Benefit transfers of cultural heritage values - how far can we go?

Assessing the economic values attached to alternative land uses, when cultural heritage goods are at stake, makes the valuation process more articulated. Economic elicitation of cultural heritage values is quite a recent practice. Not many case studies have applied non-market valuation techniques, such as contingent valuation methods or travel cost methods, to derive monetary estimates of cultural goods attribute and even fewer applications have been policy oriented. Being a relatively recent research field, the first applications have mainly dealt with the challenges faced by the valuation techniques and the validity and reliability of results. These studies, particularly contingent valuation ones, have very high implementation costs. Hence, to obtain primary estimates of cultural values, agencies need to spend a great deal of money and time. Since these resources are scarce, there is an impinging need to consider the possibility of transferring benefit estimates from a specific “study site” for which data has been collected, to a “policy site” for which there is little or no information. An important question often addressed in the literature is what we can learn from individual case studies for a next case study. How general are the results of case study research? Can we transfer findings from a set of rather similar case studies to a new case study? This question is known as the benefit transfer (or value transfer) issue and seeks to investigate under which (general and specific) conditions common findings from various case studies are more or less valid for a new given case at a distinct site. Knowledge acquisition in the social sciences, and hence also in economics, is usually based on a reductionist approach, which eliminates many person-specific, object-specific or site-specific characteristics of a phenomenon, but the major advantage is that it allows for generalization through a common standardized approach that is applicable to a larger population. This methodology lies also at the heart of meta-analysis, which seeks to synthesize research findings from different case studies (van den Bergh et al. 1997, van den Bergh and Button 1997, 1999). Through the use of common relevant descriptors (behavioural, methodological, contextual) it is possible to draw inferences from a large sample of cases. For value transfer (also commonly named ‘benefit transfer’) the possibility of using meta-analysis is of major importance (Bal and Nijkamp 1998a). The basic idea of value transfer is that knowledge accumulated over time may be subjected to a transfer to a new, similar type of study. For the use of knowledge on a new similar study, it would be ideal if almost identical site characteristics could be transferred without any manipulation and if, at the same time, typical site-unique characteristics could be taken into account: that is, if it were possible to adapt derived variables for these site-unique characteristics.Value transfer studies in cultural heritage economics are rather rare, and the idea itself is quite controversial. In this paper we offer a concise – and certainly not exhausting – review of some recent value transfer studies in this area, with a particular view to spatial variability and transferability. We discuss limits and potentialities of benefit transfer approach for cultural values, aiming to raise debate on the topic. We acknowledge the local nature of cultural values and the strict relationship with the population to which the specific heritage belongs, but we focus on the more universally shared values that are embedded in cultural heritage and on possible ways of expressing them in terms of priorities and clusters. More research is needed in this direction before dismissing the possibility to apply benefit transfer in the case of cultural values estimates.

Knowledge transfer processes in Romanian multinational companies

The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge transfers taking place between multinational companies and their locally dispersed subsidiaries. Focusing on the Romanian market it will shed some light on the way multinational companies - which have opened their subsidiaries rather recently in Romania - exploit the organizational knowledge stock and know-how in order to train their new employees. The Romanian economy and market characteristics have changed dramatically along the last decade, partly due to the penetration on the market of a series of multinational companies. For supporting knowledge creation in the Romanian subsidiaries, the headquarters should share and transfer knowledge to the newly created organizational entities characterized by separation through time, space, culture and language. It is also important to be aware of the specific cultural setting of the Romanian market. The case study performed on a multinational company, Nobel Romania, will analyze the way knowledge transfer was performed between headquarters and subsidiaries’ sales departments. Arguments will be drawn upon theory in knowledge management and related fields and an insider view of the process will be provided, along with in-depth interviews with people directly involved in transferring the know-how from headquarters to subsidiaries and people who have absorbed, combined and internalized the knowledge in the work process.knowledge management; knowledge transfer processes; multinational companies in Romania.

Learning Organization Characteristics Contributed to its Readiness-to-Change: A Study of the Thai Mobile Phone Service Industry

This paper aims to verify the relationship between Learning Organizations (LO) characteristics and an organization's readiness-to-change. LOs, based on a review of the literature, seem to have the competitive advantage of high readiness-to-change in today is economic business environment. The mobile service providers in Thailand are selected for this study. The results have shown a substantial relationship between readiness-to-change and the LO characteristics of cultural values, leadership commitment and empowerment, communication, knowledge transfer, employee characteristics, and performance upgrading. This study confirms that LO characteristics are correlated to an organization's readiness-to-change, suggesting that it is essential for organizations to develop into LOs in order to survive and/or prosper in a competitive and ever changing in business environment.

Conceptualizing knowledge transfer as transformation and attunement

This article articulates a new theory on the ontology of knowledge transfer. This involves the work of 1) showing that the question “what happens to knowledge in transfer across divergent contexts?” can be made sense of within a situative approach, 2) providing a new conceptualization of situated knowledge, 3) articulating transfer in terms of knowledge transformation and attunement, and 4) putting the issue of learning to transfer knowledge across divergent contexts (back) on the research agenda. The article builds on a view of knowledge as a unity of know-that, know-how, and know-of; which unity forms a practical embodied perspective with which the agent meets the world in interaction. It is argued that knowledge is situatedly realized in attunement to the requirements, possibilities, and restrictions of the concrete situation, as they dynamically unfold. A framework of context levels for analyzing requirements, possibilities, and restrictions (termed “situational characteristics”) is presented. The levels reflect that an activity will always engage with a domain, in a life-setting, taking place within a societal structure, making use of encompassing cultural practices. It is shown how differences in unities of situational characteristics necessitate the transformation of the knowledge perspective in attunement to the situational characteristics of the new context. Towards the end, it is pointed out how this conceptualization of knowledge transfer opens for research into designing and teaching for learning to transfer. Three recent projects are referenced as an illustration of the approach

Knowledge and Technology Transfer: Levels and Key Factors

Most current literature on knowledge and technology transfer (Appropriability Model, Dissemination Model, and Knowledge Utilization Model), describe the process of transfer in details, but has limitation in terms of their application in contemporary high-tech industries since most studies have not provided plausible explanation on levels and factors affecting transfer of knowledge and/or technology. To overcome these limitations, the four levels of knowledge and technology transfer are suggested: Knowledge and Technology Creation (Level I), Sharing (Level II), Implementation (Level III), and Commercialization (Level IV). Comprehensive literature identifies sixteen variables affecting the process and results of knowledge and tec hnology transfer. The survey results show four key factors in knowledge and technology transfer: Communication, Distance, Equivocality, and Motivation. Communication refers to the degree to which a medium is able to efficiently and accurately conveys task-relevant information and media while distance involves both physical and cultural proximity. Equivocality refers to the degree of concreteness of knowledge and technology to be transferred while motivation involves incentives for and the recognition of the importance of knowledge and technology transfer activities. Further analysis shows that there are four distinctive clusters and they show very contrasting characteristics in terms of four key factors. The careful mapping of the four clusters on the four key factors show very informative knowledge and technology transfer patterns, the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Grid. Finally, actions to increase communication interactivity and motivation, and to reduce cultural distance and equivocality are suggested. Presented at the 4th International Conference on Technology Policy and Innovation (ICTPI) in Curitiba, Brazil.IC2 Institut

Cultural knowledge as international business: entrepreneurial style in the UK traditional Chinese medicine sector

The field of international entrepreneurship has received considerable academic attention over the past 20 years, although paucity remains in our understanding of entrepreneurs as key actors in the transfer of business knowledge across national boundaries. Three types of potential entrepreneurial activity have been identified which can facilitate such processes of knowledge exchange: international, transnational and ethnic. This article sets out to identify characteristics which delineate these different entrepreneurial categories. It focusses on a study of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the UK, a case of non-Western therapeutic practice, where entrepreneurs must transfer knowledge from China to the UK. In the business sample reported below, we discuss the differences between the three entrepreneurial types in transferring knowledge from one cultural context to another

Historic Preservation in Turkey and the United States: a Cross-Cultural Comparison

The research examines and compares the various roles of governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Turkey and the United States, aiming to assess how they shaped the preservation field and their potential knowledge transfer values. The study was conducted in governmental archives, official websites of related organizations and through oral communication and literature surveys related to preservation foundations, NGOs, and waqfs in both countries - with different national, historic, religious, and cultural characteristics. The parameters used as cross-cultural comparison included primary actors and main legislations in preservation both in history and at present. The research has revealed that the waqf system in Turkey has a deep-rooted historic, religious, and socio-cultural context, and differs from the preservation foundations in the USA in many respects. Yet, the foundations established in and after the 20th century in Turkey and the preservation activities of foundations in both countries also share similar motives, stimuli, and objectives to preserve both natural/cultural heritage and cross-cultural comparisons suggest that they may learn from each other by knowledge transfer

Facilitating transfer for adult learners through cross-cultural e-learning

Benefiting from globalization and technology advancement, e-leaming is increasingly being used by work organizations for improving the skills of knowledge workers. However, most workplace e-leaming is too theoretical to impact on-the-job and ultimately fails to serve the organizations\u27 quest for success. The purpose of this literature review is to investigate the variables that affect transfer of learning, and to provide feasible strategies to enhance transfer of learning for international adult learners in cross-cultural online learning environments. By conducting a critical review of purposefully selected peer reviewed journal articles, this review highlights the relationship between cultural differences and learning style preferences of adult learners in e-leaming environments. The analysis of the literature review in this paper is presented as answers to questions which instructional designers, instructors and corporation managers might find relevant when working with cross-cultural learners in e-learning environments. The review suggests three steps to design cross-cultural online learning environments that enhance transfer: considering learners\u27 characteristics in training design; creating supportive learner environments for transfer; and incorporating strategies that elicit transfer. These findings can influence the practice of instructional designers in designing online learning strategies for cross-cultural adults

Cross-border transfer of organizational knowledge : a two country comparison

Organizational knowledge is considered an essential competency for multinational corporations wanting to efficiently transfer their experience and practices to subsidiaries. Knowledge transfer has traditionally been examined through the transmission of routines, rules, and procedures--but when transferring knowledge from one country to the other, cultural characteristics also need to be taken into consideration. This paper uses a multiple case study to investigate how the transfer of know-how is influenced by three factors: level of individualism, the degree of subsidiary autonomy, and time. The sample consisted of seven Canadian and Greek parent companies and eight subsidiaries, with qualitative data triangulated from twenty-seven interviews, as well as documentation and observation. The findings confirm the majority of the hypothesized constructs, indicating that cultural characteristics influence cross-border knowledge transfer

Comparative analysis of knowledge transfer barriers from headquarters to foreign subsidiaries in a MNC

Knowledge transfer between organizational units in international settings helps to build competitive advantage for MNCs. However, knowledge does not flow easily within the organization owing to existence of knowledge transfer impediments. Moreover, knowledge transfer from headquarter to subsidiaries is considered as an important factor for the daughter units’ successful operation. Nevertheless, the previous research presumed that knowledge transfer barriers are identical for all subsidiaries. Therefore, there was two research questions stated in this study. The first one was focused to examine whether knowledge transfer barriers differ in the case of each subsidiary. The second one was dedicated to investigate what factors can affect this difference. Empirical study was conducted through qualitative research method taken place in case study by means of semi-structured personal and phone interviews. There was 12 interviews organized in total: 6 with subsidiary and headquarter managers; and 6 with parent and daughter companies’ employees. The results showed that there are some barriers which will always exist between headquarter and subsidiaries, such as transmission channels, market, cultural and linguistic difference owing to the fact that it is an international transfer. On the other hand, knowledge barriers can vary due to social capital difference between parties and diverse subsidiary characteristics. Study showed that strong personal ties have significant positive effect on efficiency of knowledge transfer, trust building and relationships’ formation. Research showed that such subsidiaries’ specifications as difference in size, age, mode of entry, level of autonomy, and geographical distance determine a variety among knowledge transfer barriers. The results also showed the importance of efficient transmission channels, proper Human Resource Management practices and headquarter role as knowledge transfer facilitator.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format