Search results for "Tacit knowledge"
showing 10 items of 27 documents
Experimenting lean dynamic performance management systems design in SMEs
2018
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to frame the potential benefits of lean dynamic performance management (PM) systems for small and micro-enterprises. Such systems may exploit the entrepreneur’s tacit knowledge and build on managerial competencies, by incorporating individual attributes into organisational routines. Design/methodology/approach The paper suggests the use of insight models based on the combination of lean PM tools and system dynamics (SD) modelling. Based on a number of exemplary cases, the paper discusses the potential benefits of these models, in respect to four specific contexts: artisan, new company start-up, established firm and micro-giant company. Related to such c…
The Nature of Knowledge and Decisions on Activity Sourcing: An Innovation Model
2006
The main drivers for R& D collaboration uncovered by the economic literature are the access to external cognitive capabilities and costs. Very seldom the nature of knowledge has been considered a determining factor for activity externalisation. This paper analyses the role of the nature of knowledge in the locus of innovation. Then, a knowledge management model for the internalisation of innovative activities is developed. The model proposed allows executives to summarize their strategic reflection about innovation, leading to a more coherent decision making process. The research is implemented to the innovative activities performed by Spanish firms in the agro-chemical industry. The empiri…
The Determinants of Retail Productivity: A Critical Review of the Evidence
2009
This paper discusses the literature on the established determinants of productivity in the retail sector. It also draws attention to some neglected strands of research which provide useful insights into strategies that could allow productivity enhancements in this area of the economy. To date, very few attempts have been made to integrate different specialisms in order to explain what drives productivity in retail. Here this paper rectifies this omission by putting together studies from economics, geography, knowledge management and employment studies. It is the authors’ view that quantitative studies of retail productivity should focus on total factor productivity in retailing as the resul…
Business succession and intellectual capital management in family firms
2015
Family businesses are institutions in which two seemingly disparate social units (i.e., families and businesses) are highly integrated. This connection extends to succession across generations and while natural, this can be a difficult process. The founder, thanks to his long stay in the family business, has a substantial amount of tacit knowledge related to the firm which can often determine business success. In the succession process it is important to diffuse and manage overall knowledge, or intellectual capital, to the successor. This study attempts to contribute to the literature casting some light on the business succession in a family firm informed by an intellectual capital perspect…
Transformation Of Individual Learning Into Organisational And Networked Learning In Vocational Education
2008
The Finnish vocational education and training system has traditionally been largely school-based with the inclusion of only short practice periods in students’ study programmes. In 2001 the system was reformed, new 3-year study programmes were introduced in all fields of study, and workplace learning (WPL; at least 6 months) became a compulsory part of all vocational study programmes. WPL is defined as systematically guided and assessed learning that takes place in authentic work environments. Thus, workplaces have to provide guidance and support for student learning and to participate in a tripartite assessment. At the beginning of the workplace learning period the student, the teacher and…
Balancing Organisational Design Principles: A Pragmatic Scandinavian Approach to CSR
2016
One can argue that Scandinavian countries have much of the essence of CSR incorporated in their culture and society. We use Norway as an example for this argument, by looking at the development of work-life since the 50s. Further, we use one highly industrialised area, Raufoss, as further proof of our claim of the lack of separate popularity of CSR, as it is already covered in the context of society. However, this is not the same as saying that there are no challenges to this model. One of the most challenging topics is innovation: this should be socially responsible innovation. The Norwegian, social model can seem to promote stability, so that people and companies become risk averse.
Methodological reflections: supervisory discourses and practice-based learning
2009
The concept of dialogue is often examined apart from the social and historical context in which it is embedded. This paper identifies how dialogue between a superior and a subordinate generates a reorganisation of situated knowledge in the education and training of nurse teachers. We created an analytic method of supervisory discourse founded on differences between discourse-based and practice-based theories. The findings elicit two forms of dialogues: transformative and exploratory. Through the former, supervisors try to make their students reformulate their understanding by facilitating learning through questions and hints or to support their self-reflections in local contexts. Conversely…
How to improve organisational results through knowledge management in knowledge-intensive business services
2012
[EN] In the future, the only sustainable competitive advantage will be the creation of collective and tacit knowledge. From a strategic point of view, and also from the directive management perspective, this is the type of knowledge that adds the greatest value to an organisation. However, it has not been easy to prove that there are positive effects when investments are made in knowledge assets and firm performance. We thus study the relationship between knowledge management and both tangible and intangible organisational results (ORs). Results are tested in 122 knowledge-intensive business services, and they confirm that this relationship is direct and positive, thereby suggesting that th…
Presenting the Past: A Framework for Facilitating the Externalization and Articulation of User Activities in Desktop Environment
2006
Work processes are conducted in various contexts and they involve different tasks, interruptions, activities and actions. In all of these, tacit knowledge plays a part. Some part of that tacit knowledge can be externalized and articulated by continuously monitoring the users activities. Because the desktop environment is an integral part of almost any office work context, we chart the demands the unstructured and discontinuous nature of work puts on the management of desktop working context. We discuss possibilities to augment the users awareness of his/her desktop working environment by providing a context-aware application that can act as a map-like resource for the users past activiti…