3 research outputs found
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Development of a knowledge sharing framework for improving the testing processes in global product development
As identified by Griffin (1997) and Kahn (2012), manufacturing organisations typically improve their market position by accelerating their Product Development (PD) cycles. One method for achieving this is to reduce the time taken to design, test and validate new products, so that they can reach the end customer before competition. This paper adds to existing research on PD testing procedures by reporting on an exploratory investigation carried out in a UK-based manufacturing plant. Exploring the organisational and managerial factors that contribute to the time spent on testing of new products during development. The investigation consisted of three sections, viz. observations and process modelling, utilisation metrics and a questionnaire-based investigation, from which a proposed framework to improve and reduce the PD time cycle is presented. This project’s main focus is the improvement of the utilisation of product testing facilities and the links to its main internal stakeholders - PD engineers
Organisational knowledge integration towards a conceptual framework
This study analyses organisational knowledge integration processes from a multi-level and systemic perspective, with particular reference to the case of Fujitsu. A conceptual framework for knowledge integration is suggested focusing on team-building capability, capturing and utilising individual tacit knowledge, and communication networks for integrating dispersed specialist knowledge required in the development of new products and services. The research highlights that knowledge integration occurring in the innovation process is a result of knowledge exposure, its distribution and embodiment and finally its transfer, which leads to innovation capability and competitive advantage in firm
Model to study the flow and use of knowledge in outsourced knowledge intensive projects: a multi-case study of three vaccine clinical trials in Latin America (countries researched: Colombia, Brazil and Mexico)
This thesis offers insights from knowledge management theory to understand the flow
of knowledge across the multiple actors involved in the execution of a clinical trial in
Latin America. In the last 12 years, the participation of Latin America in the business of
clinical trials has significantly increased, becoming a highly demanded region to
implement sponsored clinical research, overtaking regions like Africa, India, Southeast
Asia, and Middle Eastern countries. Also, over this period, sponsors have increased the
outsourcing of in-house activities such as trial monitoring, pharmacovigilance and
regulatory services to Contracted Research Organisations (CROs), shifting the ‘two
organisations’ and bi-directional relationship between the sponsor and the research
sites. This change in the clinical trials landscape has also taken place in Latin America,
where in addition to the CRO, the figure of Site Management Organisations (SMOs)
has emerged to manage multiple research sites over the course of the trial. Therefore,
the internationalisation of clinical research, plus the outsourcing of strategic activities,
have transformed the implementation of clinical trials in the region.
On the other hand, the results of a clinical trial depend strongly on the analytical skills
and cognitive capabilities employed by people working on the project. These
characteristics make the clinical trial a Knowledge Intensive Project (KIP), where the
main project outcomes depend to a large extent on the use of knowledge by the
workers, and the transfer of knowledge data and information across the multiple
organisations working in the clinical trial. Because knowledge is the primary
production factor in a clinical trial, and in the context of Latin America, to my
knowledge, there is reduced research about the production of clinical evidence and the
role of each one of the actors over the execution, the main research question that this
thesis answers is: How does knowledge flow across organisations and is employed by
people in their firms to implement the clinical trials and obtain their respective results?
To answer this research question, I proposed and evaluated a three-step model to study
the flow of knowledge, data and information across multiple organisations being part
of the clinical trial and the use of these to produce the knowledge products by the
sponsor and the research sites. This model has its roots in the literature of knowledge
‘models, work and processes’, the concept of interdependence and the literature of
knowledge transfer and acquisition in the outsourced project. The model consists of
three steps to address, at the inter-organisational level, the transfer and acquisition of
knowledge, data and information and the interdependency on results; and at the intra-organisational
level, the use of knowledge and storage. The presented model was
evaluated and complemented based on the evidence collected through a multi-case
study of three multi-organisational clinical trials to evaluate three new vaccine
candidates in Colombia, Brazil and Mexico.
The findings of this research indicated that the model was robust to study the flow of
knowledge, data and information between the sponsor and the research sites, from the
design of the protocol to the production of the clinical data. The results also indicate
that the presence of intermediaries decreases the transfer of knowledge and
information between the parts, and induces the selectivity of the research sites toward
one of the sources of knowledge, the Sponsor, the CROs or SMO. The evidence shows
that the acquisition of knowledge by physicians demands a knowledge-destruction
capability to actively employ the acquired knowledge in the trial and the constant
presence of loops to reinforce the knowledge acquisition. The empirical findings of
knowledge and data acquisition by the research sites and the sponsor contributed to
developing the concept of permeability, contributing to the literature of knowledge
acquisition in outsourced projects. This research addresses, for the first time, the
implementation of vaccine clinical trials in Latin America countries and the
contribution of the local researcher to the project, especially with their knowledge
about the communities intervened. But it also highlighted some of the aspects that
affect the implementation of clinical trials, such as the labour conditions in academia,
which induce turnover, and the lack of harmonisation among clinical trial regulation
in the region. In conclusion, the model proposed allowed me to address simply the
complexities that take place in the production of knowledge products in multi-organisational
clinical trials in Latin America countries