E-commerce Readiness in Ethiopia: A Macro-level Assessment

This study is a work in progress that sets out to measure the readiness for e-commerce of an aggressively developing economy in East Africa – Ethiopia – a nation that has a significant historical and geo-political status at the horn - in order for it to be able to compete in the global information economy. The paper initially embarks on explaining the distinction among the fundamental concepts of e-commerce, e-readiness and e-commerce readiness. It then reviews some of the major ecommerce readiness studies conducted and models developed both at the regional and international level. From among such models, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) self-assessment tool is selected as an appropriate instrument for adoption and development of a measure for e-commerce readiness in Ethiopia. Apart from identifying the nation’s standing regarding its e-commerce readiness, customizing existing instruments and developing a new version, is believed to add value to the contemporary knowledge capital in the specific domain

Dynamic Level of SMES E-Commerce Readiness Level: An Empirical Investigation in Indonesia

The purpose of research is to describe the profile of SMEs, evaluate and measure the level of e-commerce readiness ability of SMEs which doing in Indonesia, which starting in Ponorogo. The analytical tool used is an ecometer that serves to measure the level of ecommerce readiness capability for registered and monetize the product that are divided into three stages, basic (level 1 to level 3), medium (level 4 to level 6) and ready (Level 7 to Level 9). By using ecometer is expected to provide basic information about the mapping of potential needs and the use of appropriate e-commerce both tools, process and production in Ponorogo. The results of the evaluation and measurement showed that all samples had not passed the measurement at level 1 to level 3. In addition, no one has passed the middle level 4 to level 6, while the top�level measurement, namely level 7 to level 9 only get a maximum score of 60 percent. This explains that SMEs still needs government intervention both in the use of appropriate intellectual property, as well as supporting indicators such as management to register the product, quality improvement in production, and human resources

The role of knowledge protection in knowledge management success models

The world is technologically advancing every day and innovations are coming up frequently. People only feel interested to know about those innovations which create some buzz in the market - the rest of the innovations lost in the bottomless cave of time. One of the primary reasons for such failure is innovators’ too much interest in protecting information related to the creation itself. Undoubtedly, the security of knowledge is vital for any invention, but being extensively protective, can also hamper the innovation process and keep the innovator in the dark about users’ expectations. Therefore, an innovator needs to determine the boundary of knowledge protection to become successful in commercializing any innovation. Although the present structure of knowledge management is very multifaceted, yet, its correlation with technology transfer is inherently evident. Therefore, the proposed solution will try to find out some theoretical background to establish a connection between knowledge protection and the knowledge management (KM) success model. The answer will try to discover the status of knowledge protection as a success factor of the knowledge management success model. A systematic literature review conducts to identify and evaluate the works of researchers, scholars in this field. The review starts with finding the right keywords to discover appropriate journals. Next, relevant articles need to obtain from those journals. Information applicable to the research topic emerges after reading the relevant journals. After the research, it becomes clear that knowledge protection doesn’t get the importance that the author expects while selecting the topic. Knowledge related success factors get less importance during the finding of knowledge management success factors. There are only three articles that appear during the research, where they acknowledge the security of knowledge. The almost same observation detects in the case of knowledge management success models. Most of the time, knowledge protection has not taken into account while developing these models. Only one model considers knowledge protection and another model indirectly acknowledges the importance of protection. Though the models consider user satisfaction widely, but the access to knowledge for the users and the barrier of getting that knowledge due to knowledge protection overlooks significantly

Reconceptualising knowledge seeking in knowledge management: towards a knowledge seeking process model

Promoting knowledge sharing has long been regarded as a very important aspect of the management of knowledge. However, knowledge sharing has its challenges due to the special nature of knowledge. Based on this, the researcher argues that it is knowledge seeking rather than knowledge sharing that plays a crucial role in knowledge management. However, there is no clear definition for knowledge seeking in existing literature. In the few studies of knowledge seeking research, knowledge has been viewed as a noun and as such knowledge seeking has been seen as no different to information seeking. The aim of this research has been to explore the knowledge seeking process in the workplace in order to conceptualise knowledge seeking by developing a theoretical model. A review of the literature concerning knowledge seeking has been conducted in order to clarify the concept of knowledge seeking. From the interpretivist’s perspective, a qualitative research approach has been taken, in which sense-making theory is employed as a methodological guide. Time-line interviews were carried out with construction engineers in China to collect primary data, and Template analysis was utilized. Based on the literature, this thesis defined knowledge seeking as a learning process, which consists of three major themes: experiential learning, information seeking and problem solving, based on which a preliminary framework was developed. Twenty six engineers were successfully interviewed. The findings from the data confirmed the links between the themes. Further codes were also identified to develop a final template, which evolved to a theoretical model illustrating the knowledge seeking process in the workplace. By promoting knowledge seeking rather than knowledge sharing, this research contributed innovatory insight into existing KM research. The new concept of knowledge seeking and the theoretical model developed thereafter contribute to knowledge by providing a theoretical framework for further research in this area. The specific combination of time-line interviews and template analysis has demonstrated good results in this research. Collecting primary data from China, this research applied Western theories onto engineers within a Chinese context, which has contributed to KM research in China. These contributions will result in many practical implications for KM practices

A model for a successful implementation of knowledge management in engineering organizations

Knowledge management (KM) is an emerging discipline that promises tocapitalize on organizations intellectual capital. KM refers to the process ofmanaging the life-cycle of knowledge relevant to areas that are mission criticalto the organization. This includes efforts to capture, store, and deployknowledge using a combination of information technology and businessprocesses. In recent years, KM has become a critical subject of discussion inthe business literature. Both business and academic communities believe thatby leveraging knowledge, an organization can sustain its long-term competitiveadvantage. Approaches to KM varied form emphasizing the capabilities ofinformation and communication technologies to the focus on social systemssuch as employee training and motivation. Engineering organizations led the way in KM initiatives realizing the potential ofsuccessful KM implementation in decreasing production time and cost,increasing quality, making better decisions as well as improve organizations'performance and provide a competitive advantage. Although some engineeringorganizations reported early KM success, other organizations have tried andfailed to implement KM. These failures have been linked to the lack of agenerally accepted framework and methodology to guide successfulimplementation of KM in organizations. This primary aim of this research is to produce a model for a successfulimplementation of KM in engineering organizations which integrates the various approaches and key factors to implementing KM. The study has produced amodel which provides a framework that identifies the different types ofknowledge available in engineering organizations, the KM life-cycle which isneeded to manage this knowledge, and the key factors that facilitate thisprocess. The model also provides management with guidance for implementingKM in their organizations.In order to achieve the aims and objectives of this research, a triangulation nonexperimentalapproach is adopted using qualitative in-depth case study withtriangulation of data collection methods that uses observation, structuredinterviews, unstructured interviews, historical data collection, and documentreview. This is followed by a quantitative approach with the use of aquestionnaire to further validate and generalize the proposed KM model. Inbuilding the KM model a thorough review of previous related literature fromdifferent disciplines was conducted. The literature reviewed included variousissues relating to KM, such as KM approaches, perspectives, frameworks, andmethodologies as well as strategic planning, human resources, instructionaldesign theories, organizational learning, information technology, etc

A framework for talent management to support the 2030 knowledge-based economic vision for Qatar

Over the last few years, the United Nations’ (UN) goals to achieve a sustainable world by 2030 have made a significant impact on many countries and regions; one such region has been Qatar. The national leadership of Qatar, through the strategic leadership of the ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, embarked on an ambitious programme to transform the country’s vibrant oil and gas-centric economy to a knowledge-based economy. The leadership created the Qatar National Vision (2030), which had a focus on ensuring that local Qataris get the maximum benefit from the economy and fully participate in the process of transforming it into a knowledge-based economy (KBE). The QNV 2030 policy has many strands; however, the overarching thread has been to transform the economy through human development and sustainable productivity. In trying to operationalise the transformation of the economy, the government embarked on short-term programmes, such as the development of local infrastructure through the promotion and hosting of international events, including the Asian games and the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup. As a policy, therefore, the QNV 2030 has centred on ensuring that the economy creates a systematic way of attracting, identifying, developing, engaging, retaining and deploying local Qataris to work as knowledge workers within the local economy; this process could be referred to as ‘talent management’ – a sub-set of the human development vision of the QNV 2030, and of the UN at large. This research found that, from the onset, the QNV 2030 policy had no tangible, detailed plan for organisations operating in Qatar to use in order transform the economy into a knowledge-based system through talent management. The research used interpretivist and positivist research philosophies to design a mixed methodology that relied on questionnaire surveys and interviews to gather both qualitative and quantitative data from the industry and from literature in general. The research used data from 284 questionnaire survey responses, 24 interviews and interpretive structural modelling to establish the overall picture that, while industries are aware of the importance of the QNV 2030, there has been no synchronisation of organisational and national goals. In addition, the research found that local cultural tendencies tend to create toxic working environments where leadership is restricted, talentmanagement stifled, and the wrong jobs are given to the wrong candidates. This is creating demotivation amongst those individuals who are well qualified but not socially or culturally connected. The overarching conclusion of the research has been that, while the national leadership foresees a KBE in Qatar by 2030, the strategic leaders of organisations in the economy have failed to link their organisational vision to the national vision for the country. The operationalisation of the QNV 2030 has, to a large extent, focused on maintaining short-term economic gains as opposed to the longer-term visionary gains that could accrue if managers invested heavily in human development through talent management. As such, this thesis proposes a framework through which Qatar’s local economy might be transformed into a knowledge-based system through the deployment of a matrix of knowledge workers in learning organisations. It also sets out the critical strategic steps to be undertaken by organisations in both the private and public sectors