Lorella Cannavacciuolo, Luca Iandoli, Cristina Ponsiglione, Virginia Maracine, Emil Scarlat and Adriana Sarah Nica
The purpose of this paper is to present a social network approach for identification of micro-organizational re-design interventions to make more efficient and fluid the knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a social network approach for identification of micro-organizational re-design interventions to make more efficient and fluid the knowledge flow in a rehabilitation multidisciplinary team. The structural information of different kinds of knowledge networks within a team is augmented with additional analyses aimed at collecting information about the ways through which participants use knowledge, the motivation behind knowledge exchange, and the non-human knowledge sources used by subjects to perform their work. This paperwork was supported by CNCSIS – UEFISCDI, project number PNII – IDEI 810/2008.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors propose a definition of knowledge network including human and non-human knowledge source (documents and knowledge repositories) as it is more adequate for the analysis of knowledge flows in multidisciplary medical teams. The mapping and analysis of the network are carried out through: elicitation of knowledge flows between people within and outside the team through a structured questionnaire; mapping of the knowledge flows toward non-human knowledge sources; and identification of critical aspects and proposal of re-engineering interventions to make knowledge flow more efficient and effective.
Findings
The analysis of the critical aspects emerged in the field study identifies a number of opportunities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of knowledge sharing through the re-design of the team network. The re-design interventions concern three main features of knowledge network: “knowledge centralization,” “Over-reliance on External experts,” “Unshared knowledge tools and sources.”
Originality/value
The originality of the work resides in applying social network analysis (SNA) for healthcare management settings, proving evidence and guidelines to show how healthcare organizations can benefit from the adoption of SNA-based approaches.
Details
Keywords
Lorella Cannavacciuolo, Luca Iandoli, Cristina Ponsiglione and Giuseppe Zollo
The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergence of collaboration networks in entrepreneurial clusters as determined by the way entrepreneurs exchange knowledge and learn…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergence of collaboration networks in entrepreneurial clusters as determined by the way entrepreneurs exchange knowledge and learn through business transactions needed to implement temporary supply chains in networks of co-located firms.
Design/methodology/approach
A socio-computational approach is adopted to model business transactions and supply chain formation in Marshallian industrial districts (IDs). An agent-based model is presented and used as a virtual lab to test the hypotheses between the firms’ behaviour and the emergence of structural properties at the system level.
Findings
The simulation findings and their validation based on the comparison with a real world cluster show that the topological properties of the emerging network are influenced by the learning strategies and decision-making criteria firms use when choosing partners. With reference to the specific case of Marshallian IDs it is shown that inertial learning based on history and past collaboration represents in the long term a major impediment for the emergence of hubs and of a network topology that is more conducive to innovation and growth.
Research limitations/implications
The paper offers an alternative view of entrepreneurial learning (EL) as opposed to the dominant view in which learning occurs as a result of exceptional circumstances (e.g. failure). The results presented in this work show that adaptive, situated, and day-by-day learning has a profound impact on the performance of entrepreneurial clusters. These results are encouraging to motivate additional research in areas such as in modelling learning or in the application of the proposed approach to the analysis of other types of entrepreneurial ecosystems, such as start-up networks and makers’ communities.
Practical implications
Agent-based model can support policymakers in identifying situated factors that can be leveraged to produce changes at the macro-level through the identification of suitable incentives and social networks re-engineering.
Originality/value
The paper presents a novel perspective on EL and offers evidence that micro-learning strategies adopted and developed in routine business transactions do have an impact on firms’ performances (survival and growth) as well as on systemic performances related to the creation and diffusion of innovation in firms networks.
Details
Keywords
Book review by James W. Bronson. Luca Iandoli, Hans Landstrom, and Mario Raffa, eds. Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Local Development. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar…
Abstract
Book review by James W. Bronson. Luca Iandoli, Hans Landstrom, and Mario Raffa, eds. Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Local Development. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc., 2007. ISBN 9781847203274
Guido Capaldo, Luca Iandoli, Mario Raffa and Guiseppe Zollo
In this paper the authors address the issue of the management of the marketing/entrepreneurship interface in small entrepreneurial knowledge‐based firms (EKFs). According to the…
Abstract
In this paper the authors address the issue of the management of the marketing/entrepreneurship interface in small entrepreneurial knowledge‐based firms (EKFs). According to the perspective presented in this work, in such firms, the management of the interface is strictly related to ensuring a suitable balance of market and technological innovation capabilities throughout each phase of firm’s life. In order to contribute to the debate in this research area, the authors propose a theoretical framework based on both organizational configuration and resource‐based theories. Within this theoretical framework, a methodology to evaluate firm’s innovation capabilities based on the use of fuzzy logic is described. The proposed methodology was tested in a field analysis whose results are presented in the paper. On the basis of these empirical results, some useful indications and practical lessons concerning the relationships between marketing/entrepreneurship and innovation in small innovative firms are discussed.
Details
Keywords
Lorella Cannavacciuolo, Luca Iandoli, Cristina Ponsiglione and Giuseppe Zollo
This paper aims to present a methodology for the mapping and evaluation of suppliers’ competencies and know-how. The authors operationalize the concept of organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a methodology for the mapping and evaluation of suppliers’ competencies and know-how. The authors operationalize the concept of organizational competence and provide companies with a customized management tool to map suppliers’ critical competencies for screening strategic from non-strategic suppliers and providing inputs for suppliers’ development.
Design/methodology/approach
Competencies assessment, carried out through a fuzzy knowledge management system (VINCI), is performed through the aggregation of indicators related to the control of critical resources, the degree of implementation of critical processes, the competitive positioning and the financial situation of a supplier. Competencies description and operationalization are based on the bottom-up elicitation of the subjective knowledge managers actually use to assess suppliers’ capability. Such subjective knowledge is then validated and formalized through a top-down approach based on strategic literature.
Findings
The authors tested VINCI on a sample of 38 suppliers of a large company. The results show that the methodology provides its users with a highly customizable knowledge map and its associated decision support tool that keeps into account the peculiar strategic needs of the company in the management of an existing portfolio of suppliers.
Practical implications
VINCI outcomes can be used to perform benchmarking analyses, define entry criteria and thresholds for suppliers’, identify improvement targets and service levels to be considered in the definition of supply contracts, supporting the alignment of supplier’s management with business strategy.
Originality/value
The most important original contribution of this work resides in the operationalization and measurements of firms’ competencies based on the elicitation of subjective knowledge that managers use in the actual assessment. A further distinctive feature of this paper is that the method is applied to small and medium companies, whereas large part of the literature on core or organizational competencies assessment is focused on large companies.
Details
Keywords
Luca Iandoli, Ivana Quinto, Anna De Liddo and Simon Buckingham Shum
In this paper the aim is to present Debate Dashboard, an online collaborative platform designed to support distributed knowledge management and decision making. The platform…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper the aim is to present Debate Dashboard, an online collaborative platform designed to support distributed knowledge management and decision making. The platform integrates an argument mapping tool with visual widgets with the objective of enhancing collective sense‐making and mutual understanding as well as to compensate for the costs of mediated communication in virtual collaborative environments.
Design/methodology/approach
The design of Debate Dashboard is based on the theory of common ground according to which participants involved in a conversation build mutual understanding thanks to the exchange of different types of feedback. Using the concept of grounding cost, the authors identified several features of the Dashboard supposed to favour mutual understanding and knowledge sharing. Such features have been implemented through six visual widgets selected through a benchmarking of currently available visualization tools.
Findings
The paper discusses the limitations and advantages of online argumentation to support online discussions and presents a review of current visualization tools. The design of a new platform able to integrate online argumentation and visualization technologies is described and it is argued that Debate Dashboard will improve online collaboration in many respects especially in terms of supporting the construction of shared knowledge representations for geographically distributed collaborative teams.
Originality/value
First, the work adds to the debate on the development of online argumentation platforms by offering an alternative theoretical perspective based on language and conversational studies. Second, it proposes for the first time to integrate argumentation and visualization technologies in the same tool to create an augmented collaborative platform able to overcome the limitations of both traditional online collaboration technologies, such as forums and wikis, as well as the criticalities associated with the use of argumentation technologies.
Details
Keywords
Giovanni Schiuma, Daniela Carlucci and Antonio Lerro
Nowadays organizations have realized that knowledge, its effective use and the fast acquisition and utilization of new knowledge represent the only source of sustainable…
Abstract
Purpose
Nowadays organizations have realized that knowledge, its effective use and the fast acquisition and utilization of new knowledge represent the only source of sustainable competitive advantage. In fact, an effective exploitation and management of knowledge resources are the basis of the development of those capabilities that ground the organization's capacity to deliver successfully targeted value propositions. During recent decades, there has been a growing interest in the processes of management of knowledge resources. Currently the debate on knowledge management processes is still lively. The dynamics which link knowledge processes to value creation, the valuation of their impact on organizational performance and the role of some organizational and technological resources as enablers or restraints of successful knowledge management emerge as relevant topics to be investigated. This introduction to the special issue aims to develop some theoretical and managerial reasons explaining the importance of an effective management of knowledge processes to deal with the uncertainty, change, and turbulence of the current socio‐economic scenario.
Design/methodology/approach
The approaches, evidences and insights discussed in this introduction are largely based on the discussion of the topics of the conference “International forum on knowledge assets dynamics” organized in June 2010 in Matera, Italy. At this conference, leading experts discussed the challenges and practices of measuring and managing knowledge resources to support value creation and business performance improvement of organisational systems.
Findings
The outcomes of this introduction and of all the contributions to the special issue reflect the emerging discussion about the role of knowledge processes and, more generally, of the management of knowledge resources, in value creation. This discussion is largely focused on the dynamics at the base of the translation of knowledge processes and resources into value, highlighting properly approaches and tools or application in different contexts of analysis.
Originality/value
This introduction, as well as all the contributions to the special issue, deal with different aspects which are important in the discussion both of the role played by knowledge processes in achieving outstanding organisational performance and the approaches, tools, methods and techniques to structure, organize knowledge resources and optimize their use in order to support effective organizational processes execution and value creation.
Details
Keywords
Abstract
Details
Keywords
Shepherd Dhliwayo and Abdella Kosa Chebo
This study aims to examine the dimensions of technological innovation capability (TIC) and associated factors from the perspectives of sustainability.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the dimensions of technological innovation capability (TIC) and associated factors from the perspectives of sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have systematically reviewed publications by synthesizing and comparing the findings and arguments from previous studies.
Findings
The study locates a wide-ranging advance of sustainable TIC as a construct by demonstrating the leading dimensions and key factors interrelated to the sustainable TIC. The foremost IC that has been addressed includes process, product, marketing, R&D and knowledge ICs.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should test the extent of the contribution of TIC in intensifying the determining factors toward enhancing performance and sustainability. Besides, the undermined external aspects such as social responsibility and the natural environment should be addressed by future researchers to develop a comprehensive sustainable TIC.
Originality/value
This study reviews the various researches in the subject matter of sustainable TIC to show the developments as well as to provide comprehensive understandings in the subject.