Internal Knowledge Development and External Knowledge Access in Venture Capital Investment Performance

abstract    We examine the performance effects of two knowledge-driven strategies – internal knowledge development and external knowledge access through inter-firm relationships – in the context of venture capital investing. Using longitudinal data on the investments, syndication, and performance of 200 US-based venture capital firms, we find that investing in industries in which a firm has more knowledge and investing with more or familiar external partners enhances investment performance. In addition, we reveal important interactions between the two strategies, such that access to external knowledge is particularly beneficial when the investment exposes gaps in the firm's own expertise. Thus, access to external knowledge is more effective when an incongruity exists between what the firm knows and what it intends to do. We discuss the study's implications for organizational knowledge and learning, strategic alliance, and venture capital literature.     

The dark side of knowledge transfer: Exploring knowledge leakage in joint R&D projects

Knowledge leakage refers to loss of technological knowledge intended to stay within a firm׳s boundaries and may cause a “weakened state” in which a focal firm loses its competitive advantage and industry position. Based on multiple case studies of knowledge leakage in joint research and development (R&D) projects in large firms in Sweden, this paper makes two contributions. First, in contrast to the uni-dimensional dyadic leakage process assumed in the literature, we find that the knowledge leakage process is multi-dimensional and exists in three varieties: i) a process whereby an external party assimilates knowledge from a focal firm, ii) a process whereby an external party assimilates knowledge from another external party, and iii) a process whereby the focal firm uses knowledge already shared with an external party in such a way that it becomes sensitive. Second, where the prior literature suggests that core knowledge must be protected from leakage, we find that some core knowledge can leak without negative effects, whereas some knowledge, being non-core to a focal firm, can have severe negative effects. These insights provide novel theoretical implications and new insights into how firms can manage knowledge leakage in practice.     

Cultural metaphors and KMS appropriation: Drawing on Astérix to understand non-use in a large French company

Management research is increasingly using fiction as an insightful way to analyze complex organizational dynamics. Focusing on user appropriation of Knowledge Management Systems, we describe how we used the popular Astérix, a well-known French cartoon to better understand KMS appropriation. We came to use this approach in an action research project in a large French construction firm initially designed to help Chief Knowledge Officers address KMS non-use. After our first findings showed paradoxical cultural issues, and based on the idea that culture is central to sensemaking and appropriation, we used the notion of the cultural metaphor to help better understand the cultural aspects associated with KMS appropriation. These results contribute knowledge in three different areas. First, we underline the role of cultural metaphors in information systems appropriation. Second, we enrich the literature on the role of fiction in management by illustrating the role of cultural metaphors. Third, we report on how this can be used in an action research project to help better understand KMS appropriation issues, which has the potential of leading to practical managerial action.     

Improving the Sustainable Development of Firms: The Role of Employees

Stakeholders have been found to be an important driver of organizations' sustainable development. In particular, customers, governments and non‐governmental organizations push firms towards sustainability. But to what extent is sustainability really and deeply embedded within an organization's structures and processes? And what is the role of an important, but frequently neglected, stakeholder group for successful sustainability implementation: employees? The objective of this research is to better understand the impact that organizational change for sustainability has on firm performance. Also, this study seeks to understand how the consideration of employees into the process of organizational change for sustainability moderates the organizational change and performance relationship. Using data from 92 German companies from the manufacturing and services sector, the study finds that the structural implementation of sustainability is positively related to firm performance and that employee integration moderates this relationship to some extent. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

组织内知识共享的信任模型研究

随着知识经济时代的到来,知识管理已经成为学术界和企业界竞相关注的热点。在知识管理的相关研究中,知识共享和组织内部信任问题是研究的重点课题,但对两者的综合研究还不多见。本文在前人对知识共享和信任机制的研究基础上,整合两个概念,引入组织制度、认知因素、情感因素、信任倾向等影响因素,分析出一个全新的组织内知识共享的综合信任模型,希望能够帮助组织更好地理解信任机制,促进组织内知识共享行为。     

Organizational capacity for change and firm performance in a transition economy

This study explored some human resource and human systems' aspects of the competitive dynamics for firms attempting to survive and prosper within Russia, a highly volatile transition economy. Overall, this study adds to our understanding of international strategic human resource management, dynamic capabilities, and the generation of competitive advantage within transition economies.

We found that a relatively new construct derived from the dynamic capabilities and organizational change literatures, known as ‘organizational capacity for change,’ is positively associated with firm performance within a wide variety of Russian firms. Furthermore, we find that the relationship between organizational capacity for change and firm performance is stronger when there are relatively high levels of uncertainty with the task environment. Finally, we found that organizational capacity for change is an important attribute in all sizes of organizations, not just for large organizations as hypothesized.     

Supplier-Focused Knowledge Management in the Automobile Industry and Its Implications for Product Performance

abstract    This study focuses on the impact of knowledge management in supplier relations (termed as supplier-focused knowledge management, SFKM) within the automobile industry of an emerging economy (Brazil), on financial and product performance. A model of the relationship between supplier-focused knowledge management, including its associated processes, and performance is described and the associated hypotheses are developed and then tested. Knowledge sharing through face-to-face communication is positively related to both product and financial performance, while technological knowledge sharing has a positive impact on product performance under conditions of high technological dynamism. Supplier involvement in the production process is related to product performance and use of knowledge management tools is related to financial performance. The results support the major hypotheses of our SFKM model. These results are discussed in the context of the knowledge management and supplier-relations literatures in terms of the contributions, implications for research and practice, and directions for future research.     

A model of project knowledge management

Knowledge is the most important resource needed for project management. The aim of this article is to present a full, consistent model of project knowledge management. There are two basic types of project knowledge: micro‐knowledge, needed for performing a single task (or its part), and macro‐knowledge (in other words, all the knowledge possessed by people from a given organizational level). Project knowledge is managed at four distinct levels: individual, project, organization, and global. The article describes the micro‐knowledge life cycle and macro‐knowledge life cycles from each organizational level, as well as the processes of vertical knowledge flow between organizational levels.     

知识资本研究

本文认为知识是知识载体保持竞争的一种必要的可持续发展的经济资源;知识资本是组织系统拥有、与控制并通过其运动实现价值增值的知识资源。知识本身并不是资本,知识转化为知识资本是有条件的,并在其特定的场所转换,需要一定的环境作支撑,并不是所有的知识都能转化为知识资本。     

The effect of external supply knowledge acquisition,development activities and organizational status on the supply performance of SMEs

Given the increasingly strategic role of external resources, acquiring knowledge about current suppliers and the broader supply market is an important and demanding task for the purchasing and supply management (PSM) function of a firm. Performance-improvement-oriented application of external supply knowledge present further challenges for the function. To examine this, we draw on the knowledge-based view and develop a hypothesized model in which supply knowledge acquisition drives PSM exploration and exploitation orientations which in turn mediate the organizational status of PSM function in terms of supply performance. We test the model on an SME-focused and survey-based dataset, using structural equation modelling. Our results indicate that an exploitative orientation is associated with knowledge gained from the supply base, whereas an explorative orientation is predominantly associated with supply market knowledge and less with supply base knowledge, suggesting natural pairings. The findings also show how an exploitative development orientation mediates the positive association of the PSM function's organizational status with supply performance. Driven by supply base knowledge, a status-empowered exploitative PSM orientation may suppress supply market based explorative orientation in resource-scarce SMEs, thus appearing to serve as the sole path to supply performance. Our research contributes by pointing out the significance of the knowledge-resource, and the knowledge-based view, in understanding performance in PSM.     

Inter- and Intra-Organizational Knowledge Transfer: A Meta-Analytic Review and Assessment of its Antecedents and Consequences

abstract    Research on organizational knowledge transfer is burgeoning, and yet our understanding of its antecedents and consequences remains rather unclear. Although conceptual and qualitative reviews of the organizational knowledge transfer literature have emerged, no study has attempted to summarize previous quantitative empirical findings. As a first step towards that goal, we use meta-analytic techniques to examine how knowledge, organization and network level antecedents differentially impact organizational knowledge transfer. Additionally, we consolidate research on the relationship between knowledge transfer and its consequences. We also demonstrate how the intra- and inter-organizational context, the directionality of knowledge transfers, and measurement characteristics moderate the relationships studied. By aggregating and consolidating existing research, our study not only reveals new insights into the levers and outcomes of organizational knowledge transfer, but also provides meaningful directions for future research.     

Manifested Attitudes: Intricacies of Inter-Partner Learning in Collaboration

abstract    This article is concerned with attitudes to learning in inter-organizational collaboration. Basic attitudes to learning evident in extant research – selfish , sharing and sidelined – are compared with those observed through research-oriented action research. A conceptualization based on a characterization of the attitudes observed in the research situations is produced. It models attitudes to learning in collaboration as bundles of varied stances relating to taking and giving knowledge from or to a partner, or excluding learning from the agenda altogether. The observations suggest that actual attitudes – which are evident at individual, community or organizational level – are much more varied than the basic attitudes and that they often include elements of all three – sidelined , selfish and sharing – motivations. The model acknowledges differences in perceptions of attitudes, differences of attitudes within partner organizations as well as between them, and differences in partners' attitudes to each other over time.     

Italian industrial districts as cognitive systems: Are they still reproducible?

Adopting a knowledge-based perspective, this study develops a framework of how Italian industrial districts (IDs) operate and evolve as cognitive systems. First, we analyse the mechanisms that facilitate knowledge diffusion across firms within IDs, the enabler of cross-firm knowledge transfer (absorptive capacity) and the process of producing new knowledge by combination. Within this analysis, we consider the formation of new firms resulting from the break-away of human resources from existing district firms (spin-offs) as a particular form of knowledge transfer and production within districts. Knowledge production by combination may take place not only within boundaries of IDs, but also involve external sources. We suggest that innovations made by combining internal and external knowledge have played an important role in shaping the evolutionary trajectories of IDs. Finally, again from the cognitive perspective, we address the issue of how globalization impacts on district systems, concentrating on the positive role that two different types of local actors play in their reproduction and evolution: the global–local firms and institutions providing knowledge-intensive business services.     

High‐Performance Work Systems in Professional Service Firms: Examining the Practices‐Resources‐Uses‐Performance Linkage

Professional service firms (PSFs) play an important role in the knowledge‐based economy. Their success is highly dependent on their people, the knowledge resources they possess, and how they use these resources. However, how to systematically manage human resources to attain high performance is not fully understood. This study addresses this issue by investigating the linkage mechanisms through which high‐performance work systems (HPWS) influence the performance of PSFs. We integrate resource‐based and dynamic capability theories in order to identify and investigate two intervening mechanisms that link HR practices to firm performance. The first mechanism is the intellectual capital resources comprising the human, social, and organizational capital that HPWS create. The second mechanism is the uses to which both HPWS and resources can be applied, operationalized as organizational ambidexterity, the simultaneous exploitation of existing knowledge and exploration of new knowledge. These mechanisms are hypothesized to link HPWS to firm performance in the form of a practices‐resources‐uses‐performance linkage model. Results from a longitudinal study of 93 accounting firms support this linkage model. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Performance implications for the relationships among top management leadership,organizational culture,and appraisal practice: testing two theory-based models of organizational learning theory in Japan

The purpose of this study was to examine the interrelationships among top management leadership, organizational culture and human resource (HR) practices, and their associative effects on organizational performance. Based on the theory of organizational learning, we developed and tested two different causal models: (1) a feed-forward learning flow model in which supportive leadership by top management would create a community culture and HR practices within organizations; and (2) a feedback learning flow model in which a community culture would support the practice of supportive leadership by top management and HR practices within a firm. Our structural equation modelling (SEM) results for a sample of 225 Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Japan supported the second model, in which the dominance of a community culture within the firm is an antecedent of top management's supportive leadership, which in turn necessitates a performance-based appraisal practice and eventually leads to better organizational performance in terms of objective indicators of turnover and absenteeism rates and workforce productivity. The findings are used to discuss the role of top management leadership in a particular organizational culture from the organizational learning perspective. Limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.     

THEORIES OF THE FIRM: IMPLICATIONS FOR STRATEGY RESEARCH*

Theories of the firm provide a perspective for thinking about organizational objectives and a framework for analysing important research problems. Here, we demonstrate the usefulness of several economic theories of the firm for guiding strategy research. We evaluate the relevance of each theory with regard to how the underlying conceptualization of the firm permits us to investigate issues of substantive interest to strategy researchers, and how compatible the assumptions contained within the theory are with the traditional strategy framework. We also examine the relevance of the theories from the viewpoint of philosophical methodology. We argue that, because of the integrative nature of strategy research, it is imperative for researchers to adopt multiple frameworks represented by different theories for the advancement of the field.     

Modeling and initiating knowledge management program using FQFD: a case study involving a healthcare institute

Knowledge is the most important asset for an organization to create value and sustainable competitive advantage. This study deconstructs a knowledge management (KM) model for utilizing nursing knowledge assets in terms of KM processes and KM enablers. Knowledge management processes are the activities or initiatives an organization puts in place to enable and facilitate the creation, sharing and use of knowledge for organizational benefit. This study examines, analyzes and prioritizes the KM enablers to facilitate knowledge processes and foster the successful development of organizational knowledge. In doing so, this study applies fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD) to deploy the necessary enabler items in detail for KM implementation. Based on the analytical results of fuzzy QFD (FQFD) for the case-study hospital, the priority order of the KM enablers is measurement, leadership, technology and culture. The results of FQFD also show that reinforcing KM enablers is necessary to promote elements in the KM process for the case hospital during KM program implementation.     

The organizational environment with its measures,antecedents, and consequences: a review and research agenda

The organizational environment is a focal element of multifaceted managerial decisions. Consequently, research has shown a long lasting and still growing interest in investigating the organizational environment and understanding its impact on a firm. Because it is widely assumed that the business environment will become more dynamic, changes in the organizational environment have drawn the particular attention of many scholars. While the extant research has established valuable knowledge, its fragmentation due to differing definitions and contradictory findings calls for a broad review to establish a foundation for future research. By analyzing 279 studies that have investigated different aspects of the organizational environment between 1958 and mid-2017, we contribute to various research streams that involve this environmental factor. We use a comprehensive research framework to categorize and review the previous work. In particular, we distinguish between studies that define or measure the organizational environment, as well as studies that investigate antecedents, outcomes, and moderating effects of the organizational environments. Among those categories, we discuss our findings, before subsequently synthesizing existing works and deriving an agenda for future research.     

Encouraging organizational performance through the influence of technological distinctive competencies on components of corporate entrepreneurship

Firms’ technological distinctive competencies (TDCs) help CEOs to confront their reality based on technological knowledge to achieve and exploit competitive advantage by encouraging the different dimensions of corporate entrepreneurship (innovation, new business venturing, proactiveness and self-renewal). The main purpose of this paper is thus to highlight how companies that strive to improve technological competencies within the firm achieve higher organizational performance through different components of corporate entrepreneurship and their interrelationships. This study seeks to fill this research gap by analyzing theoretically and empirically how TDCs enhance innovation, new business venturing and proactiveness and their interrelationships to achieve self-renewal and thus improve firms’ organizational performance. The methodology used is LISREL analysis. We test the model with data from 201 Spanish organizations. Our research contributes theoretical and empirical arguments on the value of TDCs to the organization, arguments that are especially important because organizations sometimes fail to achieve sustainable competitive advantage due to their limited understanding of the relationships between these strategic variables.     

On the way to creativity: Engineers as intrapreneurs in organizations

Organizations often hide creativity and talent. This paper describes how to make engineers active in the field of intrapreneurship within large firms where they often are employed in R&D. This development is seen, in Europe at least, most desirable by the companies today. Technology has an extensive impact on the society and economy nowadays, and it is important to study how technological innovations appear and who is behind them. Entrepreneurship and organizational intrapreneurship are, in many cases, the basis of technological innovations and firm renewal. Engineers are the company's special professional workforce that has the role to produce and develop innovations. Since the world of high-tech companies needs the cooperation of many experts, engineers must be able to cooperate well with other fields of expertise such as marketing, research and development as well as external suppliers and service providers. Also, innovations today often ask not only for unique technical knowledge but also social knowledge to make these innovations meaningful. In this sense, social innovation parallels technical innovation. Thus, in this paper we explore the origins of the intrapreneurship capacity in engineering settings of hightech firms, thereby concentrating on three issues: Who is the intrapreneur and the engineer-intrapreneur in particular? What kind of managerial and organizational support is required to facilitate the intrapreneur's upcoming? What are the educational and work related consequences for practical intrapreneurship tool development?