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Author Schwartz, Dabid G

Title Encyclopedia of knowledge management / David G. Schwartz
Published Hershey, PA : Idea Group Reference, [2006]
©2006

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Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  658.4038 Sch/Eok  AVAILABLE
Description xxx, 9 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm
Contents Machine derived contents note: Knowledge Management under Coopetition -- Topic Title: Organizational and Social Aspects of Knowledge Management -- Claudia Loebbecke -- Dept. of Media Management, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany -- claudia.loebbecke@uni-koeln.de, www.mm.uni-koeln.de -- Albert Angehrn -- Centre for Advanced Learning Technologies (CALT), INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France -- albert.angehrn@insead.edu, www.insead.edu -- This article deals with Knowledge Management under Coopetition and, in this context, illustrates the concept of 'Coopetitive Learning and Knowledge Exchange Networks' (CoLKENs). It investigates the setting for inter-organizational knowledge management initiatives focusing on issues related to cooperation-competition-dilemmas and intentional/unintentional knowledge transfer. -- Introduction -- Behind the emerging digital façade, companies have started to operate in a distributed fashion. The intricate connectivity among these firms implies the exchange of valuable resources like knowledge and information. Such 'cooperation' or 'collaboration' is what enables organizations and individuals to make decisions collectively, learn from one another, communicate effectively, and thus create knowledge (Brown & Duguid, 1991; Huber, 1991; McDonald, 1995; von Krogh & Roos, 1995). -- However, cooperating organizations often simultaneously compete (coopetition). While reciprocal knowledge sharing may enhance the total and individual added value, inter-firm knowledge sharing may also affect the uniqueness and thus competitive contribution of a firm's knowledge repository. Opportunistic behavior of counterparts may erode anticipated benefits of cooperation and result in unevenly distributed value. -- The inherent balancing act between cooperation and competition requires designing and implementing specific management processes to enable economic value maximization for participating individuals and firms. The value-driven balancing act is becoming increasingly relevant in business practice. -- The article introduces the scientific literature on Knowledge Management under Coopetition and then describes the concept of 'Coopetitive Learning and Knowledge Exchange Networks' (CoLKENs), their components and their generic structure. It reviews CoLKEN fundamentals and components and suggests a CoLKEN taxonomy. Key research questions are followed by generalized key insights from studying CoLKENs as the setting for Knowledge Management under Coopetition. The article then examines the levers for managing CoLKENs and closes with future trends and brief conclusions. -- Background -- The following literature review provides broad definitions and discussions relevant to Knowledge Management under Coopetition. -- Fundamental Components of Knowledge Management under Coopetition -- Knowledge is a complex concept and difficult to define, and when seen from a management perspective it exhibits unique properties that are distinctly different from the ones of traditional corporate resources, such as land, labor and capital. Intellectual resources are not naturally scarce (Suchmann, 1989); knowledge may increase in value the more it is used, with investment in knowledge and knowledge-creating capabilities characterized by increasing returns (Teece, 1998). These properties tend to make knowledge less amenable to management (Polanyi, 1966; Hedlund, 1994; Nonaka, 1994; Boisot, 1995). -- Who are appropriate knowledge agents for Knowledge Management under Coopetition? Who is intellectually capable, the organization or its individual employees? Does knowledge reside at individual and the organizational level? Among others, Drucker (1993) or Grant (1996) stress the predominant importance of individuals. Others (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995; Spender, 1996; Boisot, 1998; Lane & Lubatkin, 1998; Matusik & Hill, 1998; Crossan, Lane, & White, 1999; Inkpen, 2000) consider organizational cognition or organizations as cognitive entities a suitable unit of analysis. In the organization science literature, organizational learning is a central tenet (Huber, 1991; Simon, 1991; Argyris & Schön, 1996) and is believed to lead to competitive advantage (Senge, 1990; Moingeon & Edmondson, 1996). It is closely intertwined with inter-organizational learning (e.g. Larsson, Bengtsson, Henriksson, & Sparks, 1998, 1998) as the learning entities in both concepts positively affect each other (Doz & Hamel, 1998; Child, 2001; Holmquist, 2003). -- Knowledge Networks are commonly defined as formally set up mechanisms, structures, and behavioral patterns that connect knowledge agents who were not previously connected because of functional, hierarchical, or legal boundaries between organizations. Inter-organizational knowledge networks (e.g. Mowery, Oxley, & Silverman, 1996; Klein, 1996) provide the setting for Knowledge Management under Coopetition. -- Theoretical Underpinnings of Knowledge Management under Coopetition -- The 'resource based view of the firm', along with its conceptual predecessor, the 'industrial organization view', and its extension, the 'knowledge based view of the firm', have shed light on the question why firms cooperate to learn from one another, share capabilities and knowledge, while - at the same time - manage knowledge as a valuable resource in the competitive environment. -- Until the 1980s, competitive thinking - reflected in the 'industrial organization view' - has generally been seen focusing on companies' environments (e.g. Porter, 1980; Spender, 1996; Teece, Pisano, & Shuen, 1997). As such, it stands for an outward focus. Since the mid 1980s, the so-called 'resource-based approach' (Wernerfelt, 1984; Rumelt, 1987; Prahalad & Hamel, 1990) has partially built on Penrose's conception of the firm as a "collection of productive resources, both human and material" (Penrose, 1959, p. 31). The resource-based approach builds on two basic assumptions: (a) the firm's ultimate objective is to achieve sustained, above normal returns, and (b) a set of resources and their combination transformed into competencies and capabilities are a precondition for sustained superior returns (Rugman & Verbeke, 2002). These resources are to be firm-specific (i.e. imperfectly mobile), valuable to customers, non-substitutable, difficult to imitate, and differently available to firms. Companies are seen as heterogeneous with respect to their resource and capability endowments (Teece et al., 1997). Assets such as knowledge are not readily tradable; they cannot equilibrate through factor input markets. Hence, critical resources can typically not be acquired via the market and consequently need to be developed internally. Competitive advantage is associated primarily with heterogeneous resource endowments of firms (Wernerfelt, 1984; Prahalad & Hamel, 1990; Hamel, 1991; Barney, 1991). -- Recent extensions of the knowledge-based perspective (Grant 1996) are centered around its application to a 'network of firms', rather than an individual firm (Hamel, 1991; Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2000; Dyer & Nobeoka, 2000; Gulati, Nohria, & Zaheer, 2000; Doz, Santos, & Williamson, 2001; Grant & Baden-Fuller, 2004). As developed in the 'relational view of the firm', firms ought to look at inter-organizational networks as a source of sustainable competitive advantage (Liebeskind, Olivier, Zucker, & Brewer, 1996; Powell, Kogut, & Smith-Doerr, 1996; Powell, 1998; Dyer & Singh, 1998). -- Different scholars hold different views on what criteria need to be applied to differentiate critical from non-critical resources. Barney (1991) proposes 'value creation for the company', 'rarity compared to competition', 'imitability', and 'substitutability'. Prahalad and Hamel (1990) distinguish 'core competencies' from 'non-core competencies' by outlining core competencies as being suitable for application in many different markets, creating a significant contribution to customer value, and being difficult for competitors to imitate. -- To specify resources that accommodate these criteria is equally controversial (Priem & Butler, 2001a & b; Rugman & Verbeke, 2002). The literature offers a plethora of phrases such as 'firm resources' (Barney, 1991, 2001), 'invisible assets' (Itami, 1987), or 'dynamic capabilities' (Teece et al., 1997). -- Roos and Roos (1996) or Drucker (1993) proclaim that knowledge, whether referred to as invisible assets (Itami, 1987), absorptive capacity (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990), core competencies (Prahalad &, Hamel, 1990), core capabilities (Kogut &, Zander, 1996), or organizational knowledge (Nonaka &, Takeuchi, 1995), can be seen as the only - or at least an important resource - that fulfils the foregoing criteria. Teece (1998) even argues that the essence of a firm is its ability to create, transfer, assemble, integrate, and exploit knowledge assets. -- These lines of thought match the traditional analysis that both Ricardian and monopoly rent theorists derive in large part from intangible assets with organizational learning and knowledge being among the most crucial ones (Penrose, 1959; Liebeskind, 1996; McGaughey, 2002). By stressing the outstanding importance of knowledge, they have given birth to the 'knowledge-based perspective' as a special form of the resource-based one. -- Coopetitive Learning and Knowledge Exchange Networks (CoLKENs) as the Setting for Knowledge Management under Coopetition -- As outlined above, knowledge management has been increasingly considered as a key man
Summary "This encyclopedia is a research reference work documenting the past, present, and possible future directions of knowledge management"--Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Subject Knowledge management -- Encyclopedias.
Information resources management -- Encyclopedias.
Information networks -- Management -- Encyclopedias.
Knowledge management.
Information resources management.
Information networks -- Management.
Organizational learning.
Genre/Form Encyclopedias.
Author Schwartz, David G.
LC no. 2005013818
ISBN 1591405734 hardcover
1591405742 ebook