Knowledge management and intellectual capital in networks of small- and medium-sized enterprises

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical-conceptual model supporting the analysis of the effects of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) networks on knowledge management (KM) and intellectual capital (IC). Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews literature on KM, IC and networks theories. The role of SMEs networks on KM and IC was discussed, analysing previous studies that supported the proposition of the model in question. In such model SMEs networks are seen as knowledge networks which are analysed in terms of the network formation process, the context, the strategy, the organisational culture and the stimuli for the sharing of knowledge. KM is observed in terms of knowledge creation, systematisation and sharing. Finally, IC encompasses human capital, structural capital and relational capital. It is noteworthy that KM and IC were considered deeply and closely related. Findings – The conclusions obtained help to fill an important gap in the management, accounting, KM and IC literature, showing that the processes of creating, acquiring, maintaining, systematising and sharing information and knowledge and IC generation in SMEs networks can be influenced by the network formation process, by the organisational context, as well as by the strategy, organisational culture and stimuli to sharing knowledge. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides a theoretical contribution by increasing understanding of the effect of SMEs networks on KM and IC practices – an understanding still at the early stages in the literature. Moreover, the originality of the model proposed extends the relevance of this research, as the literature does not contain a sufficiently established and tested approach that simultaneously provides a clear view of the relations between SMEs, networks, KM and IC, highlighting how SMEs can use networks as a strategy to achieve a more effective management of the knowledge assets forming IC. So, the paper offers several avenues for future research. Practical implications – Based on previous empirical research, it was perceived that the original model presented in this paper is consistent, collaborating to improve management practice, providing a competitive benchmarking process. This can allow analysts, managers and other decision makers, by using SMEs networks to improve organisational performance, innovation, sustainability, competitiveness and value. Originality/value – The paper presents an innovative theoretical-conceptual model focussed on the role of SMEs networks on KM and IC, indicating a strong link between the former and the latter in such enterprises in terms of performance, innovation, sustainability, competitiveness and value, an issue whose understanding, although quite relevant, is still incipient in the literature

The Role of Business Ethics on Corporate Governance and International Internal Control Frameworks

This paper reports on an analysis of how business ethics is approached within internal control (IC) frameworks provided by the most relevant bodies issuing guidance in this area. The comparative content analysis of the international frameworks shows that only three of them (i.e. COCO, ERM COSO, and King Report) are in fact conceptually concerned with business ethics. It was observed that ERM COSO is the most effective framework to address ethical issues according to the analyzed perspective. The results point out that an adequate structure of IC can contribute to achieving significant levels of corporate governance (CG), and delivering on improved managerial and operational efficiency and effectiveness

A Study on the Use of the Balanced Scorecard for Strategy Implementation in a Large Brazilian Mixed Economy Company

The research described in this paper has analyzed the use of the balanced scorecard (BSC) as part of a management control system for implementing strategies in a large mixed economy company. The shareholder structure of the company combines traditional shareholder interests with those of the government. Based on a case study in Brazil, the research innovates on analyzing BSC use and contributions to translate a company’s strategy (which requires bringing together different views) into objectives and goals aligned to the four BSC perspectives: financial, learning and growth, improvement of internal processes and customer. The results point out that: (1) BSC, when used as part of a MCS, provides effective improvement of the strategy implementation process and its diffusion across the different organizational levels; (2) in the company under analysis, the performance evaluation integrated qualitative, financial and productive dimensions; (3) BSC appeared as an important tool in strategy conception and implementation; and (4) BSC enables to translate the company’s strategy into objectives and goals aligned to the financial, learning and growth, improvement of internal processes and customer perspectives

Extraction of Some Ellagic Tannins and Ellagic Acid from Oak Wood Chips (Quercus pyrenaica L.) in Model Wine Solutions: Effect of Time, pH, Temperature and Alcoholic Content

The subject of the present work is the study of the influence of pH, temperature, alcoholic content and time on the extraction of some individual ellagic tannins (castalagin, vescalagin, grandinin, roburin D and E) and ellagic acid from oak wood chips (Quercus pyrenaica L.) within model wine solutions. The determination of these compounds by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), after 104 extraction days, enabled us to establish the qualitative and quantitative evolution of each component and the effect of each extraction condition on individual and total ellagic tannins from oak wood chips. Vescalagin and castalagin were the most abundant individual ellagic tannins measured under all extraction conditions. Individual ellagic tannins and ellagic acid increased during the first weeks of extraction, followed by a decrease. Under the extraction conditions examined, temperature was the main factor influencing ellagic tannins and elagic acid evolution. The results suggest that a decrease/degradation of these compounds is less noticeable at low temperatures (12ºC). After 104 extraction days the ellagic tannins content in a model wine solution at 12ºC was higher than the content of ellagic tannins in solutions at 20ºC. On the other hand, the effects of alcoholic content and pH of model wine solutions on the extraction and evolution of the analysed compounds (except for castalagin and vescalagin) seemed to be less important than temperature

A STUDY ON THE USE OF THE BALANCED SCORECARD FOR STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION IN A LARGE BRAZILIAN MIXED ECONOMY COMPANY

The research described in this paper has analyzed the use of the balanced scorecard (BSC) as part of a management control system for implementing strategies in a large mixed economy company. The shareholder structure of the company combines traditional shareholder interests with those of the government. Based on a case study in Brazil, the research innovates on analyzing BSC use and contributions to translate a company’s strategy (which requires bringing together different views) into objectives and goals aligned to the four BSC perspectives: financial, learning and growth, improvement of internal processes and customer. The results point out that: (1) BSC, when used as part of a MCS, provides effective improvement of the strategy implementation process and its diffusion across the different organizational levels; (2) in the company under analysis, the performance evaluation integrated qualitative, financial and productive dimensions; (3) BSC appeared as an important tool in strategy conception and implementation; and still that (4) BSC enables to translate the company’s strategy into objectives and goals aligned to the financial, learning and growth, improvement of internal processes and customer perspectives

O recrutamento e selecção de pessoas na área das tecnologias de informação

Este projeto tem como foco as práticas de recrutamento e seleção na área das tecnologias de informação. O objetivo principal é identificar as práticas mais utilizadas em empresas na área das TI em Portugal e verificar a sua eficácia, no que se refere à retenção e ao desempenho dos contratados. Foi adaptado e aplicado um questionário a 31 empresas de TI incubadas no Instituto Pedro Nunes (IPN) e no Taguspark – Parque de Ciência & Tecnologia. Os dados recolhidos referem-se às atividades de recrutamento e seleção do ano de 2015. Quanto às práticas de gestão de recursos humanos de elevado desempenho, as formações e os horários flexíveis são as mais utilizadas. Concluiu-se também que os RH são valorizados nas empresas de TI. Em relação aos métodos de recrutamento e seleção, os mais utilizados são, respetivamente, as referências de colaboradores e as entrevistas respetivamente. No entanto, as parcerias com escolas/universidades e as dinâmicas de grupo mostraram ser os métodos mais eficazes no que se refere à retenção e desempenho dos contratados

Controle do Capital Intelectual: Um Modelo Aplicado à Gestão dos Ativos do Conhecimento

A gestão do conhecimento (GC) e o capital intelectual (CI) têm sido temas de grande relevância no meio acadêmico e empresarial. A literatura sugere que há lacunas de pesquisa que precisam ser mais bem compreendidas. Tais lacunas advêm das dificuldades encontradas por pesquisadores e empresas em gerenciar, medir e controlar os ativos ditos intangíveis de uma organização. O objetivo da pesquisa descrita neste artigo é o de propor um modelo teórico-conceitual que apoie a construção de um sistema de controle do CI e a GC. Com este propósito, foi discutido o desenho do sistema de controle gerencial (SCG) e foram analisados os estudos anteriores que apoiaram a proposição do modelo em questão. Os resultados obtidos ampliam o conhecimento sobre o assunto e ajudam a preencher aquela lacuna de pesquisa, mostrando que: (1) um desenho adequado do SCG pode contribuir para a externalização de parte do conhecimento tácito, transformando-o em conhecimento explícito através de aculturação dos membros da empresa; (2) a cultura organizacional ajuda a sistematizar e disseminar o conhecimento na empresa; (3) o controle cultural pode ajudar a integrar os conhecimentos, gerenciá-lo e transformá-lo em CI; e (4) o SCG tanto pode colaborar no processo de socialização dos conhecimentos individuais como para a institucionalização do conhecimento coletivo com o objetivo de criar valor para as empresas

Gestão da informação e do conhecimento e capital intelectual em redes de pequenas e médias empresas

O objetivo desta tese foi analisar o efeito da associação de empresas em redes de conhecimento (k-networks) sobre as práticas de gestão da informação e do conhecimento (GIC) e sobre o capital intelectual (CI) em micro, pequenas e médias empresas (SMEs, do inglês Small and medium-sized enterprises) brasileiras. Nesse ensejo, tomou-se aqui, como objeto de estudo duas redes interoganizacionais de SMEs da região sudeste do Brasil já consolidadas e que apresentavam indícios de que as participantes utilizam práticas formais e/ou informais de compartilhamento de informações e conhecimentos, constituindo-se, assim, em k-networks. Com base nas teorias GIC, CI e redes, realizou-se um estudo comparativo de casos, descritivo e aplicado no contexto brasileiro, sendo essa estratégia metodológica escolhida por ajudar a entender as relações das quatro variáveis investigadas (GIC, CI, redes e SMEs), bem como o papel das k-networks na geração de conhecimento e CI nas e para as SMEs analisadas. A pesquisa proporcionou contribuições teóricas (i) por elucidar as relações entre redes de empresas, SMEs, GIC e CI – que é uma questão bastante incipiente na literatura; e práticas e gerenciais, (ii) revelando como as SMEs podem usar as k-networks para melhorar sua GIC e criar CI, evidenciando ainda (iii) como essas redes podem trazer benefícios organizacionais e competitivos para as SMEs. Os resultados empíricos (iv) ampliam o entendimento do tema, revelando que (v) as duas redes analisadas já desenvolveram um ambiente físico e social (capital estrutural) para criação do conhecimento, possibilitando (vi) a criação de linguagem, metodologias, estratégias, sistemas, processos, relacionamentos e valores compartilhados (capital relacional). Estes aspectos foram (vii) fundamentais no processo de desenvolvimento das competências (conhecimentos, habilidades e atitudes – capital humano) necessárias para as SMEs analisadas. A (viii) integração dessas empresas em redes facilitou o acesso, o uso, a sistematização e o compartilhamento de grande parte das informações e conhecimentos construídos nas SMEs e nas redes, (ix) gerando, assim, CI em suas três dimensões (capital humano, relacional e estrutural). O estudo realizado revelou que: (x) as redes são um espaço de aprendizagem organizacional, sendo que (xi) culturas similares, linguagem e experiência compartilhadas podem ajudar, e ajudaram, efetivamente, a criar e difundir o conhecimento no interior das redes; (xii) as práticas de GIC e o CI estão profunda e intimamente relacionados; (xiii) o CI, nas redes é, de fato, uma forma de conhecimento autofinanciado; (xiv) a interação entre os conhecimentos individuais e empresariais foi se expandindo ontologicamente até chegar a se solidificar no nível da rede interorganizacional e, em certa medida, superando-o; (xv) os conhecimentos, as experiências e o know-how, ainda que não documentados, podem ser tratados informalmente pelas empresas em uma cultura supraorganizacional (da rede), que forma um conhecimento e um CI coletivo. Em conjunto, as conclusões revelaram (xvi) melhorias significativas em desempenho, capacidade de inovação, sustentabilidade e criação de valor organizacional para as empresas e suas redes, indicando que (xvii) as redes podem e devem ser usadas pelas SMEs como uma estratégia deliberada para criar, adquirir, manter e compartilhar informação e conhecimento, gerando CI e, assim, (xviii) proporcionando benefícios organizacionais e competitivos para as mesmas; Abstract: The objective of this PhD thesis is to analyze the effect of the association of companies in knowledge networks (k-networks) on the practices of information and knowledge management (IKM) and on intellectual capital (IC) in Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this sense, it was taken here, as object of study, two already consolidated interoganizational networks of SMEs in southeastern Brazil, which showed that participants use formal and/or informal practices for information and knowledge sharing, thus constituting as k-networks. Based on the theories of IKM, IC and networks, a descriptive and applied comparative case study in the Brazilian context was performed. Such methodological strategy was chosen because it helps to understand the relationships of the four investigated variables (IKM, IC, networks and SMEs), as well as the role of k-networks in the generation of knowledge and IC in and for the analyzed SMEs. This research provided theoretical contributions (i) to elucidate the relations between networks, SMEs, IKM and IC – which is a rather incipient issue in the literature; as well as practical and managerial contributions, revealing (ii) how SMEs can use k-networks to improve their IKM and create IC, and (iii) how these networks can bring organizational and competitive benefits to SMEs. The empirical results (iv) extend the understanding of the subject, revealing that (v) the two networks analyzed have already developed a physical and social environment (structural capital) to create knowledge, enabling (vi) the establishment of shared language, methodologies, strategies, systems, processes, relationships and values (relational capital). These aspects were (vii) fundamental in the process of developing the competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes – human capital) necessary for the analyzed SMEs. The (viii) integration of these companies into networks facilitated the access, use, systematization and sharing of much of the information and knowledge built on SMEs and their networks, (ix) generating, thus, IC in its three dimensions (human, relational and structural capital). The study revealed that (x) networks are an organizational learning space, that (xi) similar cultures, shared language and experience can help and effectively helped to create and disseminate knowledge within networks; and that (xii) IKM practices and IC are deeply and closely related; as also that (xiii) the IC in networks is, in fact, a form of self-financing knowledge; (xiv) the interaction between individual and business knowledge has been expanding ontologically until it has solidified at the level of the inter-organizational network and, to some extent, surpassing it; (xv) the knowledge, experiences and know-how, although undocumented, can be dealt with informally by companies in a supra-organizational (network) culture, which forms a collective knowledge and IC. Taken as a whole, the findings revealed (xvi) significant improvements in performance, innovation capacity, sustainability and organizational value creation for SMEs and their networks, indicating that (xvii) networks can and should be used by enterprises as a deliberate strategy for creating, acquiring, maintaining and sharing information and knowledge, generating IC and, for this reason, (xviii) providing organizational and competitive benefits for them

Práticas de gestão do conhecimento na internacionalização de pequenas empresas: um estudo comparativo de casos na indústria de café

This paper presents the results of a research that aimed at analysing the effect of the organization in international business networks on the knowledge and information management practices in micro and small enterprises (SMEs) of the Brazilian coffee industry. Through a comparative study of four cases, it was possible to conclude that: (i) the processes of creating, maintaining and sharing information and knowledge are influenced by the network as well as by cooperation, culture, relationships and interactions within and between enterprises, (ii) the sharing of information and experience brings benefits to SMEs, (iii) the network did not promote the systematization of knowledge, but facilitated its development, (iv) the establishment of an enabling environment (‘Ba’) can help individuals and enterprises to create and develop their abilities; in this sense, it was observed that the culture of cooperation can be considered essential to the process of organizational learning.Keywords: knowledge management, international business networks, micro and small enterprises, internationalization strategy, coffee industry.Este artigo apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa destinada a analisar o efeito da organização em redes de negócios internacionais sobre as práticas de gestão da informação e do conhecimento de micro e pequenas empresas (SMEs, do inglês small and medium-sized enterprises) da indústria de café brasileira. Através de um estudo comparativo de casos, concluiu-se que: (i) os processos de criação, manutenção e compartilhamento de informações e conhecimentos são influenciados pela rede, bem como pela cooperação, cultura, relações e interações dentro e entre as empresas; (ii) a troca de informações e experiências traz benefícios para as SMEs (iii); a rede não promoveu a sistematização do conhecimento, mas facilitou o seu desenvolvimento; (iv) o estabelecimento de um contexto favorável (‘Ba’) pode ajudar indivíduos e empresas e pode facilitar a criação e o desenvolvimento das habilidades desses indivíduos e empresas. Nesse sentido, observou-se que a cultura de cooperação pode ser considerada essencial no processo de aprendizagem organizacional.Palavras-chave: gestão do conhecimento, rede de negócios internacionais, micro e pequenas empresas, estratégia de internacionalização, setor cafeeiro

Práticas de gestão do conhecimento na internacionalização de pequenas empresas: um estudo comparativo de casos na indústria de café

This paper presents the results of a research that aimed at analysing the effect of the organization in international business networks on the knowledge and information management practices in micro and small enterprises (SMEs) of the Brazilian coffee industry. Through a comparative study of four cases, it was possible to conclude that: (i) the processes of creating, maintaining and sharing information and knowledge are influenced by the network as well as by cooperation, culture, relationships and interactions within and between enterprises, (ii) the sharing of information and experience brings benefits to SMEs, (iii) the network did not promote the systematization of knowledge, but facilitated its development, (iv) the establishment of an enabling environment (‘Ba’) can help individuals and enterprises to create and develop their abilities; in this sense, it was observed that the culture of cooperation can be considered essential to the process of organizational learning.Keywords: knowledge management, international business networks, micro and small enterprises, internationalization strategy, coffee industry.Este artigo apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa destinada a analisar o efeito da organização em redes de negócios internacionais sobre as práticas de gestão da informação e do conhecimento de micro e pequenas empresas (SMEs, do inglês small and medium-sized enterprises) da indústria de café brasileira. Através de um estudo comparativo de casos, concluiu-se que: (i) os processos de criação, manutenção e compartilhamento de informações e conhecimentos são influenciados pela rede, bem como pela cooperação, cultura, relações e interações dentro e entre as empresas; (ii) a troca de informações e experiências traz benefícios para as SMEs (iii); a rede não promoveu a sistematização do conhecimento, mas facilitou o seu desenvolvimento; (iv) o estabelecimento de um contexto favorável (‘Ba’) pode ajudar indivíduos e empresas e pode facilitar a criação e o desenvolvimento das habilidades desses indivíduos e empresas. Nesse sentido, observou-se que a cultura de cooperação pode ser considerada essencial no processo de aprendizagem organizacional.Palavras-chave: gestão do conhecimento, rede de negócios internacionais, micro e pequenas empresas, estratégia de internacionalização, setor cafeeiro