Gestion del conocimiento en el sector agroalimentario

The objective of the article is to discourse about the management of the knowledge in the food chain. In the 21st century the food chain is being submitted to forts tense that can affect negatively its capacity to give the alimentary products to the whole world population. In this sense, the public opinion is increasingly sensible and the technical and legal procedures that govern the theme are more exigent in function to reach a food supply: sufficient, opportune, continuous and of quality to accessible costs, without prejudice of the health of the consumers and of the maintenance of the environment. This purpose could be reached if the knowledge is managed adequately, because this one has become into a source of competitive advantage for the organizations. The management of the knowledge is a tool of strategic direction of the practices and activities related to the knowledge (intangible actives) required to reach the objectives of the business or industry. Its application in the food industry will improve its levels of competitiveness and sustainability. Key words: food chain, management of the knowledg

IT Operations and Firm Performance: A Review Paper

This article emphasises the competencies in IT market, and how IT affects the development of companies Performance by the financial ratios. This piece of work is a review paper and reviews the literature on the IT Operations and Firms Performance. Most of the firms just invest on IT operation and just focus on new skills by their workforce without caring about other important factors such as the way they should transfer the knowledge, human capitals and organisation learning. Improved training programs help employees to be familiar with the new technological advancement. The Review of the Literature has allowed us to conclude that the value of human capital can generate to the customers derived from skills about the costs incurred. Regarding the uniqueness of human capital, it is a derived fact that, if an asset or skill cannot be duplicated or imitated by another firm, it provides a potential source of competitive advantage to the business.The paper proceeds as follows. The first section is about Introduction. Next three section reviews the empirical literature on the IT Operations, Information Sharing, and Human Capital respectively. Part five,  we will present our analysis of  Firm Performance and IT Operation.part six will introduce an organisational performance, and  Finally, Section seven concludes. Keywords: IT Operations, Information Sharing, Firm performance, and Human

The Importance of Knowledge Transfer in Decision Making

This paper discusses the issues related to capturing and transferring knowledge in management consulting organization and proposes a framework to implement a knowledge transferring environment for intelligent working system. The proposed framework make contribution in the area of capturing tacit aspect of consultant’s knowledge, and how they interpret information and produce unique work. At the same time it explores how the transfer of explicit knowledge plays a major role to understand the interpretation of individual expert. Within the organization various types of knowledge resides which play a major role in organizational learning and also how organization defines itself in the arena of business. The consultants’ knowledge both explicit and tacit, is an intellectual asset to both the organization and the consultants themselves, and thus, makes the technology an important tool to use to find different ways to share this knowledge without jeopardizing individuals’ right to their knowledge that organization or other consultants’ access. Paper reviews literature that discussed researchers’ work on identifying types of knowledge, and various techniques that capture knowledge to resolve the loss of intellectual capital.. An analytical approach is used to analyze the studies and to classify the hidden dimensions of knowledge transfer. It offers a conceptual framework based upon Nonaka’s patterns for creating knowledge and identifies the pattern of knowledge creation and transfer. It applies interpretive organizational learning that is dependent upon the tacit aspect of the consultant knowledge and evaluates levels of professional intellects as operational measurements in knowledge producing organizations by using different techniques and technologies. In the end it postulates a strategic operational model to transfer knowledge especially the tacit knowledge to create a continuous organizational learning environment. It uses an example to understand the implementation of the operational model and to predict a productive resultant value

Knowledge Management in Food Supply Chains

The object of the present article is to discuss Knowledge Management (KM) in the Agrifood Supply Chain (ASC). In the 21st century, the ASC is under strong tensions. This is evident in the drastic changes in the global scene. For example, in the year 2008, food prices were high and unstable. In the last years, the importance of knowledge as a source of competitive advantage for organizations has increased considerably, so it is necessary its management in the ASC in order to surpass the challenges of the 21st century. KM is a direction tool that focuses in determining, organizing, directing, providing and supervising the practices and activities related with the knowledge (intangible active) required to achieve the strategies and objectives of the business or industry, generating a value for the organization at the moment to reach capabilities and competences. In inter-organizational environments, KM is centered on horizontal alliances between two or more partners. However, there are few authors who have analyzed the vertical alliances between suppliers and customers (the supply chain). The existing KM models are applicable for the ASC, as long as a series of conditions are present in the same one. Among these conditions there is one which prevails: The different enterprises that integrate the ASC must coordinate themselves in order to constitute a dynamic network, in which learning barriers are eliminated, so knowledge can flow freely through them. In conclusion, the development of KM models in the ASC, in the framework of untimely, temporary and structural changes in the globalised world, represents a necessary tool to offer safety and quality food to the world-wide population in the 21st century. In this way, food markets will tend to become stabilized in the long term and adequate answers can be provided to the more vulnerable communities and region

Moving KM to the next generation: The contribution of critical systems thinking

Knowledge Management (KM) is multifaceted and grounded in various disciplines including psychology, strategy, organizational behavior, economics, and management. It is therefore not surprising that KM has developed rapidly as a field with a myriad of frameworks designed to address KM needs in organizations. The emphasis of studies tends to be on the application of KM with paucity in the discussion of its theory and underpinning philosophy. As a result, KM is varied in definition and application. The range of KM tools and practices has caused some concern with authors suggesting that there is need for KM to be applied in an integrated manner. Systems Thinking (ST) is the conceptual framework for problem solving that views situations holistically. Critical Systems Thinking (CST) is the latest movement in ST that was born from the need to appreciate the diversity in approaches so as to identify the most suitable methodology for a problem context. CST is described by the commitments of critical awareness, sociological awareness, pluralism, complementarity and human emancipation. The application of CST is said to have reformed ST through its commitments and brought synthesis through the provision of a rational approach of combining system methodologies. Activities that create, capture and utilize knowledge are inherent in systems methods thus indicating a similarity between ST and KM. Authors have as such, called for the use of CST to underpin KM theory and practice. This paper highlights the contribution of CST to the maturity of Systems Thinking as a discipline. Potential use of CST in developing more unified, systemic and holistic approaches to handling KM is put forward. The aim is to spark conversation on the need for a new generation of KM that is grounded theoretically and philosophically, and based on more than practical case studies

An Integrative Framework for Knowledge Management Effectiveness

This study identifies the main elements of knowledge management structures and examines their effects on knowledge management adequacy and subsequently on knowledge management effectiveness. A path model representing the antecedents of knowledge management structure adequacy and the consequence on knowledge management effectiveness is developed and tested empirically. The results indicate that knowledge manage- ment strategy, technology fit, leadership, and culture all significantly affect the adequacy of knowledge management structures and, subsequently, knowledge management effectiveness. Strategy had the strongest effect followed by technology fit and leadership. Surprisingly, culture had the weakest effect

ERP and Changing Work: knowledge management in practice

ERP success is becoming critical for universities as at least 85% of Australian universities are adopting at least one module of an ERP system (Beekhuyzen et al., 2002). This paper explores whether ERP systems enable knowledge management activities to occur in a university environment. The knowledge management processes identified in the theoretical framework are mapped to the ERP processes in the university environment. The influence of the organisational/ social enablers on the ERP processes is also discussed. This research was an emergent issue from a larger project. It suggests that knowledge management activities can and, in this case, do exist in a university ERP environment and that the enablers can be an influencing factor. Universities can benefit from understanding and fully utilising their knowledge management activities to improve data access, storage and dissemination of the existing knowledge that exists within the ERP environment

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION: HOLISTIC FRAMEWORK BASED ON INDIAN STUDY

There is a great need today to acquire, utilise and share knowledge. Today economies have evolved into knowledge economies.Today majority of Fortune 500 companies have knowledge management program in one or another form. Indian business organisations are also feeling need of new business paradigms. Many organisations in India have started knowledge management initiatives. This paper is a part of larger study of Knowledge Management Practices Survey in India. Based on the learning of this study this paper presents Knowledge Management Implementation Framework . Many of the past frameworks are mainly on the process of creation, manifestation use and transfer of knowledge. These frameworks do not take in to account importance of human aspects in knowledge management. This proposed new framework puts proper emphasis on providing training to the employees, providing incentives and rewards to share their tacit knowledge and importance of information technology. Framework is from two-perspective: one organisational and second individual. The major constituents of the framework are : Rewards, Technology, Culture ,Training , Learning ,Strategy, Structure, System, Leadership, Personality, Attitude. Here Rewards, Technology, Culture, Training, Learning are common influencer on organisational and individual knowledge management. Strategy, Structure, System and Leadership are specifically influencing organisational knowledge management. Personality and attitude are more influencing on individual knowledge management

Measuring the Efficiency of Commonality Implementation: Application to Commercial Aircraft Cockpits

Increasing commonality across their models allows commercial aircraft manufacturers to reduce the product development cycle time and tailor their models to their customers’ needs. The cockpit is an area where commonality is thought to be particularly desirable, since it also simplifies the pilots training process for the airline companies. However, no set of metrics is currently able to measure the efficiency of commonality application at this level from a total lifecycle standpoint. In this paper, we propose a set of metrics adapted to large commercial aircraft and taking into account the main parts of the product lifecycle. The concept of lead time is central in our measurement of commonality, as it strongly influences the value of the aircraft for all primary stakeholders. We examine the extent to which these metrics are independent from aircraft particularities (such as physical dimensions). We indicate their limitations and what additional research should be performed to obtain a set of metrics able to measure the efficiency of commonality implementation for the whole aircraft. We use the example of two competing medium-haul aircraft families to test our set of metrics. We evaluate the efficiency of commonality according to our metrics and we compare with field results obtained from the manufacturers’ studies and from the results of interviews of airlines pilots. We show how our se