Firm Knowledge Base Research Articles

Tacit knowledge

Until recently, the concept of tacit knowledge has been neglected by academics and managers alike, but this has now changed as lacit know-how has become recognized as palying a key role in firm growth and economic competitivenss. Tacit knowledge forms an important element in a firm's knowledge base and has a central role in organizational learning. This analysis stresses the need to view tacit knowledge in a dynamic setting, and that tacit knowledge can be acquired and transferred on a variety of levels: individual, group, firm and inter-firm basis. The paper then explores the policy implications of technology transfer initiatives which seek of shift tacit know-how between firms and analyzes the ways that this can be achieved.

What do we know about mathematics curricula?

The subject of this essay is the mathematics curriculum: What should we be teaching in mathematics, and in what ways? This issue has been a focus of my problem solving work for nearly two decades, and I have written about it at length from that perspective. However, I am going to take a different point of view in this essay. Here I shall take a distanced perspective, in order to reflect on some difficult issues. Mathematics education is at a turning point. Some radically new programs are being proposed, and the abolition of some familiar programs is being proposed as well. This is a good time to ask, What do we really know? How much of what we think we know is based on a firm knowledge base, how much on informed guesswork, how much is really just opinion? How much of what we plan to do reflects cultural biases, rather than established fact? These are thorny questions. I shall explore the following four major issues related to curriculum: questions of content, tracking, problem-based curricula, and the role of proof. My goal is to be as honest about what I know, and what I don’t know, as I can be.

Temples of the future: an historical overview of the laboratory's role in public health practice.

Public health practice predates the development of the public health labora­ tory. But, with the birth of modem laboratory science, especially microbiology and serology, disease prevention and control activities developed a more rational scientific basis and, hence, more effective outcomes. However, before the public health laboratory could exist, two prerequisites were necessary: a firm knowledge base that supported laboratory practice as a routine component of scientific inquiry, and a stable and administratively sound organization devoted to public health, into which the laboratory could be integrated. Both elements were lacking in America's early years. Several American cities established boards of health in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (26); however, these boards tended to be poorly organized and often lay dormant until an epidemic knocked at the gates of the city (25). Urbanization and rapid population growth, both consequences of industri­ alization, created health problems that, unlike epidemics, were not cyclical in nature. The persistently negative health consequences of poor housing, overcrowding, and inadequate sanitation were difficult to ignore and raised public health issues to a level that demanded permanent action. In the years

Reminiscence: An Independent Nursing Intervention for the Elderly

The nursing literature states that reminiscence is an independent nursing intervention for elderly clients and patients. This paper is about the use of reminiscence by nurses in all settings. Nurses have not to date built a firm knowledge base. The paper discusses the need for knowledge about the phenomenon and life review versus reminiscence. The uses of reminiscence therapy in one-to-one interaction, in the group modality, and as a research tool are all important applications of the concept. In contrast to other disciplines, reminiscence therapy, as studied by nurses, focuses on interventions. Reminiscence is a fascinating, elusive, and complex phenomenon, but although nursing textbooks tout its usefulness, the research findings are less optimistic.

Student Graduate Survey — University of Western Australia 1982-1986

In order to establish a firm knowledge base on which to plan a revised curriculum for the Bachelor of Social Work degree course at the University of Western Australia, graduates over a five year period who had completed the existing course were surveyed. The study focuses mainly on employment experiences subsequent to graduation, but also provides some information regarding characteristics (age, sex, previous qualifications) of persons accepted into the social work degree programme during the specified five years.

Evaluating expert system investment: An introduction to the economics of knowledge

Many firms are investing heavily in expert systems, a subfield of Artificial Intellegence. For a variety of reasons, financial managers may be required to provide an analysis of these investments. This paper provides a guide to the economic issues pertinent to the justification of expert systems and the role of the expert in the development and use of expert systems. The firm's knowledge base represents a major asset of the corporation. Replicating portions of the knowledge base may be necessary to sustain the firm's competitive advantage. Building an expert system is one method of replication. However, management should explicitly consider other alternative replication processes. Agency theory provides a useful framework for analyzing conflicts of interest associated with expert system development. For example, managers and shareholders may have different assessments of the need for expert systems. Also, the motives of the expert may conflict with those of the firm.

Education Practice Needs A Firm Knowledge Base

Education Practice Needs A Firm Knowledge Base