Reflecting on knowledge management as an enabler of innovation in project-based construction firms

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the ways innovation becomes enabled through knowledge management and sharing which has important implications for establishing and sustaining the culture of innovative thinking in project-based construction firms. This study adopts a reflective practitioner perspective to explore this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 30 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the construction sector professionals whose roles are most relevant in the connection between innovation and knowledge management. Thematic analysis and cognitive mapping techniques were used to analyse the interview data. Findings: The research findings indicate that due to the complexity of project-based construction firms, a more holistic approach to knowledge management and organisational learning at the firm level is required. This would enable a culture of continuous and coordinated knowledge flow that facilitates innovation and continuous improvement in project-based firms. Practical implications: This paper has important implications for practising managers in project-based construction firms. By better understanding the ways organisational knowledge can be managed to become an enabler of innovation would allow to build and enhance firms’ innovative capabilities, individual and team competencies. There is a real need for innovation knowledge managers as formal job positions in the construction sector. Originality/value: This study contributes to construction innovation and project management research and practice by providing insights into establishing and sustaining the culture of learning and innovative thinking

Do the Codes of Conduct and Ethics reflect Reality in Management Consulting?

The management consulting firms’ competence and capacity to provide high quality services and thereby create, transfer and develop managerial knowledge have an important role for the client firms and the society. The international management consulting associations have formulated Codes of Conduct and Codes of Ethics that aim to regulate and provide guidelines for the management consulting firms’ activities. This paper investigates whether there is a fit between the Codes and (a) the current modes of management consulting, and (b) the needs of the consulting firms to learn and develop continually their knowledge base and competencies. The analysis indicates that the majority of the Codes tend to support one-directional, i.e., ‘directive’, ‘content-based’, and ‘transplantation-based’ type of consulting. In the cases where the Codes recommend interaction, they could emphasize two-directionality and mutual interaction between the consultant and the client more clearly and explicitly, in the spirit of ‘nondirective’, ‘process-based’, and ‘translation-based’ consulting models. As to the development of the consulting firms’ knowledge and competencies, the analysis reveals that the Codes emphasize necessary qualifications and the quality of advice. With two exceptions the Codes do not directly and explicitly indicate the dynamic aspect, i.e., that the consulting firms should develop their skills and knowledge continually. Also, there is variation concerning the methods to develop competencies. Therefore, there are several unutilized opportunities to develop the Codes to meet better the needs of the knowledge society

The impact of Human Capital Management on the Innovativeness of research Center

Nowadays, we are moving towards a knowledge economy where the competitiveness of firms is mainly based on their capacity of innovation, and on the management of their intellectual capital. Moreover, it is widely accepted that firm’s innovation capabilities are more closely linked to their intellectual capital than to their fixed assets. The importance of intellectual capital for innovation has attracted researchers interested in determining its elements and the process by which enhances the innovative capabilities and performance of firms (Carmen Cabello-Medina et al, 2011).   There is a multi-faceted description of intellectual capital as proposed by intellectual capital theorists. A study by Sveiby (1987), for example, proposed that knowledge-based assets could be found in three places: the competencies of organization members, its internal structure; such as: patents, models, computer and administrative assets, and external structure such as brands, reputation and relationships with customers (Rosmah et al, 2008). As a general perception, intellectual capital has three components: human capital, structural capital and relational capital (Suciu, 2000).   The human capital has been emphasized as one of the key success factors of a company. It can be assumed that most successful companies have organized or at least they should have organized their management of the human capital systematically. The management of human capital can be put into practice by applying competence management and knowledge management practices. Numerous studies of competence and knowledge management have been carried out but the practices of this area are still not very well known (Hannula et al, 2003). Moreover, Subramaniam and Youndt (2005) found that the combination of human and social capital positively affected firms’ innovative capabilities (T.T. Selvarajan et al, 2007).   This research aims at examining the impact of human capital management on the innovativeness of Scientific Research Centers through competencies and knowledge management approach. The study was applied to the case of Scientific Research Centers in Algeria; such as: (CREAD, CRSTRA, CDTA, CDER, CERIST, CRBt, CRAPC, CSC, CRSTDLA, and CRASC). The data of the study was collected through interviews and a questionnaire during 2011-2013, and it was analyzed using SPSS 18.0 to determine the interaction between the various factors. The findings broadly support the hypothesis and suggest a number of insights about future studies. Key words: Human Capital Management, Knowledge Management, Competencies Management, innovativeness, Scientific Research Centers in Algeri

How Knowledge Accumulation changed the Competitive Advantage of Strategy Consulting Firms

Research evidence confirms that the accumulation of knowledge contributes to the competitive advantage of firms. In the strategy consulting industry, one of the most knowledge-intensive professional services industries, however, established firms that exploited their knowledge accumulation by adding exploitative consulting practices have found their performance has deteriorated. To investigate this phenomenon, this paper will describe how the increasing share of exploitative practices in the strategy consulting industry has attracted both established ICT-related consulting firms and new entrants, and enabled clients to expand their problem-solving abilities. We will argue that these developments in terms of competitiveness and client competencies have reduced the attractiveness of exploitative practices for established strategy consulting firms. To analyse these developments and to provide strategic options for the established strategy consulting firms, a conceptual framework will be proposed. Based on this framework, three strategic option are identified: ‘Follow the herd’, ‘Become ambidextrous’ and ‘Back to the original focus.’ In summarizing our argument, we highlight the pros and cons of these options and the implications for top management

KNOWLEDGE AND COMPETENCE MANAGEMENT IN PROJECT BASED ORGANIZATIONS- AN INTERNAL MARKET-BASED MODEL

Recently, project-based organizations (PBOs) received increasing attention as emerging organizational forms, in which projects tend to become the primary business mechanism for coordinating all the main business functions of the firm. The literature widely recognizes that these organizational structures face peculiar knowledge and competence management and organizational learning issues as well as the risk of internal strategic misalignment. This thesis addresses these issues by adopting a market-based approach to exchange knowledge and competencies within the boundary of the firm. This kind of approach looks promising as it addresses specific ineffectiveness of the PBOs mainly connected to the presence of the project dimension within the organization, where knowledge and competencies risk to be stuck, against the interest of the organization as a whole. A market-based approach promises to address, among the others, the motivational issue, which is one of the main brakes on the development of effective knowledge and competence management systems, by providing the users with a transparent mechanism based on the law of supply and demand. This approach has received certain attention from the literature over time, but it is generally under-researched in the project management and knowledge management literature, as well. This thesis aims to investigate this kind of approach in the context of large PBOs. First, a systematic literature review on knowledge and competence management in project-based organizations was developed. Second, based on the background of this study, I conducted some case studies in large PBOs in order to highlight the main knowledge and competence management issues currently faced by project-based organizations. Third, on the basis of the needs and requirements in terms of internal knowledge and competence management emerged from the interviews, I developed the conceptual framework of a market-based internal knowledge and competence management system and, fourth, I submitted it to the respondents of the first round of interviews in order to collect feedback. The feedback was negative. Confronting managers and employees with a market-based approach to exchange knowledge and competencies internally has brought to light aspects of the organizational culture that are deeply averse to this idea. The cases shedding light on several critical aspects of model applicability mainly due to technical, organizational, managerial and cultural issues. Fifth, an agent-based model of a knowledge market was designed and developed and the preliminary results of working simulations with different initial settings of selected parameters are presented in the thesis. The model is very general in nature and could be applied to describe both an internal corporate market and knowledge trading dynamics among firms in a knowledge ecosystem. This approach represents an innovative way to address the management of knowledge and opens the way for many future developments. The thesis is organized in five main parts: a systematic literature review on knowledge and competence management in PBOs, case studies and development of the knowledge market model, design and implementation of an agent-based model of a knowledge market and finally the analysis of data returned by the simulator

STRATEGIC POSITIONING UNDER AGRICULTURAL STRUCTURAL CHANGE: A CRITIQUE OF LONG JUMP CO-OPERATIVE VENTURES

Structural change in US agriculture has disrupted the traditional organization of the supply chain. Not only does the scale increase of firms common during the industrial period (1970-1995) continue, but also with the rise of a knowledge-based economy, new organizational forms and supply chain linkages are proliferating. Examples are the radical transformation of the relationship between input suppliers and producers in the biotech arena, the dominance of the swine industry by the integrated model, the rise of marketing and production contracting, and the arrival of multi-member closed producer organizations such as the new generation cooperatives and limited liability companies. The focus of this research is these new integrated producer organizations. Much of the activity and subsequent analysis of new producer organizations has focused on value-added opportunities through integration (i.e., Merrett et al, 1999). There are numerous examples from pasta plants and egg breaking, to cattle feeding, hog slaughter, and alcohol production. These value-added opportunities we define as long jump ventures. That is, they lie outside the core competencies of the principles in the firm, the producers. Strategic management theory (Prahalad, 1986,1990,1993; Quinn, 1977,1990; Mintzberg, 1987,1994,1996,1998,2000) suggests that there may be other opportunities available to producer organizations that better leverage their core competencies, short jump ventures. Short jump ventures are value-creating opportunities that involve a minimum R&D, less capital, less risk, and less direct specialized knowledge. While the economy at large is producing vast quantifies of long jump innovations in the fields of biotechnology and information, there is another revolution occurring in business involving short jump innovation in the area of service. This new field, known as; one-to-one marketing (Pepper, 1993, 1999), relationship management (Hansen, 1983), relationship marketing (Curry, 2000), and strategic partnering (Rackam, 1996), focuses on the supplier-client interface. Value is created by significant coordination between supplier and client. The boundary between firms is blurred, knowledge is actively shared, and partners are dedicated to mutual profitability. By understanding the needs of the client, the supplying firm is able to adapt its products and more importantly services. This creates a unique and more valuable business for the supplier insulating it from competitive forces and allowing greater value capture. This not only creates greater supply chain efficiency, but intra-firm and inter-firm product innovation result as well. The objective of this paper is to study strategic options for production agriculture dealing with the failure of the commodity business model. From this analysis of strategic positioning the paper introduces relationship management as a viable strategic alternative for commodity producers. Finally, a case study of the Wairarapa Lamb Cooperative, a New Zealand based firm doing business in the United States, is introduced. The case serves not only as an example of relationship management in agriculture but also demonstrates how producers can work within their own core competencies, leverage knowledge assets, and avoid highly specific fixed assets. The methodology will be: 1) Review the literature as to the types of activities in which integrated producer organizations are engaged. 2) Present a theoretical model of strategy analyzing short jump versus long jump ventures. 3) Introduce Relationship Management. 4) Employ a case study example of the theory in practice. This paper theoretically analyzes producers' vertical integration through "brick and mortar" investments, such as hog slaughter and ethanol production. A theoretical model using strategic management theory and a case study are used to critique the long jump strategy and suggest relationship management as a more viable alternative.Agribusiness,

Human Resources and the Resource Based View of the Firm

The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm has influenced the field of strategic human resource management (SHRM) in a number of ways. This paper explores the impact of the RBV on the theoretical and empirical development of SHRM. It explores how the fields of strategy and SHRM are beginning to converge around a number of issues, and proposes a number of implications of this convergence

Human Resources Strategy: The Era of Our Ways

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss some of the main features and trends in human resources (HR) strategy. Inasmuch as people are among the most important resources available to firms, one could argue that HR strategy should be central to any debate about how firms achieve competitive advantage. But this “people are our most important asset” argument is actually fairly hollow in light of the evidence. Far too many articles on HR start with this premise, but the reality is that organizations have historically not rested their fortunes on human resources. The HR function remains among the least influential in most organizations, and competitive strategies have not typically been based on the skills, capabilities, and behaviors of employees. In fact, as Snell, Youndt and Wright (1996:62) noted, in the past executives have typically tried to “take human resources out of the strategy equation--i.e., by substituting capital for labor where possible, and by designing hierarchical organizations that separate those who think from those who actually do the work.

Leveraging Internal Competency and Managing Environmental Uncertainty: Propensity to Collaborate in International Markets

Purpose – The choice of an international market entry mode involves two critical considerations, leveraging internal competencies and managing environmental uncertainties in host countries. The purpose of the paper is to explicate how these two considerations affect the propensity to collaborate in international markets. Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds on existing theories and develops hypotheses showing relations between competencies and uncertainty and collaboration in international markets. Findings – Conceptual relations show that the goals of leveraging competencies and managing environmental uncertainty in host countries have varying effects on the level of international collaboration. Originality/value – The effects are shown through the integration of different theories and empirical findings. Furthermore, the significance of collaboration in international market entry decisions is established. Directions for future research are also provided