Knowledge and Management Models for Sustainable Growth

In the last years sustainability has become a topic of global concern and a key issue in the strategic agenda of both business organizations and public authorities and organisations. Significant changes in business landscape, the emergence of new technology, including social media, the pressure of new social concerns, have called into question established conceptualizations of competitiveness, wealth creation and growth. New and unaddressed set of issues regarding how private and public organisations manage and invest their resources to create sustainable value have brought to light. In particular the increasing focus on environmental and social themes has suggested new dimensions to be taken into account in the value creation dynamics, both at organisations and communities level. For companies the need of integrating corporate social and environmental responsibility issues into strategy and daily business operations, pose profound challenges, which, in turn, involve numerous processes and complex decisions influenced by many stakeholders. Facing these challenges calls for the creation, use and exploitation of new knowledge as well as the development of proper management models, approaches and tools aimed to contribute to the development and realization of environmentally and socially sustainable business strategies and practices

The role of intellectual capital in organisational value creation: An application of a theoretical model to two case studies

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University, 17/06/2004.The research in this thesis focuses on the intangible resources of organisations. Intangible resources include an organisation's collective knowledge and learning, leadership talent, the values that shape its culture, routines and processes and the collaborative relationships. These intangible resources are known as intellectual capital (IC) because they support organisational activity along with financial and physical capital. Previous research has classified IC into three principle components of human, organisational and relationship capital and has established a link between IC and organisational value. Recent studies have also emphasised the notion of interrelationships between the three components of intellectual capital in developing capabilities that drive value creation. Yet it is often unclear how the various elements interrelate to one another to generate organisational value. This thesis investigates how IC contributes to organisational value creation. Central to this research is the examination of the mechanisms through which IC factors are integrated within organisations in order to develop capabilities. As innovation is widely agreed to be a determinant of organisational value creation, this research adapted and extended the model of intelligence and innovation proposed by Glynn (1996) to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework for empirically examining the synergistic effects of IC. Building upon four major theoretical streams: resource-based view of the firm, innovation theory, intellectual capital theory and organisational capabilities, this research has elaborated the ideas and constructs presented in the original model and de-contextualised them to an intellectual capital perspective. A qualitative, interpretive approach was applied to two in-depth case studies for investigating the intangible resource-base of two knowledge intensive companies. The results were then expanded to a cross-case context in order to compare and contrast the value creating potential of the IC factors. The findings of this research are presented in the form of a descriptive framework that classifies the characteristics of a value creating process. The purpose of the framework is to provide pointers for identifying IC resources and developing capabilities in a way that provides an organisation with sustainable competitive advantage, and thereby, value

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 67: Maximizing the Results of Federally-Funded Research and Development Through Knowledge Management: A Strategic Imperative for Improving US Competitiveness

Federally-funded research and development (R&D) represents a significant annual investment (approximately $79 billion in fiscal year 1996) on the part of U.S. taxpayers. Based on the results of a 10-year study of knowledge diffusion in U.S. aerospace industry, the authors take the position that U.S. competitiveness will be enhanced if knowledge management strategies, employed within a capability-enhancing U.S. technology policy framework, are applied to diffusing the results of federally-funded R&D. In making their case, the authors stress the importance of knowledge as the source of competitive advantage in today's global economy. Next, they offer a practice-based definition of knowledge management and discuss three current approaches to knowledge management implementation-mechanistic, "the learning organization," and systemic. The authors then examine three weaknesses in existing U.S. public policy and policy implementation-the dominance of knowledge creation, the need for diffusion-oriented technology policy, and the prevalence of a dissemination model- that affect diffusion of the results of federally-funded R&D. To address these shortcomings, they propose the development of a knowledge management framework for diffusing the results of federally-funded R&D. The article closes with a discussion of some issues and challenges associated with implementing a knowledge management framework for diffusing the results of federally-funded R&D

IC and welfare in the fifth stage of Intellectual Capital. Insights from the topic of sustainability

The thesis merges the topic of Intellectual Capital (IC) with some themes of welfare, more in details sustainability and its sub-theme female entrepreneurship. The \u201cFifth Stage of Intellectual Capital\u201d is a recent research trend that sees the concept of \u201cvalue\u201d go beyond the boundaries of the firm to pursue \u201cthe greater good\u201d for the stakeholders and the community. In this perspective, Financial, Environmental, and Social Sustainability and welfare are the key topics. The purpose of the first research (papers 1 and 2) is to investigate the relationship between IC and sustainability using practitioners\u2019 perspectives and by developing an analysis of comments and practices published in 1,651 blog posts in one of the leading online sources of sustainability research. A total of 1,651 posts, with more than 1.5 million words, published by experts are analyzed using Leximancer and content analysis. The results reveal IC and sustainability to be complex topics under active discussion by practitioners, and several links to the IC literature are compared. The findings focus on the managerial practices applied by leading companies, that show IC and sustainability influence each other in answering a plurality of demands. The research identifies the need to study the managerial practices proposed by practitioners, rather than their company reports. The research recommends developing a trading zone for IC researchers and practitioners. It reflects on the role of new communication tools to connect IC and sustainability. The research concludes that the relationship between IC and sustainability could benefit from the fifth stage of IC research that considers the justifications of the worth of IC and sustainability practices. Practitioners require scholars to reduce the ambiguity between IC and its expected results. This would open the door to a potentially productive way of understanding IC and the complexity of economic, social, and environmental value. Researchers should change their research questions from, \u201cWhat is IC worth to investors, customers, society, and the environment?\u201d to \u201cIs managing IC a worthwhile endeavor?\u201d The second research (paper 3) concentrates on one topic, female entrepreneurship as a social sustainability issue. For several decades support for women\u2019s entrepreneurship has been present on the political agenda internationally. The arguments vary, ranging from economic growth and new jobs to human resource utilization to justice and equality. Gender equality is a right recognized and promoted by the United Nations. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by world leaders in 2015 embody a roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind. Achieving gender equality and women\u2019s empowerment is integral to each of the 17 goals, ensuring the rights of women to get justice and inclusion, economies that work for all, and sustaining shared environment. Entrepreneurship is seen as a vital asset for the economic growth, and public entities should foster it by dedicating specific mentoring programs and funding. Women entrepreneurship is seen as a relevant asset too. Female entrepreneurs are more devoted to the welfare, equity, and care more about sustainable development. The study employs a mixed method approach by collecting data from a Regional program which took place in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, during the years 2011-2012. The idea is to investigate the differences between men and women in terms of experience and complexity of the initiative and to understand the issues that prevent women to open their own business. Using a single case study approach, we investigated the role of relational capital,a vital element of the contemporary economy, and a critical asset for female startups. The purpose of the study is to contribute to the debate regarding issues affecting the opening of new companies as well as the link between relational capital and female enterprises.The thesis merges the topic of Intellectual Capital (IC) with some themes of welfare, more in details sustainability and its sub-theme female entrepreneurship. The \u201cFifth Stage of Intellectual Capital\u201d is a recent research trend that sees the concept of \u201cvalue\u201d go beyond the boundaries of the firm to pursue \u201cthe greater good\u201d for the stakeholders and the community. In this perspective, Financial, Environmental, and Social Sustainability and welfare are the key topics. The purpose of the first research (papers 1 and 2) is to investigate the relationship between IC and sustainability using practitioners\u2019 perspectives and by developing an analysis of comments and practices published in 1,651 blog posts in one of the leading online sources of sustainability research. A total of 1,651 posts, with more than 1.5 million words, published by experts are analyzed using Leximancer and content analysis. The results reveal IC and sustainability to be complex topics under active discussion by practitioners, and several links to the IC literature are compared. The findings focus on the managerial practices applied by leading companies, that show IC and sustainability influence each other in answering a plurality of demands. The research identifies the need to study the managerial practices proposed by practitioners, rather than their company reports. The research recommends developing a trading zone for IC researchers and practitioners. It reflects on the role of new communication tools to connect IC and sustainability. The research concludes that the relationship between IC and sustainability could benefit from the fifth stage of IC research that considers the justifications of the worth of IC and sustainability practices. Practitioners require scholars to reduce the ambiguity between IC and its expected results. This would open the door to a potentially productive way of understanding IC and the complexity of economic, social, and environmental value. Researchers should change their research questions from, \u201cWhat is IC worth to investors, customers, society, and the environment?\u201d to \u201cIs managing IC a worthwhile endeavor?\u201d The second research (paper 3) concentrates on one topic, female entrepreneurship as a social sustainability issue. For several decades support for women\u2019s entrepreneurship has been present on the political agenda internationally. The arguments vary, ranging from economic growth and new jobs to human resource utilization to justice and equality. Gender equality is a right recognized and promoted by the United Nations. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by world leaders in 2015 embody a roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind. Achieving gender equality and women\u2019s empowerment is integral to each of the 17 goals, ensuring the rights of women to get justice and inclusion, economies that work for all, and sustaining shared environment. Entrepreneurship is seen as a vital asset for the economic growth, and public entities should foster it by dedicating specific mentoring programs and funding. Women entrepreneurship is seen as a relevant asset too. Female entrepreneurs are more devoted to the welfare, equity, and care more about sustainable development. The study employs a mixed method approach by collecting data from a Regional program which took place in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, during the years 2011-2012. The idea is to investigate the differences between men and women in terms of experience and complexity of the initiative and to understand the issues that prevent women to open their own business. Using a single case study approach, we investigated the role of relational capital,a vital element of the contemporary economy, and a critical asset for female startups. The purpose of the study is to contribute to the debate regarding issues affecting the opening of new companies as well as the link between relational capital and female enterprises

The impacts of engagement in science park collaborative network on innovation capabilities and financial performance of tenant firms

This study aims to examine how engagement in science park collaborative network (ESPCN) influences innovation capabilities and financial performance of on-park firms. Based on the survey towards Beijing and Shanghai science parks in China, it explores how science park ecosystem creates value for their hosted firms. This research address three research questions, including (1) What should the measurement scale of ESPCN entail in order help tenants exploit benefits associated with science park location? (2) What is the impact of ESPCN on innovation capabilities and financial performance of tenant firms? (2) What are individual impacts of four dimensions of ESPCN on innovation capabilities and financial performance of tenant firms

Knowledge transfer mechanisms of University-Industry collaboration: an empirical analysis of the biotechnology industry

This study aims to adopt the transaction cost economics, resource-based theory, and social exchange theory to theoretically analyse university-industry knowledge transfer activities and their determinants and consequences. Four mechanisms are identified for university-industry knowledge transfer, namely equity-based transfer, research contract-based transfer, general contract-based transfer, and relation-based transfer. These determinants are examined in three categories, namely, resource factors, resource dependency and complementarities, and transaction cost factors. The sample was gathered from 145 Taiwanese biotechnology firms, and the results indicate that collaboration with a university improves a firm ’s knowledge transfer performance in terms o f knowledge acquisition, knowledge generation, and commercial success. Relation-based transfer and general contract-based transfer are the most effective ways in which to transfer knowledge, and these are followed by research contract-based transfer, and equity-based transfer respectively. Furthermore, the empirical results illustrate that not all types o f resources contribute to university-industry knowledge transfer activities and knowledge transfer performance. A firm’s resources are found to be useful for the formation o f collaboration, and a university’s resources are beneficial for improving knowledge transfer performance, particularly when they have more knowledge resources and organisational resources. Technology transfer office resources and the relationship resources o f universities and firms facilitate an equity-based transfer and improve the performance o f knowledge transfer. Flowever, the greater property-based resources o f a university and a firm do not generate more university-industry knowledge transfer activities and a better knowledge transfer performance. A university’s greater property-based resources can even decrease the knowledge transfer performance. In addition, it was found that knowledge asset specificity and market uncertainty are related to the formation o f a relation-based transfer, general contract-based transfer, and research contract-based transfer. However, resource dependency and resource complementarity do not appear to have an effect on facilitating university-industry knowledge transfer activities and knowledge transfer performance

Mind Control: Firms and the Production of Ideas

The central questions for economic theories of the firm concern how the production of a good is organized (in the market or within a firm) and why that organization prevails. Derivative to these questions, legal scholars ask how the law affects and is affected by any particular organizational structure. Emerging literature looks at these questions in connection with the law of intellectual property. The prevailing theories in that literature focus primarily, though not exclusively, on patent law and generally adopt a property-rights theory of the firm. Those theories, focusing on residual control and hold-up problems, have shown that as patent rights become stronger, firms may become smaller because property rights facilitate market transactions that would otherwise be too costly. Small, innovative suppliers will not invent component inputs if they cannot protect their invention against post-disclosure appropriation. The producers of the final product will therefore have to develop the technology in-house or the invention supplier will have to perform the postinvention development itself. These insights have important implications for the design of law. This Essay thus highlights an area of intellectual production that cannot be explained by the existing literature on intellectual property and the theory of the firm, and it suggests that some underappreciated alternate theories—like team production—might be at play. I do not claim that the conclusions found in the existing literature are incorrect, but rather that they are limited in scope. Property-rights theories tell us about whether and how an existing intellectual input or the modular unit that produces it will be integrated within a larger development firm but less about how the input will be created in the first place—that is, how the modular unit will itself be organized

Catalog of Approaches to Impact Measurement: Assessing Social Impact in Private Ventures

To inform action impact investors could take to measure impact in a coordinated manner, The Rockefeller Foundation commissioned the study of impact assessment approaches presented here.It is natural to hope to find a single, turnkey solution that can address all measurement needs. In this study we conducted a survey of impact investors and complemented it with seven years of experience in the field of impact investing to discover what these investors want from impact measurement, and conducted in-depth interviews with over twenty entities that have developed and implemented approaches to measuring impact. Our survey of existing approaches was thorough but surely is not comprehensive; however the approaches are a good representation of the current state of play. What we found is that there is not one single measurement answer. Instead the answer depends on what solution is most appropriate for a particular investor's "impact profile" defined as the investor's level of risk tolerance and desired financial return, the particular sector in which the investor operates, geography, and credibility level of information about impact that the investor requires

From Ideas to Practice, Pilots to Strategy: Practical Solutions and Actionable Insights on How to Do Impact Investing

This report is the second publication in the World Economic Forum's Mainstreaming Impact Investing Initiative. The report takes a deeper look at why and how asset owners began to include impact investing in their portfolios and continue to do so today, and how they overcame operational and cultural constraints affecting capital flow. Given that impact investing expertise is spread among dozens if not hundreds of practitioners and academics, the report is a curation of some -- but certainly not all -- of those leading voices. The 15 articles are meant to provide investors, intermediaries and policy-makers with actionable insights on how to incorporate impact investing into their work.The report's goals are to show how mainstream investors and intermediaries have overcome the challenges in the impact investment sector, and to democratize the insights and expertise for anyone and everyone interested in the field. Divided into four main sections, the report contains lessons learned from practitioner's experience, and showcases best practices, organizational structures and innovative instruments that asset owners, asset managers, financial institutions and impact investors have successfully implemented