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Meaning, Nature, Origins, and ImplicationsFoss, Nicholai J. (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Assumptions about the knowledge held by economic agents have been an integral part of the theory of economic organization since its inception. However, recent work—here called “knowledge governance”—has more explicitly highlighted knowledge as both an independent and dependent variable. Thus, a spate of work in management research and new institutional economics has highlighted dimensions such as complementarity, complexity, tacitness, and so on of knowledge assets and shown how knowledge assets, thus dimensionalized, has explanatory value with respect to economic organization. However, knowledge may also be seen as being caused by governance mechanisms and structures; specifically, incentives, allocations of decision rights, organizational structure and so on influence the search for knowledge, and the creation, sharing and integration of knowledge. More philosophically, the concern with the role of knowledge in the context of economic organization prompts a reevaluation of a number of the fundamental assumptions that are often used to guide theory-building in the economics of organization (e.g., Bayesian and game theoretical foundations). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8379 Files in this item: 1
Nicolai J Foss_SMG WP 12_2011.pdf (490.6Kb) -
Foss, Nicolai J. (København, 2005)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: An attempt is made to characterize a "knowledge governance approach" as a distinctive, emerging field that cuts across the fields of knowledge management, organisation studies, strategy and human resource management. Knowledge governance is taken up with how the deployment of administrative apparatus influences knowledge processes, such as sharing, retaining and creating knowledge. It insists on clear behavioural foundations, adopts an economizing perspective and examines efficient alignment between knowledge transactions with diverse characteristics and governance structures and mechanisms with diverse capabilities of handling these transactions. Various open research issues that a knowledge governance approach may illuminate are sketched. Although knowledge governance draws clear inspiration from organizational economics and "rational" organization theory, it recognizes that knowledge represents various challenges to more "closed" social science disciplines, notably economics. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7446 Files in this item: 1
smg wp 2005-001.pdf (386.9Kb) -
The Center for Strategic Management and GlobalizationFoss, Nicolai J. (København, 2007)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper tells the story of the emergence of distinct research around the theory of the firm at Copenhagen Business School within the last two decades, focussing on elements of continuity in the thinking of key CBS persons in the period. It discusses the current research agenda of the Center for Strategic Management and Globalization, a research agenda that may be described as multi-level research in international strategy, based on the economic theory of the firm and strategic management theory, and with a strong emphasis on micro-foundations and knowledge governance. The paper relates the narrative to organizational learning theory. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7435 Files in this item: 1
cbs forskningsindberetning smg 112.pdf (195.6Kb) -
Grandori, Anna (København, 2001)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The paper builds on existing empirical research on knowledge transfer and sharing in inter-firm and intra-firm networks, for constructing a comparative framework. The first comparative question addressed is: what types of organizational network can govern what types of knowledge network? Both the cognitive difficulty of communication and the incentive to give information turn out to be fundamental in finding an answer. The variables influencing those two dimensions are discussed ( divergence in knowledge and preference, computational and epistemic complexity). The second comparative question is what the differences are between intra-firm and interfirm knowledge flows and knowledge governance mechanisms. The results of our analysis downplay the exclusive properties of firms in knowledge transfer/sharing respects hypothesised by the ‘knowledge-based theory of the firm’, and call for a more ‘continuous’ (rather than ‘discrete’) and ‘combinatorial’ (rather than ‘idealtipical’) notion of governance mechanisms and forms. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6920 Files in this item: 1
linkwp01-7.pdf (73.14Kb) -
a consulting process during 1987-2000 at the State & University Library of DenmarkMaula, Marjatta (København, 2000)[More information][Less information]
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what can organizational economics contribute?Foss, Nicolai J.; Mahnke, Volker (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Knowledge management has emerged as a very successful organization practice and has been extensively treated in a large body of academic work. Surprisingly, however, organizational economics (i.e., transaction cost economics, agency theory, team theory and property rights theory) has played no role in the development of knowledge management. We argue that organizational economics insights can further the theory and practice of knowledge management in several ways. Specifically, we apply notions of contracting, team production, complementaries, hold-up, etc. to knowledge management issues (i.e., creating and integration knowledge, rewarding knowledge workers, etc.) , and derive refutable implications that are novel to the knowledge management field from our discussion. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6863 Files in this item: 1
03-02.pdf (480.3Kb) -
What Can Organizational Economics Contribute?Foss, Nicolai J.; Mahnke, Volker (Frederiksberg, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Knowledge management has emerged as a very successful organization practice and has been extensively treated in a large body of academic work. Surprisingly, however, organizational economics (i.e., transaction cost economics, agency theory, team theory and property rights theory) has played no role in the development of knowledge management. We argue that organizational economics insights can further the theory and practice of knowledge management in several ways. Specifically, we apply notions of contracting, team production, complementaries, hold-up, etc. to knowledge management issues (i.e., creating and integration knowledge, rewarding knowledge workers, etc.) , and derive refutable implications that are novel to the knowledge management field from our discussion. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7892 Files in this item: 1
DRUID_03_02.pdf (480.3Kb) -
Kreiner, Kristian (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This article explores the case of product development for insights into the potential role of knowledge management. Current literature on knowledge management entertains the notion that knowledge management is a specific set of practices – separate enough to allow specialization of responsibility. By common standard, the proclaimed responsibility of knowledge management is shared knowledge, saved learning costs and coordinated action in an organization. The significance of the practices of knowledge management is the intention of shared knowledge, saved learning costs and coordinated action. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6682 Files in this item: 1
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a study of knowledge management in management consultanciesJacoby Petersen, Nicoline; Poulfelt, Flemming (København, 2002)[More information][Less information]
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Mahnke, Volker; Venzin, Markus (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
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Abstract: This dissertation contributes to the existing body of knowledge on how we design computer systems, particularly multiuser software for knowledge sharing and creation in globally diffused companies. This is achieved by conducting a work place study of a global industrial engineering conglomerate which has the strategy of working with knowledge in the form of “best practices” meant to boost performance. The thesis explores the situation that workers are in, since they are meant to share and develop “best practices” knowledge in a portal based Knowledge Management System (KMS). The study indentifies a set of problems that prevents knowledge sharing from taking place to the degree to which management was specifically aiming. It was explored whether these problems could, to some degree, be mitigated by employing persuasive design, which is a new stance towards design where the aim is to directly seek to change the user’s behavior, i.e., persuading more knowledge sharing. The main contribution is an indication of an anomaly with regards to the strategic approach towards knowledge management, where knowledge sharing is seen as an effort by which companies can gain a competitive advantage by working with knowledge in a structured fashion. The issue is that the descriptions found in literature on strategic knowledge management do not address the many issues uncovered when conducting prolonged fieldwork among workers who engage in the activities that the literature seemingly takes for granted. Thus, many practical problems were uncovered that would need some level of mitigation before a company could hope to gain a strategic advantage from working with knowledge. This challenges the “stock" approach towards knowledge management, which seems to address only the management level of the organization. A contribution is also made in exploring the state-of-the-art of the emerging field of persuasive design. Persuasive design aims at enabling designers to create designs that deliberately change the user’s attitude or behavior. According to this new design tradition, the designer specifically designs with the aim of behavior transformation. The goal is a deliberate behavioral change, rather than supporting a set of existing tasks or a set of existing behaviors. The work presented shows how persuasive design is a very conceptual area of research, and that it is not a fitting approach for attaining a higher degree of participation in computer systems for knowledge sharing and creation. Persuasive design is thus not the remedy for the many problems found that prevent knowledge sharing from taking place URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8168 Files in this item: 1
Kristian_Toerning.pdf (62.64Mb) -
Campbell, John L.; Pedersen, Ove K. (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Comparative political economy has been dominated since the 1970s by two waves of research. The first one examined how different types of policy-making regimes affect policy making and, in turn, national economic competitiveness (e.g., Katzenstein 1978). The second one studied how different types of production regimes affect national competitiveness (e.g., Hall and Soskice 2001). Absent from all of this is much discussion about knowledge regimes. Knowledge regimes are sets of actors, organizations, and institutions that produce and disseminate policy ideas that affect how policy-making and production regimes are organized and operate in the first place. Knowledge regimes are important because they contribute data, research, theories, policy recommendations, and other ideas that influence public policy and, thus, national economic competitiveness (Baab 2001; Campbell 1998; Pedersen 2006). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7352 Files in this item: 1
wp cbp 2008-48.pdf (176.0Kb) -
Campbelle, John L.; Pedersen, Ove K. (, 2005)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper develops the concept of knowledge regime and shows how knowledge regimes vary across the two most basic varieties of capitalism: liberal and coordinated market economies. The key questions motivating this paper are whether there are different types of knowledge regimes associated with different varieties of capitalism during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries; how they generate policy ideas; and how they disseminate these ideas to policy makers. Hence, this paper begins to fill an important blind spot in the comparative political economy and varieties of capitalism literatures. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7911 Files in this item: 1
WP CBP 2005-20.pdf (85.38Kb) -
Codification and Personification as Separate StrategiesGammelgård, Jens; Ritter, Thomas (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Abstract Previous discussions of knowledge transfer within multinational corporations tended to focus on the process as an isolated phenomenon and on the factors that impede the process. Less attention has been given to how the individual knowledge worker retrieves or identifies, and then decodes knowledge accessed from the corporate memory. We suggest that multinational companies (MNCs) solve knowledge retrieval problems by implementing virtual communities of practice - intranet-based collaborative forums. Codification and personalization strategies have previously been emphasized as an either-or solution. These virtual communities of practice combine the codification and personalization strategies, simultaneously utilizing the advantages of two approaches. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7318 Files in this item: 1
ckg-wp202004-10.pdf (85.2Kb) -
Gammelgaard, Jens; Ritter, Thomas (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Previous discussions of knowledge transfers within multinational corporations (MNC’s) tended to focus on the process as an isolated phenomenon, and the factors that impede these transfers. Less attention has been given to the identification and personal codification processes of knowledge prior to transfer. A model for understanding how knowledge is retrieved in MNC’s is proposed in this paper, with a specific focus on the retrieval of information located in information technology (IT) systems. The model is derived from (1) a critical examination of knowledge management theory, and (2) the empirical research results gathered from Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). Our survey of CSC reveals that the company is able to overcome the problem of identifying valuable knowledge in a geographical dispersed organization by establishing virtual communities of practice via its portal system. Virtual communities of practice are seen as a combination of the codification and the personalization strategies in this paper. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6551 Files in this item: 1
jg-3.pdf (260.9Kb) -
time sensitiveness and push-pull strategies in a non-hype organisationHoldt Christensen, Peter (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The concept of knowledge management has, indeed, become a buzzword that every single organization is expected to practice and live by. Knowledge management is about managing the organization’s knowledge for the common good of the organization – but practicing knowledge management is not as simple as that. This article focuses on knowledge sharing as the process seeking to reduce the resources spent on reinventing the wheel. The article introduces the concept of time sensitiveness; i.e. that knowledge is either urgently needed, or not that urgently needed. Furthermore, knowledge sharing is considered as either a push or pull system. Four strategies for sharing knowledge – help, post-it, manuals and meeting, and advice are introduced. Each strategy requires different channels for sharing knowledge. An empirical analysis in a production facility highlights how the strategies can be practiced. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6331 Files in this item: 1
wp12-2003phc.pdf (360.5Kb) -
tacit knowledge or/and cultural categorizationZølner, Mette (Frederiksberg, 2014)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The paper explores how locals span boundaries between corporate and local levels. The aim is to better comprehend potentialities and challenges when MNCs draws on locals’ culture specific knowledge. The study is based on an in-depth, interpretive case study of boundary spanning by local actors in the period of post-acquisition when their organization is being integrated into the acquiring MNC. The paper contributes to the literature on boundary spanning in three ways: First, by illustrating that boundary spanning is performed by numerous organizational actors in a variety of positions in MNCs, inclusively by locals in subsidiaries. Second, by showing that boundary spanning is ‘situated’ in the sense that its result depends on the kind of knowledge to be transmitted and the attitude of the receivers. A third contribution is methodological. The study illustrates that combining bottom-up grounded approach with pattern matching is a way to shed light on the tacit local knowledge that organizational actors cannot articulate and that an exclusively inductive research is not likely to unveil. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9030 Files in this item: 1
Mette Zoelner Euram2014.pdf (576.6Kb) -
A Comparison Between China and RussiaMichailova, Snejina; Hutchings, Kate (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Much of the knowledge management literature tends to assume a rather universalist understanding of knowledge sharing. Yet, attitudes to knowledge sharing as well as actual knowledge-sharing behaviour depend on conditions that vary across institutional and cultural environments. This paper contributes to the knowledge-sharing literature by specifically discussing the interplay between knowledge-sharing and national cultural factors in the context of transition countries. The paper engages in a comparative examination of two major transition societies, China and Russia, and contributes to understanding the complexity of differences between transition economies. The paper is written as a set of theoretical arguments and propositions that is designed to elucidate more nuanced ways of thinking about knowledge sharing in China and Russia. We argue that in the case of China and Russia, vertical individualism and particularist social relations facilitate knowledge sharing. We also maintain that there are important differences between China and Russia in terms of motivation for knowledge sharing and propose that the differences between the two countries in terms of origins of collectivism and degree of collectivism impact on knowledge sharing in organisations in these two countries. Research and management implications are also outlined. Keywords: China, knowledge sharing, national culture, Russia URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7306 Files in this item: 1
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Gammelgård, Jens; Husted, Kenneth; Michailova, Snejina (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Abstract Not achieving the anticipated synergy effects in the post-acquisition integration context is a serious cause for the high acquisition failure rate. While existing studies on failures of acquisitions exist from economics, finance, strategy, organization theory, and human resources management, this paper applies insights from the knowledge-sharing literature. The paper establishes a conceptual link between obstacles in the post-acquisition integration processes and individual knowledge-sharing behavior as related to knowledge transmitters and knowledge receivers. We argue that such an angle offers important insights to explaining the high failure rate in acquisitions. Descriptors: post-acquisition integration, acquisition failure, individual knowledge-sharing behavior URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7319 Files in this item: 1
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Gammelgaard, Jens; Husted, Kenneth; Michailova, Snejina (København, 2002)[More information][Less information]