Enabling Distributed Knowledge Management: Managerial and Technological Implications

In this paper we show that the typical architecture of current KM systems re.ects an objectivistic epistemology and a traditional managerial control paradigm. We argue that such an objectivistic epistemology is inconsistent with many theories on the nature of knowledge, in which subjectivity and sociality are taken as essential features of knowledge creation and sharing. We show that adopting such a new epistemological view has dramatic consequences at an architectural, managerial and technological level

e-Business challenges and directions: important themes from the first ICE-B workshop

A three-day asynchronous, interactive workshop was held at ICE-B’10 in Piraeus, Greece in July of 2010. This event captured conference themes for e-Business challenges and directions across four subject areas: a) e-Business applications and models, b) enterprise engineering, c) mobility, d) business collaboration and e-Services, and e) technology platforms. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methods were used to gather, organize and evaluate themes and their ratings. This paper summarizes the most important themes rated by participants: a) Since technology is becoming more economic and social in nature, more agile and context-based application develop methods are needed. b) Enterprise engineering approaches are needed to support the design of systems that can evolve with changing stakeholder needs. c) The digital native groundswell requires changes to business models, operations, and systems to support Prosumers. d) Intelligence and interoperability are needed to address Prosumer activity and their highly customized product purchases. e) Technology platforms must rapidly and correctly adapt, provide widespread offerings and scale appropriately, in the context of changing situational contexts

Practicing Capitals Across Fields: Extending Bourdieu to Study Inter-Field Dynamics

This essay extends a Bourdieusian perspective on the microfoundations of institutions. Drawing on this perspective, we argue that the recursive dynamics of institutions and action orient actors towards the maintenance of distinct and contradictory practices within, rather than bridging across, different fields. We corroborate our argument with an illustration of how corporate executives strategize within the tax field compared to the philanthropy field. Specifically, we show how actors are simultaneously oriented by different capitals towards apparently contradictory strategies. Our essay provides promising avenues for future research on the microfoundations of institutions, inter-field dynamics, and critical accounting and business ethics studies

Knowledge Management: A Primer

Knowledge Management is an expanding field of study. In this paper we clarify and explain some of the terms and concepts that underlie this field. In particular we discuss knowledge and its related philosophies; how the sociotechnical aspects of organizations can assist in knowledge management and how communities of practice can thus be supported; how knowledge can be valued in an organization; and the idea of intellectual capital. We conclude that knowledge management is not an easy \u27fix\u27 to an organisation\u27s problems. Implemented well it can increase productivity, improve worker collaboration, and shorten product development times. Implemented badly it may incur significant costs without delivering these benefits

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

A Comprehensive Classification of Business Activities in the Market of Intellectual Property Rights-related Services

Technology and intellectual property markets have witnessed great developments in the last few decades. Due to intellectual property rights gaining more importance and technology companies opening up their innovation processes, a wide range of intellectual property rights related services have emerged in the last two decades. The goal of this research is to develop a comprehensive classification system of intellectual property rights related services (IPSC). The classification is created by applying an ontology engineering process. The IPSC consists of 72 various IPR services divided into six main categories (100 Legal Service; 200 IP Consulting; 300 Matchmaking and Trading; 400 IP Portfolio Processing; 500 IPR-related Financial Service; 600 IPR-related Communication Service). The implications of the thesis are directed to policy makers, technology transfer managers, C-level executives and innovation researchers. The IPSC enables practitioners and researchers to organize industry data that can be thereafter analyzed for better strategy and policy making. In addition, this contributes towards organizing a more transparent and single intellectual property market.:Acknowledgements I Abstract II Contents IV List of Figures VI List of Tables VII 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Introduction to Technology Markets 1 1.2. Explanation of Key Concepts 5 1.3. Research Questions and Goals 9 1.4. Readers Guide 13 2. Literature Review 15 2.1. Intellectual Property Markets State of the Art Review 15 2.2. Ontology Engineering State of the Art Review 22 3. Methodology 26 3.1. Methontology 26 3.2. Planning the IPSC 29 3.3. Specification 30 3.4. Conceptualization 31 3.5. Formalization 32 3.6. Integration 32 3.7. Evaluation 33 3.8. Documentation 33 3.9. Realization and Maintenance 33 4. Data description and collection framework 34 5. Applying Methontology 46 5.1. Knowledge Acquisition and Planning the IPSC 46 5.2. Specification 46 5.3. Conceptualization 47 5.4. Formalization 54 100 Legal Service 56 200 IP Consulting 60 300 Matchmaking and Trading 65 400 IP Portfolio Processing 72 500 IPR-related Financial Service 76 600 IPR-related Communication Service 81 5.5. Integration 86 5.6. Evaluation 95 5.7. Documentation 104 5.8. Realization and Maintenance of the IPSC 106 6. Interview Results and Further Discussions 108 6.1. Implications for Industry 108 6.2. Contributions of the IPSC 110 6.3. Limitations of the IPSC and Future Work 112 7. Conclusions 116 References 120 List of experts interviewed and the date of interview 129 Appendices 13

The Work of Communication

The Work of Communication: Relational Perspectives on Working and Organizing in Contemporary Capitalism revolves around a two-part question: "What have work and organization become under contemporary capitalism—and how should organization studies approach them?" Changes in the texture of capitalism, heralded by social and organizational theorists alike, increasingly focus attention on communication as both vital to the conduct of work and as imperative to organizational performance. Yet most accounts of communication in organization studies fail to understand an alternate sense of the "work of communication" in the constitution of organizations, work practices, and economies. This book responds to that lack by portraying communicative practices—as opposed to individuals, interests, technologies, structures, organizations, or institutions—as the focal units of analysis in studies of the social and organizational problems occasioned by contemporary capitalism. Rather than suggesting that there exists a canonically "correct" route communicative analyses must follow, The Work of Communication: Relational Perspectives on Working and Organizing in Contemporary Capitalism explores the value of transcending longstanding divides between symbolic and material factors in studies of working and organizing. The recognition of dramatic shifts in technological, economic, and political forces, along with deep interconnections among the myriad of factors shaping working and organizing, sows doubts about whether organization studies is up to the vital task of addressing the social problems capitalism now creates. Kuhn, Ashcraft, and Cooren argue that novel insights into those social problems are possible if we tell different stories about working and organizing. To aid authors of those stories, they develop a set of conceptual resources that they capture under the mantle of communicative relationality. These resources allow analysts to profit from burgeoning interest in notions such as sociomateriality, posthumanism, performativity, and affect. It goes on to illustrate the benefits that investigations of work and organization can realize from communicative relationality by presenting case studies that analyze (a) the becoming of an idea, from its inception to solidification, (b) the emergence of what is taken to be the "the product" in high-tech startup entrepreneurship, and (c) the branding of work (in this case, academic writing and commercial aviation) through affective economies. Taken together, the book portrays "the work of communication" as simultaneously about how work in the "new economy" revolves around communicative practice and about how communication serves as a mode of explanation with the potential to cultivate novel stories about working and organizing. Aimed at academics, researchers, and policy makers, this book’s goal is to make tangible the contributions of communication for thinking about contemporary social and organizational problems

People centred eco-design: consumer adoption of low and zero carbon products and systems

Literature review, research model and findings of exploratory empirical research on consumer adoption and effective use of low and zero carbon technologies ranging from a hybrid car to solar water heating systems