Collaborative Infrastructures for Mobilizing Intellectual Resources: assessing intellectual bandwidth in a knowledge intensive organization

The use of intellectual assets of key professionals to provide customized goods and services is seen to be a key characteristic of knowledge intensive organizations. While knowledge management efforts have become popular in organizations that depend on the knowledge and skills of their employees, it is unclear what the benefits of such efforts are and how these intellectual resources may actually create value for the organization. At the same time, vast information and communication technology infrastructures are being implemented to tap into the diverse intellectual resources to little effect. This paper uses the Intellectual Bandwidth Model originally developed by Nunamaker et al. (2001) to investigate the extent to which do collaborative technologies support the mobilization of intellectual resources to create value for an organization. Following a investigation of the intellectual bandwidth of a large multinational consulting company, this paper provides insight into the role of technology for mobilizing intellectual resources and offers implications for developing infrastructure to support core business processes

Preparing for the coming storm: Exploring interactions between corporate values and crisis management

One of the most prevalent corporate trends of the last several years has been the rush for companies to identify their core purpose and core values as a means to differentiate and create a sustainable winning culture. Yet even with more emphasis on stated ethical philosophies, internal crises and scandals have continued to plague corporations. This pilot project uses in-depth interviews with senior public relations executives from large companies. The project examines how companies integrate corporate ethical philosophy into their crisis planning and response procedures and concludes that, while a well-entrenched core values program can serve as a powerful tool and a framework for crisis planning and decision-making, it should not be viewed as a panacea. Further, the research finds that poorly executed values programs are destabilizing to an organization and actually make crisis response more problematic

東アジアにおけるコンテンツ流通と日韓コンテンツ政策の比較分析研究

早大学位記番号:新7676早稲田大

Building capacity in climate change policy analysis and negotiation: methods and technologies

Capacity building is often cited as the reason “we cannot just pour money into developing countries” and why so many development projects fail because their design does not address local conditions. It is therefore a key technical and political concept in international development. Some of the poorest countries in the world are also some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Their vulnerability is in part due to a lack of capacity to plan and anticipate the effects of climate change on crops, water resources, urban electricity demand etc. What capacities do these countries lack to deal with climate change? How will they cope? What steps can they take to reduce their vulnerability? This innovative and high-profile research project was part of a larger project (called C3D) and conducted with non-governmental organisations in Senegal, South Africa and Sri Lanka. The research involved several participatory workshops and a questionnaire to all three research centres

Blockchain in the built environment: analysing current applications and developing an emergent framework

Distributed ledger technology (DLT), commonly referred to as ‘blockchain’ and originally invented to create a peer-to-peer digital currency, is rapidly attracting interest in other sectors. The aim in this paper is (1) to investigate the applications of DLT within the built environment, and the challenges and opportunities facing its adoption; and (2) develop a multi-dimensional emergent framework for DLT adoption within the construction sector. Key areas of DLT applications were found in: smart energy; smart cities and the sharing economy; smart government; smart homes; intelligent transport; Building Information Modelling (BIM) and construction management; and business models and organisational structures. The results showed a significant concentration of DLT research on the operation phase of assets. This is expected given the significant resources and lifespan associated with the operation phase of assets and their social, environmental and economic impact. However, more attention is required to address the current gap at the design and construction phases to ensure that these phases are not treated in isolation from the operational phase. An emergent framework combining the political, social and technical dimensions was developed. The framework was overlaid with an extensive set of challenges and opportunities. The structured and inter-connected dimensions provided by the framework can be used by field researchers as a point of departure to investigate a range of research questions from political, social or technical perspectives

Future visioning system for designing and developing new product concepts in the consumer electronics industries

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis discusses development of a future visioning system model that can be adopted to create new product concepts for consumer electronics companies operating in a highly competitive business environment. The research work investigates consumer electronic product companies and their market environment to identify problematic issues and indicates that a proactive new product strategy which opens new markets through developing concept-led products is a strategic priority, thus the concept development stage in new product development process is in need of improvement. An evaluation of existing concept development tools for the purpose of proactive product strategy is presented and concludes that future visioning procedure is the most appropriate tool. To develop a future visioning system model as a concept development tool, the theoretical future visioning system models are analysed and mapped to extract essential structure and contents of future visioning procedure. The consequent future visioning system model is then revised according to the findings and suggestions from the field research work which investigated four major consumer electronics product companies in practice. The findings also validates the necessity of adopting a proactive product strategy and evaluates acceptability of the future visioning system model for practical use. The final future visioning system model is defined after the opinions of the design managers are considered and applied. The major suggestions from the research findings are: (1) Executing proactive product strategy can be a valuable strategic tool (2) A new process is necessary for the companies to create one-step-ahead product (3) Future visioning system is recommended as an advanced approach that creates new product concept. (4) Future visioning system model should consist of eight stages: project initiation, environmental scanning, future visioning, generating product concepts, scenario planning, concept testing, concept visualisation, and finalized concepts. (5) Product concepts can be generated from future vision by applying backcasting. (6) Scenario planning should be used in the future visioning system model as a concept testing tool providing objective validating criteria. (7) Executing a future visioning system model creates new roles for the designer such as information integrator, process moderator, and futurist

Power in intercommunal knowledge networks: on the endogenous dynamics of network governance and knowledge creation

"Im Mittelpunkt des Papiers stehen empirische und theoretische Befunde zu den endogenen Dynamiken interorganisatorischer Wissensnetzwerke. Die Analyse basiert auf einer qualitativen Studie interkommunaler Wissensnetzwerke der lokalen Beschäftigungspolitik. Dabei wird ein Lebenszyklusmodell interorganisatorischer Wissensnetzwerke skizziert, empirisch illustriert und theoretisch erklärt. In dieser dynamischen Perspektive zeigt sich, dass die Interaktion von Wissen, Macht und Vertrauen für die Entwicklung und Koordination von Wissensnetzwerken eine zentrale Rolle spielt. Zudem wird deutlich, warum Netzwerkinnovationen häufig in Verbindung mit Konfliktereignissen stehen. Die Ergebnisse leisten einen Beitrag zu einem dynamischen Konzept von Netzwerkgovernance." (Autorenreferat)"This paper presents empirical and theoretical findings about the endogenous dynamics of interorganisational knowledge networks. Based on a qualitative study of intercommunal knowledge networks in local employment policy a model of knowledge network life cycles is outlined, empirically illustrated, and theoretically explained. It is argued, that the interdependence of knowledge, power and trust plays a central role for the internal dynamics of networks. The paper also aims to show why network innovation and creativity is often closely linked to internal conflicts. The results have consequences for a dynamical concept of network governance." (author's abstract