Using value analysis to support knowledge transfer in the multi-project setting

This paper investigates how formalized methodologies can effectively support the implementation of knowledge transfer practices in the multi-project setting. We propose a knowledge collection and transfer model grounded on the Value Analysis technique, empirically developed and validated through an action research in the shipbuilding industry. The proposed model facilitates decision making across multiple projects in the cruise ship design by stimulating the reuse of the available knowledge base and the exploitation of information needed to identify design solutions to solve the trade-off between functional requirements and available resources.     

Duration and relational choices: Time based effects of customer performance and environmental uncertainty on relational choice

This paper investigates the influences of customer performance and environmental uncertainty on the customer's choice of relational exchange strategies over the duration of their relationship. Relational exchanges of short, intermediate, and long term duration are investigated with the results showing different performance outcomes and environmental factors impacting relational choice at different times in the relationship. The results help explain conflicts reported in prior relational exchange research and provide valuable insights for practitioners responsible for managing relational exchanges.     

Knowledge exchange and knowledge protection in interorganizational learning: The ambidexterity perspective

Are knowledge exchange and knowledge protection conflicting or complementary? Although facilitating knowledge exchange and protecting core proprietary knowledge are important in interorganizational learning, extant studies often regard them as conflicting activities. Few studies have discussed the mechanisms that can help firms achieve both. In this current study, we extend the concept of ambidexterity to the interorganizational learning context and suggest several mechanisms that can enhance knowledge exchange and knowledge protection simultaneously. We conducted a survey and the empirical results reveal that experience sharing and shared interpretation are positively associated with knowledge exchange success. Hostage arrangement enhances the level of knowledge protection, whereas reciprocal investment has no effect on knowledge protection. Furthermore, ambidexterity (the product term of knowledge exchange success and knowledge protection) significantly affects the performance of a firm. Finally, we discuss the implications of this research and offer suggestions for future research.     

Establishing a high-technology knowledge transfer network: The practical and symbolic roles of identification

Knowledge transfer networks (KTNs) are composed of interconnected firms, government entities, and research organizations that play a critical role in the funding, development, and dissemination of knowledge in high-technology industries. Despite the common use of KTNs in situations that require technology inputs spanning multiple firms, little research has examined the start-up of KTNs and the marketing literature has essentially ignored them. Using social network, social identity, and relevant attribution and motivation theories, the authors build a conceptual model that explains key outcomes of start-up KTNs. A preliminary empirical investigation of a UK-wide KTN start-up finds evidence that social identification with the network is a key moderating mechanism. Identification plays a practical role in creating positive knowledge-transfer benefits for firms that are central in the KTN's social network. Identification also plays a symbolic role by affecting participants' perceptions of overall KTN performance in light of knowledge-transfer benefits that they received, and as an antecedent to affective commitment to the KTN.     

Bridging the distance: Managing cross-border knowledge holders

This article examines the micro-level operational difficulties for multinational corporations (MNCs) to generate value from its highly geographically dispersed cross-border knowledge and studies the strategies for overcoming them. Using China as the research context, we identify key geographical, institutional and cultural features of cross-border knowledge holders and examine the dimensions of distance that separates them. We then link these dimensions to the conditions that facilitate cross-border knowledge building processes. In doing so, we propose a conceptual model for overcoming these context-specific knowledge management barriers.     

Coopetition and product innovation performance: The role of internal knowledge sharing mechanisms and formal knowledge protection mechanisms

Coopetition is an important new product development strategy; yet, studies addressing the impact of collaboration with competitors on product innovation performance provide mixed evidence. Conducting Tobit analyses on a sample of 627 manufacturing firms that responded to the fifth wave of the Flemish Community Innovation Survey, we find that the innovation performance implications of competitor collaboration depend on fine-grained intra-organizational design characteristics. In particular, our results show that competitor collaboration has a significant positive impact on product innovation performance only when internal knowledge sharing mechanisms and formal knowledge protection mechanisms are present. These findings contribute to the emerging contingency perspective on coopetition and provide specific recommendations to managers that are involved in coopetitive endeavors.     

Industrial marketing firms and knowledge transfer: Toward a basic typology of community structures

Industrial firm boundaries are dynamic, changing with every new alliance or acquisition. As boundaries evolve, managers must develop organizational structures that effectively leverage knowledge. This paper presents and explains the analytical foundation of a typology of community structures, featuring the basic structures of Crew, Séance, and Guru. This typology is applied to three examples of knowledge transfer in industrial marketing. A competence exploitation example examines knowledge transfer between a firm and a subsidiary established primarily for increasing existing product sales in a new market. A competence creation example examines the community structures for utilizing the product and market knowledge of a subsidiary to benefit the firm's new product development decisions. The final example examines the “tech vs. touch” tradeoffs in interpersonal communication and knowledge transfer. The back-to-basics typology of community structures helps stimulate strategic thinking, and facilitates future explorations of knowledge management in industrial marketing.     

Managing knowledge leakage in strategic alliances: The effects of trust and formal contracts

Although strategic alliances offer opportunities for knowledge sharing and leveraging, they also carry the risk of knowledge leakage to partner firms. In this study, we conceptualize the notion of knowledge leakage as a multidimensional construct and formalize its measurement. We examine the effects of two dominant governance mechanisms—trust (goodwill trust and competence trust) and formal contracts on knowledge leakage. A survey of 205 partnering firms in China indicates that goodwill trust has a U-shaped relationship with knowledge leakage, whereas competence trust has a negative impact. Moreover, goodwill trust and competence trust interact differently with formal contracts on knowledge leakage. This study offers important theoretical and managerial insights for firms to manage knowledge leakage in strategic alliances.     

知识转移在工程项目管理中应用的研究

在工程项目这个复杂的动态过程中，人们不断地获取和创造知识，并将其运用。从知识转移的概念及内涵出发，分析了在工程项目中进行知识转移的必要性，利用一般知识转移的SECI模型分析工程项目管理中的知识转移类型、层次及其具体体现，以工程项目寿命期为主线分析知识转移的过程，并简要说明知识转移效果评价的方法。认为在工程项目管理中应用知识转移可以提高项目成员、参与企业、项目自身及同类项目的知识储备和项目管理水平。     

Managing knowledge in industrial markets: New dimensions and challenges

Managing knowledge in industrial markets has become an increasingly important task in the last 10 years. Many industrial firms paid little attention to the topic, since it was felt that knowledge was easily handled internally and was a simple process. The growth of information technology that centered on the collection, analysis and dissemination of information during the 1990's and early 2000's has necessitated that managing knowledge be taken seriously by industrial marketing managers. By doing so industrial firms can make available increased knowledge content in the development and provision of products and services to industrial marketing managers on all levels of the firm, achieve shorter new product development cycles, and facilitate and manage organizational innovation and learning. This article outlines the new dimensions in knowledge management in industrial marketing that are important for industrial managers, academic researchers, and business firms to understand for the future.     

The interplay of task allocation patterns and governance mechanisms in industrial distribution channels

Task allocation involves the placement and performance of distribution subtasks among participants on an on-going basis in the channel. The authors offer an extended conceptualization of task allocation and examine its interplay in varying environmental conditions with shared decision making, pseudo-vertical integration, and dependence. They test the hypothesized relationships with three-stage least squares regression on a sample of farm equipment dealers. Results show that contractually based pseudo-vertical integration facilitates task allocation and, in turn, enlarged dealer task allocation patterns result in pseudo-vertical integration. Firm size has a significant influence on pseudo-vertical integration. In turbulent environments, dealers rely more heavily on shared decision making to allocate tasks than they do in stable environments. Although dependence increases pseudo-vertical integration, its effects on other factors are minimal. The results suggest that task allocation is an important construct that relates to several commonly observed channel characteristics.     

Relationship and quality management in the Chinese pork supply chain

This article attempts to integrate transactional and relational governance perspectives to investigate interfirm exchange relationships and quality management in the pork supply chain in China. Data from 229 pork processors from eastern China were used for analysis. Path analysis results reveal positive relationships between the degree of asset specificity and uncertainty and the degree of vertical coordination and between the degree of vertical coordination and quality management practices. However, insignificant positive relationships were found between asset specificity and relational governance in the upstream chain and between uncertainty and relational governance in the downstream chain. A discussion of the results and of the implications of the findings is provided.     

Cross-Functional collaboration,competitive intensity,knowledge integration mechanisms,and new product performance: A mediated moderation model

This study draws upon the structural contingency theory to develop a mediated moderation model in order to examine how knowledge integration mechanisms mediate the impact of competitive intensity on the cross-functional collaboration–new product performance relationship. A final sample of 182 Taiwanese manufacturing firms provides the data for the analyses. The results show that (1) competitive intensity weakens the effect of cross-functional collaboration on new product performance and (2) knowledge integration mechanisms mediate the negative effect of competitive intensity on the cross-functional collaboration–new product performance relationship. These results not only provide an explanation for the inconsistent findings documented in the marketing literature but also call on managers to take relevant actions to alleviate the negative influence of competitive intensity on the performance effects of cross-functional collaboration and knowledge integration mechanisms.     

What contributes to the enhanced use of customer, competition and technology knowledge for product innovation performance? : A survey of multinational industrial companies' subsidiaries operating in China

This study extends an emerging research area in knowledge management to new product development by empirically examining the factors associated with the use of different types of knowledge flows from various sources and product innovation performance (i.e., market success of new products) in the multinational companies' subsidiaries in China. The findings seem to indicate the vitality of considering a broad spectrum of knowledge management related variables such as a subsidiary's product development strategy, market conditions it faces, its knowledge capacity and knowledge support structure. Furthermore, we found that subsidiaries with better performance are generally excel in the use of competition knowledge flow, the development of moderate innovative products, communication among different functional departments or product development groups, the codification of knowledge, and a supportive culture.     

Ambiguity and the process of knowledge transfer in strategic alliances

This research examines the role played by the ‘causally ambiguous’ nature of knowledge in the process of knowledge transfer between strategic alliance partners. Based on a cross‐sectional sample of 147 multinationals and a structural equation methodology, this study empirically investigates the simultaneous effects of knowledge ambiguity and its antecedents—tacitness, asset specificity, prior experience, complexity, partner protectiveness, cultural distance, and organizational distance—on technological knowledge transfer. In contrast to past research that generally assumed a direct relation between these explanatory variables and transfer outcomes, this study’s findings highlight the critical role played by knowledge ambiguity as a full mediator of tacitness, prior experience, complexity, cultural distance, and organizational distance on knowledge transfer. These significant effects are further found to be moderated by the firm’s level of collaborative know‐how, its learning capacity, and the duration of the alliance. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural social capital evolution and knowledge transfer: Evidence from an Irish pharmaceutical network

Businesses are becoming increasingly involved in collaboration networks to access external knowledge and sustain innovation. In this context, knowledge and knowledge transfer are considered an important source of innovation and competitive advantage. Social capital theory offers a theoretical approach to explain how individuals, groups, and organizations manage relationships and access knowledge resources. The structural dimension of social capital has stimulated debate regarding optimal network configuration to achieve innovation. The extant literature suggests network structures evolve from a bridging configuration to a bonding configuration without examining the details of how the evolution occurs within the network and its stage-by-stage impact on knowledge transfer. This study explores this relationship by analyzing the evolution of a successful Irish pharmaceutical network involving organizations from industry and academia. This research setting encompasses a rare network configuration in an industry known for its lack of collaboration among competing firms. Findings show that structural holes provide access to a set of complementary and heterogeneous knowledge. However, for such knowledge to be exploited, the network configuration has to evolve from a sparse network (small in size and characterized by weak ties across multiple organizational networks), to a large and cohesive network configuration characterized by high levels of commitment, trust, fine-grained information exchange, and joint problem solving. Mechanisms crucial to this evolution include consistently-scheduled meetings, training to communicate tacit knowledge, wide diffusion of knowledge through an on online portal, and relationship specific investments designed to safeguard intellectual property. Surprisingly, industry members appear to transition to a cohesive network faster than do academic members.     

Cluster and performance in foreign firms: The role of resources, knowledge, and trust

Clustering, the grouping of firms in close geographic proximity to one another, can enhance the performance of affiliated firms by providing access to complementary resources. Despite that some studies have produced empirical evidence supporting the positive impact of clustering, other studies have found no such evidence. Consequently, the consideration of clustering alone to explain differences in firm performance may be insufficient. This study seeks to determine whether the enhancement of firm performance comes as a consequence of clustering at the location level, interorganizational trust at the relationship level, or resource and knowledge management (i.e., the mechanisms of system dependence) at the firm level. Examining a sample group of Taiwanese manufacturers investing in China, we find that interorganizational trust, resources, and the mechanisms of system dependence all have a positive impact on performance. Further, we find that resources interact with clustering to positively impact firm performance.     

From core to periphery and back: A study on the deliberate shaping of knowledge flows in interfirm dyads and networks

We study 892 Italian motorcycle industry projects carried out via 184 different buyer–supplier and supplier‐supplier relationships to provide evidence on the knowledge dynamics occurring in dyads and networks and to understand the underexplored but important (perhaps even dominant) leading role that some firms play in the evolution of networks and interfirm learning processes. We develop a multiphase model which, from a multilevel perspective addressing different relational subsets, suggests how firms can best organize to generate and exchange knowledge efficiently. We argue that extant theoretical perspectives can profitably draw on our findings to strengthen their dynamic components and help them explain the widely diffused ‘exploring through partner’ strategies more effectively. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The evolution of the internet of things industry and market in China: An interplay of institutions,demands and supply

This paper seeks to provide some explanation as to how demand-, supply- and institutions-related factors in China have affected the creation and diffusion of Internet of Things (IoT)-related products and services. Concerning demand side factors the paper demonstrates how potential market size and existing technology trajectory work in favor of IoT diffusion. As a related demand side factor the paper argues that, in terms of the technological trajectory, China has started farther from the frontier than most industrialized countries. The degree of incremental benefit from the IoT is thus higher in the country. As to the supply side factors, the article promotes an understanding of how Chinese technology companies have capitalized on a huge user base to develop IoT-based applications. It also suggests that technologies and expertise provided by foreign multinationals have also played crucial roles. Regarding formal institutions, the government's proactive policies have been a major factor in the IoT's evolution. It is also in the Chinese government's interest to develop IoT products to make censorship and surveillance more effective. Regarding informal institutions, Chinese consumers are less concerned than Westerners about being tracked and monitored, which provides a favorable condition for the adoption of IoT-enabled devices. Nonetheless, this condition is changing due to increasing abuse of consumer privacy. China and the U.S. are compared in terms of diffusion, key determinants, performance indicators and impacts of the IoT in order to understand the areas that China outperforms—and underperforms—the U.S. Some indicators are proposed to gauge the IoT-related performance and the impacts of the IoT.     

Applying knowledge management to project marketing in a demanding technology transfer project: Convincing the industrial customer over the knowledge gap

Literature in project and knowledge management has examined knowledge management in projects, but the utilization of knowledge management in project marketing is still largely unexplored. This study examines the links between knowledge management and project marketing activities in a project where the seller wants to convince the potential buyer about a demanding investment project. An in-depth case study illustrates this in a situation hampered by a technical knowledge gap between the parties. The buyer is committed when they can trust the seller's capability to successfully accomplish the project. The seller must criticize and communicate its core and project specific knowledge of technologies and customer needs through project marketing. A framework and implications on knowledge management and project marketing activities in different project phases is presented. It is proposed that knowledge management is a pertinent tool for project marketing as it helps to understand the roles of different knowledge types.