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Article
Publication date: 9 September 2013

Hongmei Liu, Kah-Hin Chai and James F. Nebus

This paper aims to provide a systematic framework for organizations to analyze their knowledge reuse processes, and balance codification and personalization within their knowledge

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide a systematic framework for organizations to analyze their knowledge reuse processes, and balance codification and personalization within their knowledge strategy according to cost/benefit analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper divides knowledge reuse process into a sequence of five stages, and accordingly analyzes costs/benefits under codification and personalization strategies. Markov decision process, a mathematical framework for multi-stage decision-making, is employed to optimize a mixed strategy for knowledge reuse processes within an organization.

Findings

Organizations need to consider factors such as the number of reusable knowledge items, reuse patterns, and intra-organizational interest alignment which are critical to determine their optimal mix between codification and personalization. Companies should determine a knowledge strategy based on their knowledge reuse contexts instead of following success cases blindly.

Research limitations/implications

This paper presents an illustrative example to show how this framework might be applied by an organization. However, the validity and reliability of strategic decision-making also depends on the accuracy of the model's parameter values. Firms can adopt many methods as surveys, Delphi method, to determine the parameter values.

Practical implications

The proposed framework offers an opportunity for firms to gain insights by setting the model's parameters to their own reuse contexts/characteristics and conducting what-if analysis.

Originality/value

This paper proposes a formal framework for analyzing knowledge reuse processes and offers organizations guidelines about decision-making of knowledge strategies.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 17 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 10 December 2018

John Cantwell and Jessica Salmon

Scholars have examined, in various ways, the complexity of knowledge in innovation. Recently, research has begun to focus on the role of a continuous process of knowledge…

Abstract

Scholars have examined, in various ways, the complexity of knowledge in innovation. Recently, research has begun to focus on the role of a continuous process of knowledge recombination in our understanding of a changing structure of knowledge complexity and knowledge accumulation. Furthermore, we also claim that this process may reflect changes in the underlying innovation paradigm, or in other words the arrival of the information age. Yet, little is known about how knowledge complexity is increasing in the broader context of globalization, in which the influence of a rising diversity of locational sources may feature more prominently. We consider how knowledge recombination that relies upon the global spread of innovation activities will affect our theory of the relationship through which earlier contributions to knowledge become inputs to subsequent knowledge building that generates more (or less) complex knowledge artifacts. We propose that knowledge complexity rises when recombined elements are sourced across two dimensions of distance simultaneously, namely when sources which are derived from (i) disparate knowledge fields and (ii) distinct geographic locations are combined. We thereby develop an international business perspective on knowledge complexity through recombination by better appreciating the processes that may be necessary when knowledge is combined along global value chains. We also suggest some implications for changing organizational forms by highlighting the value of connecting previously unconnected geographically distant elements, which suggests a greater potential for more informal and indirectly diffused knowledge-based connections.

Details

International Business in the Information and Digital Age
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-326-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 November 2020

Ambareen Beebeejaun

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Double Irish and Dutch Sandwich (DIDS) tax schemes used by international companies. Companies using these schemes are enabled to…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Double Irish and Dutch Sandwich (DIDS) tax schemes used by international companies. Companies using these schemes are enabled to transfer a large amount of their profits to offshore tax havens by using wholly owned subsidiaries located in Ireland and the Netherlands. This paper also analyzes the US General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) to see whether it can effectively detect and counteract this scheme. This analysis is furthermore enhanced by applying the Mauritian GAAR through Section 90 of the Income Tax Act to the said schemes.

Design/methodology/approach

Concerning research methods, the library and the internet will be the main sources of information to be used for this paper. Through the usage of library research, the Mauritian Income Tax Act, US GAAR, European Commission decisions and scholar writings will further enhance this paper on the structure and preventive actions that can be taken against the DIDS scheme. This paper will also use a case study coupled with a theoretical analysis of current anti-avoidance rules.

Findings

The paper then concludes that it is possible to counteract the schemes using the Mauritian law but under specific circumstances. It is then revealed that there is a fundamental flaw in the current tax systems, which is the inability to regulate the intangible nature of resources and technology-based transactions.

Originality/value

To the author's knowledge, this paper is among the first literature on the subject of DIDS strategies conducted in the context of Mauritius.

Article
Publication date: 30 July 2020

Steve Connolly, Gareth Bates and James Shea

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings from an action research project in which the researchers sought to develop a set of questions for use by mentors (experienced…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings from an action research project in which the researchers sought to develop a set of questions for use by mentors (experienced teachers) and mentees (pre-service teachers) on a course of initial teacher education (ITE) when they first met – the “initial encounter”.

Design/methodology/approach

The researchers used an action research approach in order to address the lower retention rate of pre-service teachers from different backgrounds, such as Black and Minority ethnic (BAME) and the issues around mentoring which may exacerbate this problem. Discussions between the course team and participating mentors and mentees suggested that the initial encounter between mentor and mentee was significant, and an action research methodology would allow for developing questions that might structure such encounters.

Findings

The researchers found that a useful and effective set of questions could be developed and used by mentors and mentees. Additionally, this process gave researchers insights into the nature of the first encounters between mentors and mentees on an ITE course and how both groups see their roles. In several cycles of action research, the participants produced a number of iterations of such questions, which were refined across a two-year period.

Research limitations/implications

While it is too early to tell if the issues leading to the lower retention rate of pre-service teachers that prompted the project have been reduced in any significant way, the researchers suggest that thinking about these initial encounters can have an impact on the way mentors and mentees go on to build a relationship.

Originality/value

The authors found that there is very little research in the field of teacher education which looks at initial encounters between mentors and mentees, and thus make an original contribution to the mentoring literature.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 9 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 May 2018

W. David Holford

This paper aims to show agential realism as the basis for a pertinent framework with regard to the entwined, on-going and interpretative aspects of knowledge.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to show agential realism as the basis for a pertinent framework with regard to the entwined, on-going and interpretative aspects of knowledge.

Design/methodology/approach

The knowledge flow phenomenon in the form of entanglement and agential “cuts” within the workplace is studied and described across a phenomenological ethnographic case study of two workgroups within an aircraft engine manufacturing context.

Findings

The boundary construction phenomenon is a key process helping us to depict knowledge entanglement (tacit and explicit) across dialogue and non-verbal actions. Dialogue brings forth the aspect of knowledge as interpretations or “cuts.” A phenomenological analysis allows us to identify and describe various levels of tacit–explicit knowledge entanglement depending on the mode of coping at hand. Also highlighted was the importance of heuristics carried out by knowledge experts, often in the form of abduction (i.e. leading to rules of thumb).

Research limitations/implications

It is acknowledged that the relatively narrow context of the empirical work limits the ability to generalize the findings and arguments. As such, additional work is required to investigate the validity of the findings across a wider spectrum of workgroup contexts.

Practical implications

Agential realism allows for the analysis of organizations as a world of practice and actions, whereby long-established categories can be requestioned and challenged with the aim of sharing the full richness and benefit of embodied knowledge between human actors.

Originality/value

Ethnographic descriptions of the entwined nature of tacit and explicit knowledge, the embodied and activity-based dimension of knowledge and learning, as well as the characteristic of knowledge as possession, correspond well to an agential realist concept of phenomenon, entanglement and cuts. Furthermore, agential realism offers the opportunity to view the workplace as individuals (or groups) who act out embodied tacit-explicit knowledge in conjunction with non-human entities (such as objects, as well as communication and information technologies), with the latter acting as enhancers of knowledge creation and sharing.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 22 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 November 2015

Harri Laihonen, Antti Lönnqvist and Juha Metsälä

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the connections between an organization’s knowledge management and growth management strategies. The study shows how knowledge management…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the connections between an organization’s knowledge management and growth management strategies. The study shows how knowledge management can support organizations’ growth objectives.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper first connects the literature streams of growth management and knowledge management. This conceptual understanding about growth-oriented knowledge management is then advanced through an exploratory case study of a company aiming at rapid growth in the construction industry.

Findings

The paper recognizes two knowledge perspectives to growth management. First, the perspective of knowledge assets concerns whether an organization has the needed knowledge resources to enable growth. Second, to make informed decisions, the management needs relevant and up-to-date information. From these viewpoints, the paper derives the case-specific cornerstones of growth-oriented knowledge management and suggests some paths forward in terms of future research.

Practical implications

Although growth strategy defines an organization’s growth aims and clarifies how the intended growth will be attained, knowledge strategy takes a stand on the needed knowledge assets and paints a path from the existing knowledge base to a state where organization’s knowledge assets enable reaching of its business goals. The paper helps practitioners to plan growth-oriented knowledge management strategies.

Originality/value

The paper contributes by extending the analysis of knowledge strategy to growth management and by providing a practical illustration of the development process where knowledge was put into prime focus of organization’s growth strategy. The paper also provides original data and perspective to the roles and interaction of the board and the management team in the case of growth management.

Details

VINE, vol. 45 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0305-5728

Keywords

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