focus on how the different manufacturing strategies represent different challenges when it comes to knowledge creation and knowledge transfer. Our discussion has references to suppliers in the automotive industry, represented by a Scandinavian case. In this case the focus is on lean principles, which in contrast to mass manufacturing, represents attention to the synthetic knowledge base and tacit knowledge. Mass manufacturing, which is also still relevant in the automotive industry, is more centralised in its approach to knowledge and is focusing more on the analytical knowledge base and explicit knowledge. Knowledge should be a central part of companies' strategies, also functional such as within manufacturing, and should cover issues such as: what is crucial knowledge, how do we create it, and how to transfer it to meet our overall company goals? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research contributes to the understanding of global sourcing strategy of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBSs) by offering an explanation for the differential performance among firms, even when they use similar global sourcing strategies. Using a systems integrator as the sourcing firm's perspective, the authors argue that complex KIBSs involve a complicated mixture of interfaces in that the performance of an individual KIBS is insufficient in defining the overall performance of the integrated KIBS system. The theoretical framework uses a two-stage strategic fit model that emphasizes the conditions under which global sourcing of KIBSs influences performance. Firms that strategically coalign sourcing strategy with KIBS attributes for each KIBS activity should perform more effectively than firms that lack such a coalignment. After selecting an appropriate sourcing strategy, the firm's dynamic capabilities (i.e., absorptive capacity and integration capability) may accentuate or attenuate the performance of the strategy at the integrated KIBS system level. Thus, although managers may be tempted to source KIBSs globally to reduce labor costs, they must examine both the KIBS attributes and the firm's dynamic capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Innovation-form or I-form organization and the knowledge-based theory of the firm. An overview of the evolution of business and organizational models in the economic eras of standardization, market segmentation, and market exploration, the emergence of the innovation era and the I-form organization in the 1970s, the examples of entrepreneurial collaboration at Syndicom and Blade.org which are collaborative communities of firms, the governance structure of I-form organizations, and collaborative knowledge sharing are discussed.

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]

Viewing organizations as open, knowledge-dependent interpretation systems and building on the knowledge-based view, we develop a theoretical model of knowledge investments and value creation. By emphasizing the interpretive nature of organizations and examining knowledge requirements, capabilities, and investments, our contribution provides a more complete understanding of why some organizations make certain types of knowledge investments more than others and why these investments may have positive or negative effects on value creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Properties of strategic alliance networks, such as small world structures, skewed link distributions, and patterns of repeated tie occurrences, are often explained in terms of social capital theories. A simple model shows how merely assuming that firms must have a certain degree of commonality in their knowledge to have a successful alliance is enough to produce the above features, without recourse to social capital at all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 1980s, scholars in organization and management studies have examined their metatheoretical assumptions with particular regard to the relationships among knowledge, power, and signification. In contrast, the international management field seems to have engaged in a continuous disavowal of epistemic reflexivity and a critical trajectory for theory development. The eight contributions in this special topic forum attempt to open up metatheoretical conversations with international management. This task requires a reflexive reexamination of what we already know and a commitment to bring others' voices into an ongoing rewriting of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use patent data from the worldwide semiconductor industry from 1984 to 1994 to study the effect of the structure of organizational knowledge bases, or the patterns of coupling between their elements of technical knowledge, on the usefulness of inventions and knowledge-base malleability. We argue that organizational variations in coupling patterns between knowledge elements can be reflected in a spectrum of knowledge-base structures--varying from fully decomposable (the knowledge base is composed of distinct clusters of knowledge elements coupled together with no significant ties between clusters) through nearly decomposable (knowledge clusters are discernable but are connected through cross-cluster couplings) to non-decomposable (no knowledge clusters emerge, as the couplings are pervasively distributed)--and that organizations may differ in the way they use their knowledge because of variations in their knowledge-base structure, rather than because of differences in the knowledge elements themselves. Results show that a nearly decomposable knowledge base increases the usefulness of the inventions generated from it, as measured by patent citations, and also the knowledge base's malleability or capacity for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The best known framework for analyzing value creation is the value chain, which shows how to align resources and activities to convert raw materials into finished products and deliver them to markets. The value chain model works well for firms that produce and sell standardized goods and services through a sequential, routine chain of activities. It does not, however, offer guidance to knowledge-based firms that do not manufacture and sell goods. Such firms and units, including those in architecture, law, health care, and even energy exploration (which we studied), can be modeled using the "value shop" approach, one that creates customer value by applying knowledge and technology to solve unique problems. We build on the value shop model by identifying resources firms require for problem solving (knowledge base, value attached to knowledge, networks, and technical and managerial systems) and by examining how those resources are aligned, and realigned, into bundles to match specific problems and the firms' strategies, to enhance problem solving and value creation. Guidelines for achieving such alignments are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

Investigating spillovers (potential costs and benefits to a firm that extend beyond an individual transaction), I integrate transaction cost theory and the knowledge-based view of the firm in an effort to better understand the efficient governance of knowledge. Contracts with detailed task descriptions were associated with transactions with the potential to generate new and reusable knowledge. The risk of a firm's technology spilling over to others and the risk of reputation-impairing spillovers were associated with suppliers using their own employees rather than subcontractors. Thus, results suggest that the creation and protection of knowledge are key factors in understanding governance decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a model demonstrating the role of organizational controls in managing organizational knowledge characterized by different combinations of knowledge attributes. Specifically, we show how particular controls (outcome, process, and clan) differ in their ability to acquire, transfer, interpret, and, finally, use knowledge. We argue that the use of different controls therefore creates distinguishably different knowledge management processes within the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how interaction between mid-level managers in technical committees facilitates subsequent alliance formation in a longitudinal study of 87 cellular service providers and equipment manufacturers. Joint participation by firms in technical committees helps them identify potential alliance partners and particular opportunities for technical collaboration. This effect is magnified by sustained participation by individuals on behalf of their firms, demonstrating that interfirm relationships are enhanced by the interpersonal bonds that are forged in technical committees. In contrast, we find that the effect of joint technical committee participation on alliance formation decreases as firms have more prior alliances, suggesting that technical committees provide a more critical avenue for knowledge exchange when firms do not have the luxury of exchanging information through contractual linkages. Taken together, these findings suggest one venue where managerial action can transform existing social structure, because technical committee activity facilitates the entry of less-established firms into alliance networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses an analysis of developments in aircraft engine control systems to explore the implications of specialization in knowledge production for the organization and the boundaries of the firm. We argue that the definition of boundaries of the firm in terms of the activities performed in house does not take into account that decisions to outsource production and other functions are different from decisions to outsource technological knowledge. We show that multitechnology firms need to have knowledge in excess of what they need for what they make, to cope with imbalances caused by uneven rates of development in the technologies on which they rely and with unpredictable product-level interdependencies. By knowing more, multitechnology firms can coordinate loosely coupled networks of suppliers of equipment, components, and specialized knowledge and maintain a capability for systems integration. Networks enable them to benefit from the advantages of both integration and specialization. Examples from other industries extend to other contexts the model we develop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model of team learning and tests it in a multimethod field study. It introduces the construct of team psychological safety--a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking-and models the effects of team psychological safety and team efficacy together on learning and performance in organizational work teams. Results of a study of 51 work teams in a manufacturing company, measuring antecedent, process, and outcome variables, show that team psychological safety is associated with learning behavior, but team efficacy is not, when controlling for team psychological safety. As predicted, learning behavior mediates between team psychological safety and team performance. The results support an integrative perspective in which both team structures, such as context support and team leader coaching, and shared beliefs shape team outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Drawing on the knowledge-based theory of the firm, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between each facet of intellectual capital, productivity and firms' performance and further investigate, heretofore neglected, a mediating effect of productivity in the relationship between each facet of intellectual capital and firms' performance. Design/methodology/approach: Data were garnered with a self-reported questionnaire from 232 firm managers working in various industries: banking, insurance, telecommunications and hotels. Reliability and validity of the instruments were confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis. Prior to hypothesis testing using structural equation modelling, as a caveat, tests for nonresponse bias and common method variance were employed. Findings: The paper confirmed that intellectual capital is the pièce de résistance and established a strong connection with productivity. The results further disclosed a positive relationship between productivity and firms' performance. A mediated relationship between individual facets of intellectual capital and firms' performance through productivity was also affirmed. Practical implications: Chiefly, the paper underscored the importance of intellectual capital in promoting productivity and firms' performance. It behoves human resource managers and practitioners to make the organisational arrangements to reinforce intellectual capital thereby boosting the productivity that brings organisations' success. Originality/value: Previous studies in the sphere of intellectual capital have unequivocally discounted in establishing relationships between intellectual capital, productivity and firms' performance. The results of the paper are novel findings, unequivocally contributing to the frontiers of the knowledge-based theory of the firm and conjointly, the paper has made methodological and geographical contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify dynamic capabilities in joint R&D projects, that enable them to successfully achieve knowledge creation and discover how they behave throughout the life cycle of a collaborative project, although this understanding could enhance the interorganizational knowledge creation process.Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted 65 semi-structured interviews and utilized secondary data from a joint R&D project. The authors analyzed all data using the Gioia method.Findings The authors confirm that specific dynamic capabilities are needed to create interorganizational knowledge and discovered 11 knowledge-based dynamic capabilities (KBDCs) for successful innovation results in joint R&D projects. Gioia method allowed to discover that different KBDCs are necessary for the different phases of the project lifecycle. Additionally, the authors identify two microprocesses in which KBDCs are engaged in joint R&D projects, knowing that is a part of the sensing and seizing processes and synthetizing that is a part of the seizing process, and establish several KBDC microfoundations.Research limitations/implications We used retrospective interviews. This kind of interviews are impacted by the experiences of the respondents lived after they have participated in the joint R&D project.Practical implications Dynamic capabilities for collaborative knowledge creation and their specific microfoundations can help managers delineate their strategic practices and actions to achieve more sustainable, long-lasting results from joint R&D projects.Originality/value The authors improve Teece's model and propose two microprocesses in which dynamic capabilities are engaged, that emerged in the context of a joint R&D project, knowing that is a part of the sensing and seizing processes and synthetizing that is a part of the seizing process, which supplement those already known: sensing, seizing and transforming. The authors tested the Gioia method, which is important for detecting dynamic capabilities; therefore, the authors propose a methodological advance that can contribute to future studies. The authors provide an interorganizational perspective on KBDC and a methodological view of the changes in KBDCs required for joint R&D projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]