Improving operational performance through knowledge exchange with customers

Drawing upon a knowledge-based view of the supply chain, this study analyses the antecedents and consequences of tacit and explicit knowledge transfer, from the supplier's standpoint. The proposed conceptual model is tested using survey data from a sample of 218 Canadian manufacturers. Results show that the exchange of tacit and explicit knowledge in the context of a relationship between a supplier and a customer has a positive impact on the supplier's operational performance. As expected, tacit knowledge exchange appears to have a stronger impact on performance than explicit knowledge exchange. Results also confirm the importance of the level of integration and inter-firm trust for the exchange of both types of knowledge. Although many studies of knowledge transfer in the supply chain have been published to date, no empirical study has specifically examined the simultaneous effect of both types of knowledge.     

控制,吸收能力与知识转移——基于离岸IT服务外包业的实证研究

离岸IT服务外包是一个知识密集过程,从海外客户到国内供应商的有效知识转移是成功的关键。然而,针对客户的不同控制模式和供应商的吸收能力对显性和隐性知识转移的不同影响,以及这两种知识转移对绩效影响的实证研究还极其有限。本文基于一项问卷调查,发现客户的正式控制对显性知识转移的影响比非正式控制的作用更强。隐性知识转移比显性知识转移更依赖于供应商的吸收能力,显性知识转移对隐性知识转移有积极促进作用。研究还显示,正式控制对离岸IT服务外包绩效有直接影响,但知识转移对外包绩效的影响并不显著。     

Decision-making Autonomy in UK International Equity Joint Ventures

This paper investigates approaches to decision making in international joint ventures (IJVs) from the perspectives of the transactions cost and resource‐based theories of the firm. In particular, the concept of autonomy in decision‐making in a sample of UK‐European equity joint ventures is examined. The study adopts a multi‐method personal interview and self‐administered questionnaire approach to examine managerial perceptions of decision‐making and autonomy in the parent firms and the joint venture. The findings show that there are differences in the perception of autonomy between each of the parent firms, and between the parent firms and the IJV management. When we unpack the nature of autonomy in detail, it is found that IJV managers have greater degrees of operational autonomy than strategic autonomy and that decision making by IJV managers takes place within the context of constraints set within the IJV's business plan. This confirms the transaction cost theory which posits that key internal markets (for management, technology and capital) will be under parent control and also supports the resource based view that key capabilities are protected under the business plan established by the parent firms. The influence on IJV autonomy of the moderating variables IJV performance and IJV duration are also examined.     

Leveraging tacit knowledge in alliances: The importance of using relational capabilities to build and leverage relational capital

Effectively managing existing tacit knowledge stocks and transferring knowledge between partners contributes to firm capabilities that allow them to differentiate their goods and services from those of their competitors. Because it also helps them to provide greater value to customers, it contributes to the development of a competitive advantage. In highly competitive industries, firms need to focus on proactively managing their knowledge resources to ensure survival. However, the knowledge management process is at times complex especially because of the difficulty involved in conveying tacit knowledge. Due to its latent potential for enabling firms to achieve potential competitive advantage, how firms utilize and transfer stocks of tacit knowledge requires enhanced understanding. In specific, we explain how firms use relational capabilities to build relational capital with partners. In turn, relational capital facilitates the transfer of tacit knowledge between collaborating partners. We develop several propositions regarding the factors likely to influence the transfer of a firm's tacit knowledge resources in strategic alliances. The importance of social capital's relational dimension, relational capital, in this process is highlighted.     

When feelings obscure reason: The impact of leaders' explicit and emotional knowledge transfer on shareholder reactions

Emotions are an area of research commanding increasing scholarly attention in the field of leadership; yet, a focus on the cognitive processing of leaders has potentially obscured the impact that their emotions can have on shareholder reactions. Accordingly, this study contributes to extant theory by introducing the concept of emotional knowledge transfer, i.e., the emotional signals used for transmission and receipt of knowledge. Testable hypotheses are derived that explore the relationship between leader emotional and explicit knowledge transfer and shareholder reactions. A short-term event study is conducted across a sample of recorded CEO interviews and analyzed using random-effects regressions. Findings indicate that leaders' explicit and emotional knowledge transfer impact shareholder reactions negatively, and that leaders try to align emotional knowledge transfer with the explicit message they intend to convey.     

Innovation: a knowledge transfer perspective

One means of innovation is the adoption of new knowledge from external sources. This article describes theory building research to improve the transfer of knowledge between universities and businesses that are collaborating together. Using pilot studies and in-depth interviews based on real-life innovation projects, the research identified and confirmed two hypothetical constructs; that successful knowledge transfer comes from the transfer of tacit knowledge; and that tacit knowledge can best be transferred in this arena using rich media channels. This article describes the research and goes on to assess a range of channels for their media richness and their ability to transfer tacit knowledge. This article then positions this in the frame of collaborative or open innovation. It concludes that selection of the appropriate channel can improve the innovation through the transfer of knowledge between organisations and presents a model for successful application.     

External technology acquisition and product innovativeness: The moderating roles of R&D investment and configurational context

An increasing number of studies in technology/innovation management contribute to the understanding of the relationship between external technology acquisition and product innovation performance. On the other hand, the meta-analytic reviews of new product development literature indicate a positive impact of product innovativeness on product innovation performance. However, existing research has not examined the link between external technology acquisition and product innovativeness. This study, therefore, aims to fill this gap of knowledge by investigating the external technology acquisition—product innovativeness relationship and examining the moderating roles of R&D investment and configurational context on this link. Based on a panel sample of 105 high-technology firms over a six-year period, a least squared dummy variable s model reveals interesting results. First, external technology acquisition has a positive impact on product innovativeness. Second, R&D investment increases the effect of external technology acquisition on product innovativeness. Lastly, firm size exhibits a negative effect on the contribution of external technology acquisition to product innovativeness. However, firm age positively impacts the relationship between external technology acquisition and product innovativeness. In addition, this study reveals a positive effect of product innovativeness on firm growth.     

基于企业集群的隐性知识转移模型

企业集群已成为企业合作的主要模式,集群的关键是要实现知识的转移,尤其是隐性知识的转移.本文提出了基于企业集群的知识转移三阶段博弈模型,分析了企业集群中隐性知识转移与企业之间距离的关系,探讨了互补性知识对隐性知识转移的影响.     

Transferring lean knowledge within multinational networks

Abstract

Transferring lean knowledge is crucial for multinational companies; however, it is very difficult. Nevertheless, our knowledge in the area is limited. This paper investigates (a) how lean knowledge is transferred within multinational networks and (b) the type of organizational context that supports it. We use four case studies with 18 interviews in our exploratory study. Our results indicate that companies use a sophisticated knowledge transfer system with a fine web of practices that serve to transfer both explicit and tacit knowledge. The revealed organizational contexts show different patterns of division of labour (and responsibilities) between a central lean office and the particular subsidiary’s lean office. Our findings highlight the importance of transfer coalition, which consists of the cooperation of lean experts and top management during the knowledge transfer process. Top managers play a key role with their weak inter-unit ties, and they provide guidance for lean efforts and allocate sufficient resources to them. Further findings show that the evolution of lean transitions is not linear, and each of our case companies has witnessed turnaround during their journey.     

Expatriate Managers,Product Relatedness,and IJV Performance: A Resource and Knowledge-based Perspective

Drawing from the resource and knowledge-based perspectives, we examine the role expatriates play as a critical managerial resource within the multinational's international joint-venture (IJV). By using a large sample (3772 IJV annual performance years) of Japanese IJVs in the USA from 1991 to 2001, we find that expatriate deployment shows a curvilinear (inverted-U) relationship with IJV performance. Further, this relationship is positively moderated by product relatedness between the parent and the IJV.     

Antecedents of Innovativeness in Technology‐Based Services (TBS): Peering into the Black Box of Entrepreneurial Orientation

Innovativeness is the organization's capability for developing and introducing innovations. We argue that new combinations and recombinations of prior and new knowledge (by way of creating, assembling, and transforming knowledge) result in innovativeness in an organization. We further assert that a knowledge‐based focus on innovativeness is particularly important for firms that are technology‐based. The majority of studies focusing on innovativeness are in the entrepreneurship arena, and a large number of studies consider innovativeness as one of three dimensions of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) construct, the other two dimensions being proactiveness and risk‐taking. However, recent research has suggested peering into the black box of EO by disaggregating the EO construct and examining the interrelationships among its three components. Hence, using the knowledge‐based view and drawing from multiple disciplines, our study conceptualizes innovativeness as a criterion variable and investigates the antecedent role of proactiveness and risk‐taking propensity on innovativeness in the context of technology‐based services (TBS). We hypothesize that both proactiveness and risk‐taking propensity exhibit a curvilinear relationship with innovativeness and introduce organizational structure formality as a moderator to further explicate these relationships. Our results show that proactiveness has a curvilinear (inverted U relationship) with innovativeness, and that this relationship is attenuated by organizational structure formality. Additional analysis indicates that in TBS firms, risk‐taking propensity has a positive linear relationship with innovativeness, and this relationship is accentuated by organizational structure formality. Finally, we discuss important conceptual and practical implications of our study and provide suggestions for future research.     

MOOCs 平台学习使用影响因素研究——基于隐性和显性知识学习视角

随着信息化的快速发展, MOOCs平台为广大学习者提供了随时随地通过网络免费知识学习的机会.知识学习存在显性知识学习和隐性知识学习, 这两类知识对MOOCs学习使用效果发挥着极为重要的作用.基于知识学习理论及技术采纳理论, 对MOOCs平台学习使用影响因素进行了研究.通过1 752份问卷调查、数据分析发现, 显性知识下的网站设计要素和课程教学要素, 以及隐性知识下的认知隐性知识、技能隐性知识和社交隐性知识学习对MOOCs平台学习者使用存在显著正向影响;通过回归分析发现, 技能隐性知识和社交隐性知识学习的重要性明显高于课程教学相关要素以及网站设计这两类显性知识.基于研究和分析的结果, 可以为互联网环境下国家教育模式及相关产业的发展规划提供建议.     

组织网络隐性知识扩散及学习策略分析

知识主要以显性知识和隐性知识两种方式存在,隐性知识是组织获得竞争优势的主要源泉.隐性知识为组织个体所拥有,这种私有性的特征使其在组织内部的扩散需要通过组织个体之间的交互才能完成.组织网络连接强度对扩散具有影响,可利用具有边权重的组织网络研究隐性知识的扩散行为.在分析隐性知识和相关扩散特点的基础上,基于组织成员之间的关系网络和小世界网络模型,建立组织网络上的知识扩散模型.根据认识论的观点,提出个体3种知识学习策略,结合知识扩散模型进行计算仿真实验.仿真结果显示,综合考虑关系和知识差别的知识学习策略最有效,不考虑连接强度下的各种策略都具有较快的知识学习速率,并且连接强度对组织内隐性知识扩散具有明显的作用.     

A Meta-analysis of Factors Leading to Management Control in International Joint Ventures

In international joint ventures (IJVs), management control exerted by parent firms is fundamental since it can direct employees' activities to strive for the overall goals, to safeguard parent firms' idiosyncratic investments and to decrease opportunistic behaviors. Using a meta-analytic approach, we investigate the main factors influencing management control in IJVs. A search of the published and unpublished literature uncovered 45 articles that yielded 329 reported correlations between the factors and management control with a total sample size of 15,252 IJVs. Results indicate that the factors can be ordered in the following way in terms of the average size of their association with management control: resource contribution; equity share; trust; and strategic importance to the IJVs. Three moderators including operating country (China versus other countries), industry type (manufacturing versus service) and management control type (formal control versus informal control) were proposed to examine the heterogeneity issue. Our meta-analysis suggests that there is a bias of the empirical studies given that a majority of the samples are IJVs operating in the Chinese manufacturing industry, which indicates that results of this meta-analysis may not be representative of all IJVs and that future empirical research should include IJVs in other countries and in other industries.     

Knowledge acquisition of Chinese expatriates: managing Chinese MNEs in Kazakhstan

This article advances understanding of the interplay between cultural intelligence of Chinese expatriates managing Chinese multinational enterprises in Kazakhstan and the level of knowledge acquisition from local employees. Drawing on rich quantitative data, and framed by Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory, Sternberg's Theory of Successful Intelligence and Bandura's Social Learning Theory, the article advances knowledge of the relationship between cultural intelligence, innovativeness and knowledge acquisition. The article also draws particular attention to the moderated mediation model of the research and contributes to the literature by enhancing our understanding of Chinese expatriates' knowledge acquisition from local employees by viewing interpersonal skills as a moderating factor.     

Legitimacy in international joint ventures: It is still needed

International joint ventures (IJVs) enable foreign firms to complement their lack of local knowledge and resources by accessing their local partners' knowledge and resource bases. However, IJV formation is not simply a means of overcoming legitimacy-related challenges that stem primarily from a local market's unfamiliarity with foreign firms. This paper proposes that foreign firms can increase the legitimacy of their IJVs to facilitate local market penetration by building interorganizational linkages through which third parties and, especially, prospective customers in local markets can infer the viability and competence of IJVs. Our empirical analyses of manufacturing IJVs in Japan support our arguments.     

The Effect of Absorptive Capacity on Innovativeness: Context and Information Systems Capability as Catalysts

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between absorptive capacity and company innovativeness and to identify potential contexts and capabilities that can act as catalysts for these relationships. We also examine the relationship between absorptive capacity and the existence and enhancement of innovativeness. These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 286 large Spanish companies. Our results show that absorptive capacity is an important dynamic determinant for developing a company's innovativeness. Moreover, this relationship is best explained by two related constructs. First, the company's unlearning context is a crucial determinant for both potential capacity and realized absorptive capacity. Second, the results also indicate a tangible means for managers to enhance their absorptive capacity through information systems capabilities.     

Knowledge transfer in MNCs: Examining how intrinsic motivations and knowledge sourcing impact individual centrality and performance

Studies investigating individual performance in knowledge-intensive work are finding that individual performance is a result, to some degree, of obtaining the right information to solve novel, challenging problems. Yet we know little about the role that the individual plays in the knowledge processes in multinationals and the relationship between individual knowledge sourcing activities and performance. Our expectation is that successful knowledge transfer will be based on an individual's intrinsic motivation, access to knowledge from explicit or tacit knowledge sources within and across firm boundaries, and position in the overall advice network of the multinational corporation. Using survey and social network data collected in one multinational consulting firm, we investigated the knowledge sourcing activities and informal advice networks for 1439 of the entire 1698 individuals in one multinational spread across 28 offices (84.7% response rate). Through hierarchical regression analysis we find that 1) intrinsic motivations are strongly related to creativity and efficiency and 2) MNCs should support individual level activities that include not only the use of internal knowledge sources but also the use of external knowledge sources. Research results also suggest that 3) there are different patterns of knowledge sourcing activities based on whether efficient or creative performance is the goal and 4) these differ significantly depending upon the functional group to which the individual belongs. Implications for theories of the knowledge-based view of the multinational corporation and practical implications for managers are discussed.     

The effect of trust on international joint venture performance in China

The role of trust between the parent companies of international joint ventures (IJVs) is re-examined, and it is suggested that trust between parents is not only a major predictor of the achievement of financial and non-financial goals by IJVs as reported in the literature, but also moderates the relationship between IJV performance and certain contextual factors.Based on the responses of senior executives of IJVs and their parent companies in China, it is confirmed that trust influences IJV performance. The moderating effects of trust on the relationships between IJV performance and local reliance and the experience of executives were confirmed for the senior executive sample, but the moderating effect of cultural distance was not consistent between the firm-level and country-level measures. There was no significant result regarding these moderating relationships for the parent sample, except local reliance.     

Negotiating control and achieving performance in international joint ventures: A conceptual model

Adapting well-established organization theories to international joint ventures (IJVs), this paper develops an overarching theoretical model of the determinants and effects of parent control of IJVs from an interpartner bargaining power perspective. Drawing upon power dependence, transaction costs, and agency theories, we argue that the relative bargaining power between IJV partners serves as the key determinant of control structure, and that control exerts a direct effect on the venture's performance. In addition, government influence and interpartner working relationship are critical factors that complicate the linkage between control and performance but may help to explain past conflicting results. Propositions regarding these relationships are formed for future empirical test, and implications and directions for future research are provided.