The Role of Informal Networks in Knowledge Sharing

The application of a knowledge management strategy does not take place in a vacuum. Successfully meeting objectives of a knowledge management strategy may depend not only on the efficacy of the strategy itself or of the team that is responsible for its implementation, but also on the environment into which it is being introduced. Research carried out with an application service provider (ASP) indicates that existing informal communication networks will continue to operate independently of any formal strategy introduced. The significance of informal knowledge sharing activity may be in its incompatibility, or possible conflict, with any formal structures that are introduced. The success of any formally instigated knowledge management strategy might therefore depend on an understanding of the existence and nature of already active informal knowledge sharing structures. It is important for management to recognise the existence of such informal networks and to understand how they might affect the success of any formally introduced knowledge management strategy. In this paper the existence and reasons for informal networks, and their subsequent effects on formal knowledge sharing policy is examined

Fostering Innovation in the National Systems: An Application to Spain

Background: The sharing of practices that enable the flow and the distribution of tacit knowledge and other ways of proprietary knowledge are essential requisites for promoting an innovation system. Objectives: In this paper a diagnosis of the Spanish Science and Technology System is offered by using the normalized protocol for responsible partnering proposed by EIRMA. Methods/Approach: The triple helix model has been used to identify the agents that take part in the system. The grounded theory has also been applied to analyse interactions and interviews with seven key agents in the system. Results: The lack of common objectives among the main partners in the system is the most important weakness; the New Acts developed in the last three years is a strength that allows the different agents of the system to share objectives. The economic crisis is a threat for the performance of research within the university context and becomes at the same time an opportunity to establish closer relationships. Conclusions: Universities, firms and governments must synchronise their work to accomplish a common objective: produce high levels of innovation that aim to enhance the competitiveness of the system

A review and a conceptual framework of the key value drivers of mass customisation

The aim of this paper is to conceptualise the key value drivers of mass customisation in order to provide a structured approach to explain the added value that customers attribute to mass customised products. We assume that the added value of mass customisation is ultimately reflected in an increased willingness to pay. Previous studies show diverse results concerning customers' willingness to pay for mass customised products. We contribute to the existing body of research by suggesting and discussing the influence of general product characteristics and factors of the mass customisation approach on the key value drivers of mass customisation. Furthermore, the development of a conceptual framework offers explanations for the dissimilarity in customers' willingness to pay and advances the knowledge about the value increment of mass customised products as perceived by customers

Factores determinantes de cooperación en I+D: una perspectiva institucional

Existing literature on the determinants of research & development (R&D) cooperation discusses mainly the factors which are specific to organization. But the issues of institutional environment in which such interactions take place remain relatively less explored. This study identifies some particular institutions such as ‘Research and Technology Transfer’, and the ‘regulatory’ institutions which promote R&D cooperation in a country. The study is limited to some particular formal institutions which help improve R&D cooperation. The conclusions of the study have important policy implications for less developed countries so that they could improve the R&D resources of their organizations by attracting foreign organizations through the establishment of institutions necessary for R&D cooperation.La bibliografía sobre los factores que determinan la cooperación en investigación y desarrollo (I+D) estudia principalmente los factores que son específicos de la organización. Pero los aspectos relacionados con el entorno institucional, en el que tales interacciones tienen lugar, permanecen relativamente menos estudiados. Este trabajo identifica algunas instituciones específicas como “centros de investigación y de transferencia de tecnología” y las instituciones regulatorias que promocionan la cooperación en I+D en un país. El estudio está limitado a algunas instituciones específicas pero formales que ayudan a mejorar la cooperación en I+D. Las conclusiones del estudio pueden tener implicaciones políticas importantes para los países en vías de desarrollo que pueden mejorar los recursos de I+D de sus organizaciones atrayendo a las organizaciones externas por medio del establecimiento de las instituciones necesarias para la cooperación de I+D

El impacto de un nuevo paradigma tecnológico-social: el Internet de las cosas y la capacidad de innovación

El avance de la tecnología, posibilita nuevos modelos de negocio resultado de una innovación colaborativa. Por ello, numerosas compañías trabajan por ser líderes en su sector. Es el caso de Telefónica, multinacional española, que se ha convertido en una empresa referente en el “Internet de las cosas”. Una tendencia que se  predice con alto impacto, donde la información es el principal activo. Actualmente, no existe mucha literatura académica sobre el tema, por lo que este trabajo plantea, desde la teoría de la organización, una aproximación al estado de la cuestión y analiza su impacto organizativo por medio de la teoría de Capacidades Dinámicas, concretamente a través de la capacidad de innovación

Uso del correo electrónico : un análisis empírico en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid

El correo electrónico es uno de los medios de comunicación que se perfila como fundamental en las comunicaciones en los próximos años. El ámbito universitario no puede ser ajeno a esta realidad, por sus características propias, tanto en la faceta docente como investigadora. Con el fin de comprobar la implantación real del correo electrónico en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, hemos diseñado y realizado una encuesta, que trata de recoger la opinión de los docentes en torno al uso y conocimiento del correo electrónico y otros medios informáticos, así como su actitud hacia los mismos. Igualmente, nos hemos interesado por algunas cuestiones relevantes en torno al correo, como son su grado de satisfacción y las expectativas que genera. Se ha contrastado empíricamente la existencia de diversas relaciones, destacando la influencia de las actitudes previas en los niveles de conocimiento de las herramientas, y la de dicho conocimiento en la posterior utilización de los mismos. Del mismo modo, hemos podido constatar la existencia de notables diferencias entre las diversas áreas de conocimiento y categorías profesionales

Análisis y evaluación de la gestión por competencias en el ámbito empresarial y su aplicación a la Universidad

The primary objective of the immediate study is to analyze and evaluate the various practices currently being employed in business and teaching contexts according to the model of management based on individual skills and which have emerged as a result of Spain's integration into the European Space of Higher Education (ESHE). The changes imposed by the new area have been analyzed, as well as the business and university competence models of skills management. Of note is the principal conclusion that certain business practices were found which favor the introduction of the skills management model in the university setting

The implementation of free software in firms, an empirical analysis

This article presents the findings of a research aimed at characterizing open source migration initiatives. Thirty experiences have been considered in total, ninety of them are Public Administrations and the rest are private firms, operating different industries in eight different countries. Open source migration projects have become a recent research topic, especially from the managerial perspective. To overcome the lack of theoretical models, an empirical approach relying on grounded theory has been adopted. This inductive approach allows theory building and hypothesis formulation. According to the results, migrating from proprietary into open source is dependent on contextual and organizational factors, as for example, the need of the change itself, the political support for the change, the access to IT resources, the organizational climate, the motivation of the human resources, and the leadership style for the project or the firm complexity. Besides, migration efforts imply strategic and organizational consequences that the organization must properly evaluate beforehand

Meloda 5: A metric to assess open data reusability

An updated metric developed to assess the degree of open data reusability, called MEtric for the evaLuation of Open DAta: Meloda 5 is presented. Previous version of the metric, Meloda 4, had six dimensions: the legal licensing of data, the mechanisms to access the data, the technical standards of the datasets, the data model, the geographic content of the data and the updating frequency. With all these dimensions, the metric provides a quantitative evaluation about how reusable the datasets released are. During the last five years, this metric has been cited and used by some other authors but the extensive use of the metric has brought to light some of its limitations. In order to get deeper insights into the topic, a panel of international experts has been surveyed about two aspects of the metric. First aspect was what other factors should be considered in order to qualify the reusability of a released dataset. And the second aspect was the internal structure, the levels for every dimension of the metric; if they should be increased, merged, removed or divided. Considering the results of the survey, first, we identify the factors / dimensions that should be kept: legal licensing, access to information, technical standard, standardization, geolocation content and updating frequency of data. Second, we consider the inclusion of two new dimensions: dissemination and reputation. Then, we present the new internal structure, the levels for each dimension, and the measures to evaluate the degree of reuse of each dataset. Finally, a standardization of the metric for other steps of the data impact process, data reuse analytics and data-driven services generation are presented together with future research lines