Investigating knowledge management factors affecting Chinese ICT firms performance: An integrated KM framework

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in the Journal of Information Systems Management, 28(1), 19 - 29, 2011, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/10580530.2011.536107.This article sets out to investigate the critical factors of Knowledge Management (KM) which are considered to have an impact on the performance of Chinese information and communication technology (ICT) firms. This study confirms that the cultural environment of an enterprise is central to its success in the context of China. It shows that a collaborated, trusted, and learning environment within ICT firms will have a positive impact on their KM performance

A Blueprint for Knowledge Management in the Biopharmaceutical Sector

This research examined current industry Knowledge Management (KM) methodologies and capabilities in order to gain insights into the level of maturity and understanding of KM within the biopharmaceutical sector. In addition, the researcher has developed models, tools and processes that can assist the sector to gain greater clarity of the value and merits that KM can offer to organizations. The researcher proposes that a systematic KM program can be used to “unlock” the knowledge and organizational capabilities necessary to convey real competitive advantage, but more importantly for the patient, to enable organizations to successfully develop and deliver the next generation of advanced therapeutics. The research questions asked; What are the current levels of adoption of KM within the biopharmaceutical sector? How is ‘critical knowledge’ defined within organizations? What might represent the core elements of a Pharma KM Blueprint to better enable knowledge flow within organizations? The research approach adopted a pragmatic worldview which is most suited to a research topic that is both real world practice orientated and problemcentered and sought to examine the consequences of actions within the biopharmaceutical sector when knowledge is not managed effectively. There were three primary phases of inquiry employed in the thesis and a mixed methods approach was used to explore the problems addressed. The first phase involved quantitative and qualitative data analysis of relevant literature sources, including available international KM benchmarking data. The second phase involved a biopharmaceutical industry consultation phase comprising of focus groups, polls and philosophical dialogues with KM experts, sector KM practitioners and knowledge workers. The third and final phase of inquiry involved the adaptation and development of the Pharma KM Blueprint including practical KM tools, frameworks and models for use within the biopharmaceutical sector. This phase also included a detailed case study executed within one large biopharmaceutical organization of a KM diagnostic tool and process developed as part of this research. The research findings have established a core principle that knowledge must be valued and managed as a critical asset within an organization, in the same manner as physical assets. In addition, the research identified that in order to realize the ambitions of ICH Q10, stated as, ‘enhance the quality and availability of medicines around the world in the interest of public health’, (ICH Q10, 2008), there is a crucial need to enhance the effective and efficient flow of knowledge across the product lifecycle within organizations. The research finds that in order to extract value from this organizational knowledge there must be practical, integrated and systematic KM approaches implemented for the identification, capture, curation and visibility of the critical knowledge assets before the matter of enhancing the flow of knowledge can be addressed. The research indicates that while these concepts are important to any business within the traditional biopharmaceutical sector planning on remaining competitive, they represent a “game changer” (or “game over”) opportunity for any organization planning to develop, manufacture or market advanced therapeutic products, personalized medicines or next generation products. A key output of the research is the Pharma KM Blueprint that illustrates the holistic integration of core KM principles, models and tools to deliver the real benefits to the patients and the business

Online communities: utilising emerging technologies to improve crime prevention knowledge, practice and dissemination

Foreword: Online communities are increasingly being recognised as a way of sharing ideas and knowledge among different practitioner communities, particularly when practitioners are not able to meet face to face. This paper explores the considerations associated with establishing online communities for crime prevention practitioners, drawing on research from across the community of practice, online community and knowledge management sectors. The paper provides an overview of the administrative considerations of online community development, as well as the key barriers and enablers to practitioner engagement in an online community, and the potential implications for a crime prevention-specific practitioner community. As such, it is a useful tool for those in the crime prevention sector wanting to maximise the influence of an existing online community or to guide those contemplating the implementation of an online community of practice in the future

An investigation into the information-seeking behaviour of professionals, working within the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in Ireland.

Purpose: This research aimed to investigate the information-seeking behaviour (ISB) and information needs of different professional groups within the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in the Republic of Ireland (i.e. for what purpose information is acquired), the information sources professional groups use (including in-house documentation, regulations, industry guidelines, standards and colleagues) and the factors, which influence professional groups' choice of information sources. Furthermore, the research explored the perceived level of support that exists towards knowledge and information sharing. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative non-experimental research design, comprising of a self-completion survey questionnaire, was used to examine a number of information-seeking variables: information triggers, information sources and source influencers as well as information sharing enablers. It was related to four professional tasks: process technology/process development, regulatory support and quality/compliance support and engineering. Findings: The research provides new insights into the ISB of pharmaceutical professionals working within a highly regulated and high-performance production environment, including a greater understanding of the context in which professional groups experience information needs. The levels of agreement observed in relation to employees' perception of information-sharing enablers indicated an overall positive level of information sharing. Research limitations/implications: The study points to largely echoed previous findings which suggest that individual work role associated tasks prompt particular information needs. Further to this, work role associated tasks have a bearing on information source selection. Pharmaceutical professionals engaged in positive levels of information and knowledge sharing, relying on procedures, other colleagues and internal documentation as information sources. The participants also indicated a high level of agreement in respect to the value of available subject matter experts as information-sharing enablers. Practical implications: Organisations should aim to create opportunities for adequate time to share information and organisational structures, facilitating an overall organisational culture of sharing. A focus on information sharing through forums, seminars, meetings and working groups could enhance information sharing, through the development of communities of practice. Social implications: Pharmaceutical professionals relied on trustworthiness and quality as professional' top information source-influencing factors. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that working within a high-performance, target-driven and time-constrained production environment brings a particular contextual impact, where frequent urgent information triggers are experienced. These contextual factors warrant further investigation. Originality/value: A paucity of information exists with respect to the ISB of professionals, working within the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, which is a sector known for its high level of information use and production. This paper offered an original empirical investigation of the ISB of professionals, working within the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in the Republic of Ireland, focussing on key professional tasks. The research also addressed the level of support available for knowledge and information sharing

Open Innovation, ambiguity and technological convergence

Objectives. Current paper aims to provide a fresh conceptual framework on the relationship among open innovation, decision ambiguity, and technological convergence. We argue that there is a curvilinear relationship between open innovation and both technological convergence and ambiguity. Contained level of convergence and ambiguity foster open innovation, whilst an excess of them is an impediment to collaboration. Technological convergence further acts as a moderator for ambiguity, in light of the benefits of isomorphism. Methodology. We propose a conceptual framework for open innovation decisions after accurately reviewing the main literature antecedents. Findings. We suggest an inverse u-shaped relationship between open innovation and either ambiguity or technological convergence. Research limits. In future, the theoretical framework proposed by thus study has to be tested with robust and proper statistical techniques on large scale samples. Practical implications. The model offers a heuristic for open innovation decisions under ambiguity. Originality of the study. To the best of our knowledge, the relationship linking open innovation, technological convergence and ambiguity emerges as a literature gap. This study tackles this issue, proposing an interpretation for the analysis of alliances decision in innovation

Inter-professional education and primary care : EFPC position paper

Inter-professional education (IPE) can support professionals in developing their ability to work collaboratively. This position paper from the European Forum for Primary Care considers the design and implementation of IPE within primary care. This paper is based on workshops and is an evidence review of good practice. Enablers of IPE programmes are involving patients in the design and delivery, providing a holistic focus, focussing on practical actions, deploying multi-modal learning formats and activities, including more than two professions, evaluating formative and summative aspects, and encouraging team-based working. Guidance for the successful implementation of IPE is set out with examples from qualifying and continuing professional development programmes

Unlocking Knowledge to Benefit the Patient : How Connecting KM and QRM Can Strengthen Science and Risk-Based Decision Making

This thesis explored knowledge management effectiveness in the pharmaceutical sector and included an examination of the critical relationship between knowledge management (KM) and quality risk management (QRM) as the dual enablers of an effective pharmaceutical quality system. The primary research objectives were to improve understanding and effectiveness of the interdependency between KM and QRM and to improve knowledge management across the pharmaceutical product lifecycle, starting with a focus on knowledge transfer during technology transfer. The thesis explored how improved KM across the product lifecycle coupled with thoughtful and intentional connectivity between KM and QRM as defined by this study could lead to more informed risk-based decision making and ultimately help benefit patients. This research study employed a variety of methods, including literature review, expert interviews, philosophical dialogue, focus groups, and case studies as a means to include a large number of stakeholders across the pharmaceutical sector. The study progress was disseminated through a variety of methods and channels including several peer-reviewed papers and conference presentations as a means to solicit input and feedback. The research findings verify that while KM and QRM are considered highly interdependent in theory, in practice they are – at best – partially integrated. This suggests the industry is not leveraging the best knowledge available to inform QRM, leading to sub-optimal risk-based decision making. Furthermore, knowledge created during QRM activities may not be effectively managed. When considering technology transfer, the study found that while knowledge transfer is considered critically important, knowledge transfer is only marginally effective for explicit knowledge and somewhat ineffective for tacit knowledge. This lack of effective knowledge transfer poses a risk to successful technology transfer and the goals of ICH Q10. In response to these findings, the research generated a variety of outputs, many of which have already demonstrated outcomes and impacts on the sector and have the potential for seminal importance. These outputs include a Knowledge Management Process Model to define the process of knowledge management, the Risk-Knowledge Infinity Cycle (RKI Cycle) as a framework to unite KM and QRM, a framework for knowledge transfer enhancement (KTE Framework) during technology transfer, and a variety of case studies to demonstrate the impact of these outputs and their applicability across the product lifecycle. These outputs can be immediately applied to the benefit of the pharmaceutical sector. Areas of future study include additional assets such as training and application materials to accelerate application of these outputs. Additional opportunity also exists to better define knowledge transfer toolkits, create knowledge management frameworks for other phases of the product lifecycle, and to better define the relationship between data analytics, knowledge management and risk management

A theoretical exploration of hospital clinical pharmacists' perceptions, experiences and behavioural determinants in relation to provision of optimal and suboptimal pharmaceutical care.

Pharmaceutical care describes a range of patient-focused activities delivered by pharmacists. The activities aim to optimise medicines use for patients and to reduce harm from adverse events with medicines. This study was conducted in an NHS Scotland organisation, where the clinical pharmacy service has an established quality management system. It was evident that some gaps existed in the quality assurance parameters for clinical pharmacy services and pharmaceutical care, with there being no clearly defined route to report adverse events or near misses that arose from within the service. In quality management terms this meant it was difficult to determine whether optimal pharmaceutical care was being delivered, or to establish how accurate clinical pharmacists were in their pharmaceutical care activities. Additionally, this meant it was difficult to evidence areas for quality improvement. This study aimed to explore the perceptions, experiences and behavioural determinants of the hospital clinical pharmacists in relation to optimal and suboptimal pharmaceutical care within an NHS organisation in Scotland using a theoretical framework. The research used the concept of suboptimal pharmaceutical care to describe the gap between pharmaceutical care as intended and pharmaceutical care as delivered. This research used qualitative study design and a phenomenological approach, and was conducted in two phases with the first phase influencing the design of the second phase. In Phase 1, focus group methodology was used to determine perceptions of hospital clinical pharmacists to optimal and suboptimal pharmaceutical care. Study participants (n=20) were hospital clinical pharmacists recruited from hospitals across the NHS Scotland health board. A topic guide focused the discussions on the activities related to medicines reconciliation and Kardex/medicines review. Data generated from focus groups was in the form of written statements and audio-recorded narrative to describe participants' perceptions of barriers and enablers to providing optimal pharmaceutical care. The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), an integrative theoretical framework that describes behavioural determinants, was used to analyse the findings. Phase 2 used in-depth interviews to explore participants' (n=10) experiences of optimal and suboptimal pharmaceutical care. A semi-structured interview schedule was developed using TDF, to facilitate identification of behavioural determinants to the provision of optimal and suboptimal pharmaceutical care. Within Phase 1, participants perceived that there were barriers to the delivery of optimal pharmaceutical care, citing as contributory elements time factors, lack of policy and procedure, conflicting priorities (including uncertainty over efficiency versus thoroughness), poor underpinning knowledge of medicines by doctors, and inadequate skills in completing and documenting activities. In Phase 2, key determinants were elicited, including knowledge (of trainees), time, policy, procedure or guidance on suboptimal pharmaceutical care, and personal and professional barriers and enablers, including professional embarrassment and hierarchy. The study has allowed an exploration of an underacknowledged topic in clinical pharmacy practice and identified behaviours, including role uncertainty and embarrassment, that may contribute to lack of reporting on suboptimal pharmaceutical care. Recommendations have been made using behavioural change technique interventions and include educational interventions, skills training, modelling, enablement, persuasion, incentivisation, coercion, restriction and environmental restructuring. Implementation of these interventions and evaluation of their effectiveness will enable the organisation to have more robust quality assurance parameters within the clinical pharmacy service, and to ensure continued conformance with the quality management system. Across the wider clinical pharmacy community, lessons may be learned about perceptions and experiences relating to suboptimal pharmaceutical care, and consideration made to capturing the learning opportunities that can arise when considering suboptimal pharmaceutical care in practice