Codified Knowledge Research Articles

The role of corporate incubators as invigorators of innovation capabilities in parent companies

Companies need to rethink their innovation strategies in an increasingly disruptive business environment. The long-term success of large established companies depends not only on their ability to leverage their current capabilities and improve efficiency but also on taking risks and exploring unknown areas. To meet this challenge, established companies are increasingly relying on corporate incubators to fuel innovation and growth with entrepreneurial mindset. Drawing on Zollo and Winter's (Organization Science_13:339-351, 2002) deliberate learning model in conjunction with Christensen's [Christensen, C.M., Anthony S.D., and Roth E.A, Seeing What’s Next? Using the Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change, 2004] resource-processes-values (RPV) theory, this paper attempts to answer the question “how can the entrepreneurial mindset fostered in corporate incubators drive the innovation capabilities in parent companies?” The study of four corporate incubators set up by companies from different industries reveals several factors that enable the entrepreneurial spirit fostered by corporate incubators to boost the innovation capability in their parent companies. These factors comprise the recruitment of employees with entrepreneurial potential, investments in knowledge articulation and codification, and a leadership that legitimizes the incubator as a means for the company to develop new ideas and provide support to entrepreneurs inside the organization.

Perspectives on effective digital content management in organizations

Modern corporations face enormous digital transformation challenges in order to incorporate digital content into its corporate memory. At the same time over the last decade and a half, there is growing evidence of the advent of different types of mechanisms to manage digital organizational content. The management of digital content is particularly important to support knowledge worker practices to access, share, and reuse content in knowledge intensive organizations. Despite the availability of technological solutions in the marketplace to integrate content, managers are often overwhelmed by the choices they need to make to effectively manage digital content in their organizations. Extant literature indicates that in an increasingly digitized world, there is no clear understanding of the digital content considerations for informed decision making in organizations. Based on our research experiences in knowledge management, particularly knowledge codification in digital infrastructures, we provide certain perspectives on the four considerations for effective management of digital content in large organizations. We present four short exhibits to illustrate these four core considerations, which we label as the “4Cs” (i.e., content contribution, categorization, control, and centralization) for effective digital content management in large organizations.

Organizational and Perceived Learning in the Workplace: A Multilevel Perspective on Employees’ Problem Solving

Using a multilevel theoretical framework, we investigate the effects of organizational and perceived learning on employees’ systematic problem solving (SPS) that aims to prevent the recurrence of a problem. At the organizational level, we focus on the deliberate learning mechanisms of knowledge articulation (OKA) and knowledge codification (OKC). At the individual level, we focus on the relative perception of the mechanisms of knowledge articulation (PKA) and knowledge codification (PKC). Drawing on both knowledge management and sensemaking literature, we move from learning only captured through organizational mechanisms, which suppose individuals are passively embedded in the organizational context, to learning captured through perceived mechanisms, which suppose individuals take an active part in the learning processes and interpret them differently. We employ multilevel structural equation modeling to test our theoretical framework using survey data from a sample of 383 shop floor employees in 52 plants. To enhance our results, we perform a set of robustness checks that control different specifications of our model and potential endogeneity issues. Our study indicates that OKC affects SPS, while OKA affects OKC. Moreover, results show that both PKA and PKC have strong positive effects on SPS. Our study draws attention to the multilevel role of organizational learning and expands the understanding of the role of problem solving in routine evolution. The online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2018.1274 .

How Digital Information Transforms Project Delivery Models

This study articulates how increasingly pervasive digital information transforms project delivery models. It builds on and extends the literature on innovation and knowledge codification, analyzing London’s evolving digital innovation ecosystem across 15 years of industry/government initiatives and infrastructure megaprojects. Findings suggest profound and ongoing changes in digitally enabled project delivery models. Novel contributions are: first, to identify new generations of integrated solutions; second, to articulate changes in supply chains and relationships with owners, operators, and end users; and third, to recognize the growing importance of digital workflows and analytics, rather than documents. There are implications for project management practice and scholarship.

Conceptual foundations of the enterprise incorporate capitalization strategy

Updating research on incorporate capitalization as the primary source of the growth in the value results of capital formation stems from the fact that in post-industrial conditions of the enterprise activities its success depends on the ability to produce and use new knowledge, organizational nature of which is studied in the incorporated plane. The concept of incorporate capitalization is new in the theory of capitalization of the enterprise, while it is actively developing and acquiring new characteristics. According to the conceptual logic of understanding of strategy (context, attitudes, process and content), it defines the content of each of the concepts in aspect of incorporated capitation. The main focus of the study was the strategic orientation on training and self-study, due to the competition in the field of tacit knowledge and core competencies, which are formed and reproduced exclusively within a particular company. It is proved that the vast majority of models of transformation of knowledge focuses on the codification, storage and reuse of knowledge. However, in contemporary post-industrial conditions of this mechanistic approach is not relevant because in this context it allows enterprises to gain a competitive advantage. Innovations are possible only through constant updating of knowledge, creation of new combinations and prioritization of the influence of tacit knowledge on the formation and growth of the economic performance of enterprises. The specifics of capital formation in this aspect acquire new characteristics and are determined by the organizational ability to transform tacit knowledge into explicit and formalized, which directly impacts the productivity of capital in space.

Designing a knowledge management measurement for educational institutions: a qualitative research

This paper aims to design a measurement of knowledge management (KM) for the higher education sector. This is because there are practical benefits for universities focused on developing knowledge. This study depends on brainstorming, focus group, and individual interviews as the main tools for data collection. The sample consisted of 23 individuals (six participants for brainstorming, 11 in the focus group session, and six individual interviews). Three key themes and seven sub-themes of knowledge management were explored: 1) knowledge creation (combination, socialisation, internalisation, and externalisation); 2) knowledge transfer (personalisation knowledge transfer and codification knowledge transfer); 3) knowledge sharing (sharing information). The proposed model is severely designed and comprehensively conceptualised utilising innovative, informational, and technological concepts underlining knowledge management within Australian higher education. However, there is a need to assess a designed measurement by considering existing quantitative techniques for the development of scales, such as validity and reliability analysis.

The ethnic migrant inventor effect: Codification and recombination of knowledge across borders

Research SummaryEthnic migrant inventors may differ from locals in terms of the knowledge they bring to host firms. Using a unique dataset of Chinese and Indian herbal patents filed in the United States, we find that an increase in the supply of first‐generation ethnic migrant inventors increases the rate of codification of herbal knowledge at U.S. assignees by 4.5%. Our identification comes from an exogenous shock to the quota of H1B visas and from a list of entities exempted from the shock. We also find that ethnic migrant inventors are more likely to engage in reuse of knowledge previously locked within the cultural context of their home regions, whereas knowledge recombination is more likely to be pursued by teams comprising inventors from other ethnic backgrounds. Managerial SummaryManagers and policy makers around the world face a vigorous debate on whether to hire skilled migrants or hire locals. We argue that if western firms stop hiring ethnic migrants, innovation at these firms would suffer in two ways: knowledge transfer and knowledge recombination would both be impeded. We argue and show that skilled ethnic migrants bring to their employers, unique knowledge from the cultural context of their host country. Also, local inventors engage in “knowledge recombination” by combining their existing knowledge to knowledge transferred by migrants. Our empirical results relate to the patenting of Chinese and Indian herbal formulations at western pharmaceutical firms before and after an immigration shock related to the admittance of skilled migrants from these two countries.

Engineers Seeking Knowledge: Effect of Control Systems on Accessibility of Tacit and Codified Knowledge

AbstractEngineering and construction organizations realize that knowledge sharing between employees is essential to be competitive, yet few understand how knowledge sharing is affected by managemen...

CKshare: secured cloud-based knowledge-sharing blockchain for injection mold redesign

ABSTRACTThis paper proposes a trustable mold redesign knowledge-sharing platform, known as CKshare, based on private cloud and blockchain technology. Firstly, we use private cloud to store the mold redesign knowledge of each party to meet its own privacy and data format requirements. Secondly, a blockchain network is used for recording the knowledge and its transactions to ensure security and trustfulness. Thirdly, a simple retrieval mechanism is developed based on k-nearest neighbors for retrieving the codified knowledge on the platform. To realize CKshare, a prototype platform has been developed and explained based on real data from the case mold company.

Exploring the Roles of Vernacular Accounting Systems in the Development of “Enabling” Global Accounting and Control Systems

ABSTRACTThis study sheds light on how self‐developed local accounting and control systems (so‐called vernacular accounting systems;VAS) can influence knowledge integration in development processes of enabling global accounting and control systems. We focus on accounting and control systems as devices that enable local actors to build on codified knowledge to create “new” knowledge that can facilitate local problem solving. We argue that local actors would evaluate a proposed global system as enabling or coercive depending on both their ability to manipulate the knowledge codified within as well as the consequences that the codified knowledge has for their authority in the local knowledge creation process. Based on a case study of the development process of a global accounting and control system, we demonstrate thatVAScan play a crucial role in both local actors’ evaluation of a proposed system (as points of reference) and their influence on knowledge integration (as knowledge transformation devices). Furthermore, local actors may continue to rely on theirVASif they realize that the proposed global system does not fit their needs. Local actors can thus use theirVAS(as negotiation devices) to strengthen their position in the development process as counterparts to the global system designers because the “threat” of continuing to use theVASmay prompt system designers to integrate local knowledge into the proposed global system. We thus also suggest that, if made visible to others and actively mobilized,VASmay foster productive debates that facilitate the migration of local knowledge into global systems.

Disentangling Tacit and Codified Knowledge Transfer Networks in Complex Engineering

Taking a social network perspective, we analytically delineate tacit from codified knowledge and unpack the diverging rules underlying the transfer of these two types of knowledge in a complex inno...

Proximal advantage in knowledge diffusion: The time dimension

Abstract This paper intends to explore the impact of geographic proximity on the diffusion of knowledge in the form of publication citations, and argues that codified knowledge is transmitted faster in proximity and is subject to similar geographic constraints as tacit knowledge. The geographic proximity advantage would be particularly relevant in the early stage of dissemination. We collected three sets of research articles published in 1990, 2000 and 2010 and compared the longitudinal citations they received domestically and from abroad. The study found that domestic citations accumulate faster and reach their peak much earlier than foreign citations, and the difference is most evident in the first few years after publication. The result shows that geographic proximity does play a role in the speed of knowledge diffusion and points to the network effect for citations. Those located closer to the knowledge origin would be exposed and react to publications faster due to the additional opportunities of research exchange and network.

The evolution of vertical boundaries in new high technology ventures

Research SummaryWe argue that interrelated processes of knowledge codification and uncertainty reduction lead to the contraction of vertical firm boundaries of new high technology ventures over time. Consistent with our arguments, we show that, over time, outsourcing of R&D is slower than outsourcing of manufacturing, while outsourcing of marketing and sales is the fastest. Further, we show heterogeneity in the pace of vertical boundary contraction, where new high technology ventures that engage in knowledge exploration and those whose founders have strong technological backgrounds exhibit slower vertical boundary contraction. Typically, the slowdown in the pace of outsourcing, once again, is the strongest for R&D and the weakest for marketing and sales.Managerial SummaryCash‐constrained managers in new high technology ventures often wish to outsource their R&D, manufacturing, and marketing and sales activities, but initially may be limited in doing so. This likely happens because these new ventures rely heavily on founders' tacit knowledge about new products and how to commercialize them and because uncertainty makes it difficult to reach contractual agreements with external partners. We show that with time, such outsourcing becomes increasingly possible, especially for marketing and sales activities but less so for R&D. Yet, when new high technology ventures experiment with new products and in new high technology ventures whose founders have technological backgrounds, the pace of outsourcing is slower.

The Kodak Syndrome: Risks and Opportunities Created by Decentralization of Forensic Capabilities.

Forensic science laboratories are being challenged by the expanding decentralization of forensic capabilities, particularly for digital traces. This study recommends laboratories undertake digital transformations to capitalize on the decentralization movement, develop a more comprehensive understanding of crime and security-relevant problems, and play a more central role in problem-solving collaboratively with law enforcement organizations and other stakeholders. A framework for the bilateral transfer of information and knowledge is proposed to magnify the impact of forensic science laboratories on abating crime, strengthening security, and reinforcing the criminal justice system. To accomplish digital transformations, laboratories require personnel with different expertise, including investigative reasoning, knowledge codification, data analytics, and forensic intelligence. Ultimately, this study encourages managers, educators, researchers, and policymakers to look beyond the usefulness of forensic results for solving individual investigations, and to realize the value of combined forensic knowledge and intelligence for developing broader strategies to deal with crime in digitalized society.

The impact of Knowledge Management (KM) and Organizational Commitment (OC) on employee job satisfaction (EJS) in banking sector of Pakistan

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of knowledge management practices and organizational commitment could be a way to nurture job satisfaction and examine how knowledge management practices and organizational commitment can increase individual employees’ job satisfaction.
 Design/methodology/approach: A theoretical model concerning the connections between sixfacets of Knowledge Management (knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing, knowledge creation, knowledge application,knowledge codification and knowledge retention), two facets of Organizational Commitment (Keeping up organizational image and Responding to organizational greediness)and job satisfaction is proposed. Then data is collected through face to face questionnaire and also online web based questionnaires and sample is selected on convenience based from the banking sector organization of Pakistan.
 Findings:organization commitmentand knowledge management process in one’s working environment is significantly linked with high employee job satisfaction. Especially intra-organizational knowledge sharing knowledge application and knowledge creationalso organization commitment (coping with attachment) seems to be a key factors promoting satisfaction with one’s job in most employee.
 Practical implications:organization commitment and knowledge management has a strong impact on employee job satisfaction, and therefore, managers are advised to implement knowledge management and organization commitment activities in their organizations, not only for the sake of improving knowledge worker performance but also for improving their well-being at work.
 Originality/value: This paper produces knowledge on a practices of KM and organizational commitment that has been largely unexplored in previous all research, individual job satisfaction. Also, it promotes the knowledge management and organizational commitmentliterature to the next stage where the impact of knowledge management and organizational commitment is not explored as a “one size fits all” type of a phenomenon, but rather as a contingent and contextual issue.
 Keywords:Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management Practices,Knowledge Acquisition, Knowledge Sharing, Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Codification, Knowledge Retention, Organizational Commitment, Job satisfaction.

The impact of Knowledge Management (KM) and Organizational Commitment (OC) on employee job satisfaction (EJS) in banking sector of Pakistan

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of knowledge management practices and organizational commitment could be a way to nurture job satisfaction and examine how knowledge management practices and organizational commitment can increase individual employees’ job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach: A theoretical model concerning the connections between sixfacets of Knowledge Management (knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing, knowledge creation, knowledge application,knowledge codification and knowledge retention), two facets of Organizational Commitment (Keeping up organizational image and Responding to organizational greediness)and job satisfaction is proposed. Then data is collected through face to face questionnaire and also online web based questionnaires and sample is selected on convenience based from the banking sector organization of Pakistan. Findings: organization commitmentand knowledge management process in one’s working environment is significantly linked with high employee job satisfaction. Especially intra-organizational knowledge sharing knowledge application and knowledge creationalso organization commitment (coping with attachment) seems to be a key factors promoting satisfaction with one’s job in most employee. Practical implications: organization commitment and knowledge management has a strong impact on employee job satisfaction, and therefore, managers are advised to implement knowledge management and organization commitment activities in their organizations, not only for the sake of improving knowledge worker performance but also for improving their well-being at work. Originality/value: This paper produces knowledge on a practices of KM and organizational commitment that has been largely unexplored in previous all research, individual job satisfaction. Also, it promotes the knowledge management and organizational commitmentliterature to the next stage where the impact of knowledge management and organizational commitment is not explored as a “one size fits all” type of a phenomenon, but rather as a contingent and contextual issue. Keywords: Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management Practices,Knowledge Acquisition, Knowledge Sharing, Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Codification, Knowledge Retention, Organizational Commitment, Job satisfaction.

HAWKERPRENEURS: HAWKERS, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND REINVENTING STREET FOOD IN SINGAPORE

ABSTRACT The hawker center is an icon of contemporary Singapore and an essential element of national identity, but one that has undergone multiple reinventions. Most recently hawking has repeatedly been presented as approaching crisis, prompted by an aging hawker population. The response of the Singapore government has been to begin another historic transformation of the hawker, focusing on the hawker entrepreneur - the hawkerpreneur. Ahead of reinvention, codification of knowledge about hawking was required and provided by museum exhibitions and cultural celebrations in media. The hawker became romanticized, a figure of history, distanced from an emergent next generation. These new hawkers are imagined by public and private interests as being successful entrepreneurs and glamorous, suit-wearing people. A change in status for hawking, achieved by a new image and structural changes, such as rankings by Michelin, are being used to signal this new phase of Singaporean street food.

Skill gap from employers’ evaluation: a case of VNU graduates

Skill gap from employers’ evaluation: a case of VNU graduates

Knowledge, skills and organizational capabilities for structural transformation

Structural transformation requires raising productivity and achieving competitiveness in increasingly higher-valued activities. This process can be constrained by different types of knowledge gaps. The importance of codified knowledge and practical know-how or skills are well recognized. But another type of knowledge critically affects the value of both. A society must have firms with the organizational capabilities to organize production competitively so that educated and skilled people can be employed profitably. This is a specific type of collective knowledge distinct from the codified knowledge and know-how embodied in individuals. Without appropriate organizational capabilities, investments in other types of knowledge can fail to achieve adequate returns. The required organizational capabilities can range from basic, intermediate to dynamic, depending on whether firms in the sector are catching up or innovating. Effective learning strategies have to identify and target interdependent knowledge gaps and to do this effectively, they also have to recognize distinct institutional and political economy problems of implementation. The general points are illustrated with reference to the emergence of the garments industry in Bangladesh and the challenges facing its upgrading.

Markets for (Codified, Tacit, Encapsulated, and Firm-Specific) Knowledge

Markets for knowledge are increasingly important to innovation, competitive advantage, and economic growth. This paper examines five distinct markets through which knowledge can be exchanged: the market for codified knowledge (licensing), the market for tacit knowledge (alliances), the market for encapsulated knowledge (sale/purchase of sophisticated products), the market for workers’ knowledge (labor mobility), and the market for firm-wide knowledge or capabilities (mergers and acquisitions).