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The purpose of this paper is to explore how low-technology corporate ventures use knowledge from multiple and often trans-sectoral fields to intensively create and deploy innovative production technologies in order to sustain significant competitive advantages.

The paper primarily draws evidence from an exploratory case study of a low-tech private enterprise operating in the wood processing industry in Greece.

Low-technology firms appear to invest mainly in process innovation and therefore production technologies, in order to secure a position within mature markets. Within the notion of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship (KIE), a creative bricolage of knowledge based on research work and industrial practice results in innovative products and processes covering technologies from a wide range, including high-tech industries. The case indicates that low-tech companies may be something more than just “borrowers” of technology.

The limitations regard the single case study research design and the focus on the wood industry in Greece. Future research may pursue more case studies in different traditional sectors and national contexts.

Entrepreneurs and managers of low-technology firms should focus on technological innovation and more specifically on co-creation of novel production technologies in order to sustain strong competitive advantages and enhance performances.

The analysis challenges the established opinion of common entrepreneurial processes in low-tech sectors. It adds to the ongoing discussion of low-tech, KIE and it contributes to the literature of industrial dynamics since there are only a handful of studies that probe the role of production technologies within a low-tech but knowledge-intensive context.

This paper aims to explore the objectives and methods of teaching engineering and technology education (ETE) through the lens of three educational taxonomies in cognitive, knowledge and problem-solving perspectives. This analysis is useful in light of today's increasing interest in teaching engineering and technology in K-12 education, instead of crafts or manual skills.

This is an exploratory study. Technology and engineering education is a relatively new area in K-12 education, and little has been written about the use of general educational taxonomies for analysing and designing the teaching and learning of this subject.

The literature analysis teaches us that fostering students' higher-order capabilities such as design and problem solving in engineering and technology cannot take place in isolation from specific knowledge. Instruction should be designed to: develop a certain degree of factual, procedural, conceptual and meta-cognitive knowledge in relevant areas of technology, science and mathematics; and engage learners in assignments of increasing cognitive levels, from simple to complex ones.

This work is original and valuable in that it explores ETE through tools often used in the educational literature and research, rather than regarding technology education as an exceptional school subject. This could encourage making engineering and technology a core component in the overall curriculum.

The purpose of this paper is to contextually theorise the different patterns of emerging multinational companies’ (EMNCs’) learning processes for innovation and the different influences of their technology-driven FDIs (TFDIs) on the processes.

A comparative case study method and process tracing technique are employed to investigate how and why firms’ learning processes for innovation took place, how and why the TFDIs emerged and influenced the firms’ learning processes in different ways.

The paper identifies two different patterns of learning process for innovation (Glider model vs Helicopter model) and two different roles of the case firms’ TFDIs (accelerator vs starter) in the different contexts of their learning processes. It is found that the capability building of the domestic wind energy industry has an important influence on the case of EMNCs’ learning processes and thus on the roles of their TFDIs.

The limitation of the paper lies in its small number of cases in a specific industry of a specific country. The two contextually identified learning models and roles of TFDIs may not be applied to other industries or other countries. Future research should investigate more cases in broader sectoral and geographic scope to test the models and also to identify new models.

For EMNCs, who wants to use the Helicopter model to rapidly gain production and innovation capability, cross-cultural management and integration management are crucial to practitioners. For emerging countries with ambitions to explore the global knowledge and technology pool, besides of the EMNC’s capability building, the capability building in the domestic industries should not be overlooked by policy makers.

The paper develops a dynamic and contextual analytical framework which helps to answer the important questions about how and under what context a TFDI emerges and influences firm’s learning process for innovation. It theorises the EMNCs’ learning process and TFDIs in the context of the development of the domestic industry. It strengthens the explanatory power of the learning-based view and adds new knowledge to the current FSA/CSA discourse in the international business literature.

Knowledge is a key success factor in achieving competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to examine how mobile health technology facilitates knowledge management (KM) practices to enhance a public health service in an emerging economies context. Specifically, the acceptance of a knowledge-resource application by community health workers (CHWs) to deliver breast cancer health care in India, where resources are depleted, is explored.

Fieldwork activity conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with frontline CHWs, which were analysed using an interpretive inductive approach.

The application generates knowledge as a resource that signals quality health care and yields a positive reputation for the public health service. The CHW’s acceptance of technology enables knowledge generation and knowledge capture. The design facilitates knowledge codification and knowledge transfer of breast cancer information to standardise quality patient care.

KM insights are provided for the implementation of mobile health technology for frontline health-care professionals in an emerging economies context. The knowledge-resource application can deliver breast cancer care, in localised areas with the potential for wider contexts. The outcomes are valuable for policymakers, health service managers and KM practitioners in an emerging economies context.

The legacy of the mobile heath technology is the normalisation of breast cancer discourse and the technical up-skilling of CHWs.

First, this paper contributes three propositions to KM scholarship, in a public health care, emerging economies context. Second, via an interdisciplinary theoretical lens (signalling theory and technology acceptance model), this paper offers a novel conceptualisation to illustrate how a knowledge-resource application can shape an organisation’s KM to form a resource-based competitive advantage.

This paper aims to present findings from a study conducted with non-profit organizations (NPOs) in Canada and Australia, focusing on the use of tools and technologies for knowledge management (KM). NPOs of different sizes and operating in different sectors were studied in two large-scale national surveys. The paper is useful to both practitioners in NPOs for understanding tool use for KM activities and to scholars to further develop the KM-NPO domain.

Two nation-wide surveys were conducted with Canadian and Australian NPOs of different sizes (i.e. very small to large-sized organizations) and operating in different sectors (e.g. animal welfare, education and research, culture and arts). An analysis of responses explores the use of tools and technologies by NPOs. Respondents identified the tools and technologies they used from nine pre-determined themes (quantitative data) plus an additional category of “other tools” (qualitative data), which allowed for free text responses. The quantitative data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques and the qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach.

Quantitative data analysis provides key findings including the popularity of physical, print documents across all NPO sizes and sectors. Statistical tests revealed, for example, there is no significant difference for the same-sized organizations in Canadian and Australian NPOs in the use of tools and technologies for KM activities. However, there were differences in the use of tools and technologies across different sizes of NPOs. The qualitative analysis revealed a number of additional tools and technologies and also provided contextual details about the nature of tool use. The paper provides specific examples of the types of tools and technologies NPOs use.

The paper has both practical and academic contributions, including areas for future research. The findings on the use of KM tools and technologies by NPOs contribute to the growing body of literature in the KM domain in general and also build the literature base for the understudied KM-NPO domain. NPOs will also find the paper useful in better understanding tools and technological implementation for KM activities. The study is unique not only in the content focus on KM for NPOs but also for the comparative study of activities in two countries.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework identifying and differentiating how knowledge and technology transfer organizations (KTTOs) create value from how they capture and transfer value.

The argument of the paper is developed in two steps. First, the knowledge and technology transfer process is conceptualized as a value chain. Second, the internal KTTO's value chain perspective is extended by integrating the knowledge and technology transfer value chain into a business model conceptual perspective in order to emphasize the value captured by the clients of KTTOs. Then, the authors examine how KTTO managers could describe, benchmark and improve their business models by altering or reinforcing how they are positioned with respect to the interdependent elements of their business model. Finally, the elements of the conceptual framework are used to derive emblematic types of business models and provide exemplary cases for each emblematic case.

Looking at KTTO management under the lenses of business models invites KTTO managers to look at knowledge and technology transfer as a whole. It suggests to managers to invest resources not only in the improvement of these elements where their organizations are strong, but also in these elements that constitute their weakest elements in the business model. Failure to improve the weakest elements of the business model might compromise the overall knowledge and technology transfer capabilities and performances of KTTOs.

The conceptual framework developed in this paper is intended as a starting point to explore how KTTO managers may be more effective in creating and capturing value from knowledge transfer.

Aims to impart new insights into the role of information technology (IT) in knowledge extraction, capture, distribution and personalization. The paper seeks to pin‐point the strengths and weaknesses of IT in the domain of knowledge management (KM) and to explain why the technology promise remains unfulfilled, as seen by many KM practitioners.

The discussion in this paper is fundamentally based on Stankosky's four KM pillars conceptual framework. Within this framework the authors attempted to shed some light on the IT role and the hidden reasons that make knowledge prominently unreachable via IT.

IT assimilation and representation of knowledge intangibility, dynamism, experience and other humanistic cognitive dimensions remain debatable. The current technology is immature to resolve such problems. For IT to be effective for KM it must shred its bivalent logic and instead learn to operate within an authentic continuum.

Knowledge managers need to understand that a KM initiative that considers IT as a Utopian panacea will fail. Equally, the KM initiative that undervalues IT will follow suit. Owing to IT immaturity in the area of cognitive behavior, the situation is still perplexing. This elusiveness imposes some obstacles to sufficiently represent the context of tacit knowledge. Hence, codifying knowledge with the poser of the existing IT and without the support from socio‐cultural inputs, will result in de‐contextualization, i.e. “knowledge dilution.” Hence, special considerations should be given to applications that offer some behavioral context and human cognitive dimensions.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze knowledge integration in manufacturing technology development projects required to build competitive advantages.

A longitudinal case study has been conducted at a Swedish manufacturing company by following a manufacturing technology development project in real time during a two-year period.

The results show that three different knowledge integration processes exist when developing unique manufacturing technology: processes for capturing, for joint learning, and for absorb learning. The findings of the current research suggest that the three knowledge integration processes are highly interrelated with each knowledge integration process affecting the other two.

The major limitation of the research is primarily associated with the single case, which limits generalizability outside the context that was studied.

The findings are particularly relevant to manufacturing engineers working with the development of new manufacturing technologies. By using relevant knowledge integration processes and capabilities required to integrate the knowledge in manufacturing technology development projects, companies can improve design and organize the development of manufacturing technology.

Previous research has merely noted that knowledge integration is required in the development of unique manufacturing technology, but without explaining how and in what way. This paper’s contribution is the identification and analysis of three knowledge integration processes that contribute to the building of competitive advantages by developing unique manufacturing technology and new knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to distinguish and describe knowledge management (KM) technologies according to their support for strategy.

This study employed an ontology development method to describe the relations between technology, KM and strategy, and to categorize available KM technologies according to those relations. Ontologies are formal specifications of concepts in a domain and their inter‐relationships, and can be used to facilitate common understanding and knowledge sharing. The study focused particularly on two sub‐domains of the KM field: KM strategies and KM technologies.

”KM strategy” has three meanings in the literature: approach to KM, knowledge strategy, and KM implementation strategy. Also, KM technologies support strategy via KM initiatives based on particular knowledge strategies and approaches to KM. The study distinguishes three types of KM technologies: component technologies, KM applications, and business applications. They all can be described in terms of ”creation” and ”transfer” knowledge strategies, and ”personalization” and ”codification” approaches to KM.

The resulting framework suggests that KM technologies can be analyzed better in the context of KM initiatives, instead of the usual approach associating them with knowledge processes. KM initiatives provide the background and contextual elements necessary to explain technology adoption and use.

The framework indicates three alternative modes for organizational adoption of KM technologies: custom development of KM systems from available component technologies; purchase of KM‐specific applications; or purchase of business‐driven applications that embed KM functionality. It also lists adequate technologies and provides criteria for selection in any of the cases.

Among the many studies analyzing the role of technology in KM, an association with strategy has been missing. This paper contributes to filling this gap, integrating diverse contributions via a clearer definition of concepts and a visual representation of their relationships. This use of ontologies as a method, instead of an artifact, is also uncommon in the literature.

This paper aims to examine the technology acceptance model’s applicability in understanding employees’ acceptance of online platforms for knowledge sharing in organisations. Specifically, this research explores gender differences in using online platforms for sharing knowledge at the workplace in an emerging market context and the role of individuals’ motivation in online platform usage in organisations.

A web-based survey was conducted in Vietnam with 290 responses from employees in the banking and insurance industries.

Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations influenced the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and online platform usage for knowledge sharing. The results also confirm a significant influence of perceived ease of use directly on knowledge sharing behaviour using online platforms and indirectly via perceived usefulness. Regarding gender differences, perceived ease of use was more salient in women, while men considered perceived usefulness to a greater extent.

This study provides a complete picture of gender, motivation and technology used for knowledge sharing in organisational settings.

This research has provided additional insight into the importance of gender and motivation in technology acceptance. By doing this, this study helps organisations capture the potential of valuable human resources for their competitiveness.