Knowledge management as intellectual property: Evidence from Mexican manufacturing SMEs

© 2016, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between knowledge management and creation of intellectual property within the context of small and medium size manufacturing enterprises. Design/methodology/approach: A hypothesis was formulated and tested using structural equation modelling. Data were collected through an instrument that was developed based on key constructs adapted from the literature and that was first validated using Confirmatory Factor Analysis. A Cronbach’s alpha test was also conducted and the Composite Reliability Index was calculated to ensure reliability of the theoretical model. The instrument was distributed among manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Aguascalientes region of Mexico, from were 125 valid responses were obtained. Findings: In general, the results indicate that knowledge management has positive effects on the creation of intellectual property in manufacturing SMEs. This suggests that SMEs can create more intellectual property if they dedicate more efforts to the management of knowledge. Practical implications: The implication of this research and its findings may inform the strategies formulated by policy makers, and the managerial practices that manufacturing SMEs can adopt to protect their knowledge. Originality/value: Evidence suggests that studies focused on investigating the relationship between knowledge and intellectual property are limited. This paper provides a refined understanding of the relationship between knowledge management and intellectual property creation

The Impact of Supply Chain Integration on Performance: Evidence from the UK Food Sector

© 2017 The Authors Supply chain Integration has emerged as a major field of interest over the years that involve the strategic alignment of functions and processes within an organization. However, there have been major debates regarding the true design of the kinds of integration that would lead to performance of supply chains. This study develops a conceptual framework from the literature and defines four constructs of integration (customer, supplier, internal, and information integration) to see how this would lead to improved supply chain performance (such as production flexibility, inventory turns, order fulfillment rate, total logistics costs, and operational performance)

Measuring business sustainability maturity-levels and best practices

There has been an increasing interest in corporate sustainability (CS) and how companies should strive for it in order to satisfy stakeholders’ demands concerning social, economic, and environmental impacts. The purpose of this paper was to identify the best sustainability practices and the sustainability maturity levels that allow manufacturing and service companies to contribute to sustainable development in the long run. Based on a qualitative approach, a comparative study of five large companies was deployed in order to determine their sustainability maturity levels and best practices. The research method consisted of a critical review of the literature and category analysis concerning corporate sustainability trends and some of the best well-known performance frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), business excellence models (BEMs), and international standards. The main findings reveal that companies’ sustainability maturity levels range from satisfactory to sophisticated in several sustainability aspects. Best sustainability practices found in this sample include the use of certifications such as ISO 9000, ISO 14001, GRI, and CSR, among others, combined with the systematic use of BEMs over many years. Finally, several key processes such as self-assessment, benchmarking, corporate reporting, strategic planning, and systematic training were found to be significant in helping manufacturing and service organisations achieve their business sustainability objectives.N/

An Investigation into the Structure, Contextualisation and Control of Supply Chain Knowledge

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Identificando las Características de un Prototipo de Sistema de Gestión de Conocimiento Combinado con e-Learning para Autoaprendizaje

Las Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación (TIC) son las herramientas con mayor impacto en todos los ámbitos, tanto social como comercial. Incluso, se observa su continuo crecimiento y diversificación. La educación es un área que puede beneficiarse grandemente del uso de estas herramientas. Existen ya aplicaciones para educación a distancia, así como universidades en línea. Sin embargo, no se encuentra en la literatura esfuerzos donde la administración del conocimiento y el e-Learning se combinen para potenciar un aprendizaje significativo. La presente investigación es el esfuerzo inicial que permite identificar tanto características de una herramienta de este tipo, así como las bases de su operación. Los resultados son positivos e interesantes para continuar hacia el desarrollo del prototipo. El cual se concluyó recientemente y está en etapa de pruebas. A continuación, se presenta un panorama de KMS, e-Learning, seguido el planteamiento del estudio, los resultados obtenidos y las conclusiones