Editorial

Citation

Stankosky, M. (2006), "Editorial", VINE, Vol. 36 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/vine.2006.28736baa.001

Editorial

One of the more significant issues enterprises have to deal with is the speed at which things are happening, whether they are social, economic, or political. The challenge is how to plan for, and adapt to these changes. Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, wrote a book on this: Business @ the Speed of Thought. In my last editorial, I talked about the knowledge economy, and how knowledge and information are the principal factors of production in twenty-first century enterprises. I am in the process of writing a book, the title of which is: Knowledge @ the Speed of Business. The theme is: how does an enterprise renew its knowledge and information assets to remain relevant and competitive? Questions arise: how do enterprises renew and acquire those relevant knowledge and information assets in a fast-paced environment? How do enterprises learn and innovate faster than their competitors? How do enterprises recognize their knowledge assets, and employ them to their maximum? How do we really manage and leverage our knowledge assets faster than our competitors? How do we remain relevant and competitive?

In this edition of VINE, we try to shed some light on these questions. We continue with our portfolio editors: Art Murray and Kent Greenes (Workplace Innovation) continue their expansion on George Washington University’s Institute for Knowledge & Innovation endeavor that is a center-piece for VINE: discussing a research agenda for the Enterprise of the Future. They discuss the results of our first executive roundtable, where over 40 KM thought-leaders met. I personally want to recognize Hugh McKellar, Executive Editor of KMWorld, Kent Greenes and Dan Holtshouse, Executives-in-residence at the Institute, and Art Murray, our own senior fellow, for their major and active roles in this project. If there is any unifying project to research these issues – this is it!

Frank Calabrese and Jo Ann Remshard (Organizational Engineering Management) collaborate to test the “theory to practice continuum” describing how a case, set in the environment of an internet banking activity, can identify and address knowledge gaps. Alex Bennet (The Learning Organization) expands on her last piece of the Learning Organization, introducing us to the current learning environment and the shifts therein. Theresa Jefferson Knowledge/Information Technology Management has a story to tell in how an information technology, the internet, became a vital tool for disaster management, and expands on the what we need to do to improve it; Julie Ryan (Knowledge/Information Security) gives us some insights into the tensions between sharing and protecting knowledge and information; Anne Green (Knowledge/Information Valuation) continues her work on knowledge valuation by showing us its building blocks; and Cynthia Gayton (Legal Aspects of Knowledge Management) takes us back to ancient times, to one of the greatest repositories of knowledge, the Alexandrian Library. Her topic discusses the legal issues on how to preserve library collections in a manner permitted under various international copyright laws, first sales doctrine, and antitrust issues.

For our executive interview, we have Richard Van West-Charles, MD, MPH, who is the Area Manager, Information and Knowledge Management, Pan American Health Organization (Regional Office of the World Health Organization). Dr Van West-Charles is leading their knowledge management strategies and initiatives to improve health care throughout the Americas. We are grateful for his time and insights. They should prove useful to those who have to design and implement similar initiatives.

We also have several featured articles. Dave Bennet brings us his lifelong passion, ideas, and experiences in systems’ thinking with his article, “Expanding the Knowledge Paradigm.” Dave’s article helps us to better see and understand the many issues we face in a fast changing and complex world. French Caldwell, from Gartner Research, gives us their latest thinking on Knowledge Management; one in which forces, ranging from globalization to regulatory compliance, are pushing a fusion of KM with information management. John Starns and Cynthia Odom, who work closely with organizations on enhancing operational performance, give us some concrete steps and techniques using KM principles. As with Dave Bennet, their insights capitalize on their fusion of systems’ thinking with KM. Linda Vandergriff, having recently defended her doctoral dissertation at George Washington University, shares with us her findings on a framework for decision-making in agile, knowledge-based enterprises. Her promise is a better return-on-investment from using such an approach. Let us know if it works for you. Lastly, Ahmed Kridan and Jack Goulding from the University of Salford, give us a case study in the banking sector on the importance of KM implementation. They use an interpretive perspective to map and describe relationships.

I trust you will find all the above articles and interview of value to you. Our intent is not only to share relevant information and knowledge with you, but also to solicit your inputs and support to the ever-present challenges presented by the new, global knowledge economy.

One last note. We are creating, and will soon operate, a blog site, where we can have discussions, raise questions, dispense ideas, and collaborate. There will be two: one for each portfolio, and the other for general collaboration. We earnestly hope we will hear from you.

My e-mail: mstanko@gwu.edu. Tune into our web site for updates on this and other projects: www.emeraldinsight.com/vine.htm.

All the best.

Michael Stankosky