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Knowledge Transfer from Repatriated Employees:
The Indian Experience
-- B R Santosh and Krishnaveni Muthiah
Mastering the art of knowledge management is the need of the hour and can help companies create a sustainable competitive advantage. Managing knowledge for competitive advantage requires dissemination of knowledge to other units and co-workers at the right time and in the right way. This paper deals with how the Indian MNCs manage to integrate repatriates’ knowledge and, more specifically, what mechanisms they use to integrate this knowledge. Though companies are reasonably good at acquiring knowledge, this resource is often wasted through ineffective dissemination and low levels of reuse. Knowledge-based theory of the firm emphasizes that the source of competitive advantage resides in the application of the knowledge rather than in the knowledge itself; however, the focus of past research has been skewed heavily towards the contribution aspect of knowledge sharing. Hence, this study develops a conceptual model to assess the knowledge-seeking aspect of knowledge-sharing environment and provides more analytical information needed for managers as to what actions are to be taken to garner more knowledge and develop a knowledge-seeking environment in the organization. © 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Communities of Practice: An Influencing Factor
for Effective Knowledge Transfer in Organizations
-- R Krishnaveni and R Sujatha
For managing their intellectual capital and also to utilize the ‘knowledge’ more efficiently, a number of organizations have introduced Knowledge Management (KM) systems. Though explicit knowledge capture and transfer was quite possible, tacit knowledge was still a challenge for organization experts to capture and transfer. The concept of Communities of Practice (CoP) in KM is increasingly becoming popular to enhance social interactions. CoP refers to informal groups of people bound together by a common purpose. In these communities, members are provided opportunity to share their best practices, which are commonly implicit in nature. However, knowledge sharing in CoP has not been fully researched yet. The purpose of this paper is to review the relationship between KM and CoP and examine how it can influence the knowledge-sharing process in organizations. This study proposes a critical reading of the studies available on the topic, with the purpose to identify the main elements and methods influencing the transfer of knowledge. It reviews the emerging concept of ‘CoP’ as a knowledge transfer method for sharing knowledge which is commonly implicit in nature. This paper presents that the concept of CoP can foster joint learning that involves tacit and codified knowledge. Members of a CoP share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. The existence of common knowledge and a shared system of values makes sharing tacit knowledge easier in CoP, as group members have insights into the implicit assumptions and values embedded in each other’s knowledge. An empirical work in managing CoP and in identifying the knowledge-sharing methods represents an interesting challenge for further research in the area. © 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Transfer of Technology in the Biopharma Industry:
A Case Study of Select Companies in Iran
-- H Madani, R Radfar, M Mahboudi, A Khamse, M Sharbiyani
and R Radmanesh
This paper recognizes the obstacles and methods in Transfer of Technology (TOT) in the biopharma industry of Iran. The aim of this research is to investigate an appropriate pattern for technology transfer in the industry. The results of the data analysis reveal that inappropriate monitoring of systems and decision making, inadequate support of intellectual property rights, lack of management stability and cultural problems based on the priorities are the most predominant in TOT among the factors known. The findings indicate that most companies do not follow a particular model of technology transfer. The study demonstrates that the technology transfer process is incomplete and proposes an appropriate pattern for technology transfer in the biopharma industry in Iran. © 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Fostering Knowledge Management and Citizen
Participation via E-Governance for Achieving
Sustainable Balanced Development
-- M A T Al-Sudairy and T G K Vasista
The fundamental principle of any political community is the mutual acknowledgment as autonomous individuals, each with a right to personal self-fulfillment (Zürn, 2000), besides their alignment towards unity and integration for the national development and its balanced contribution to the globe. Knowledge Management (KM) and citizen participation in the form of Web 2.0-based e-forums promote a facilitating buffer technique for streamlining the governance structures and processes towards balanced development and growth by satisfying the enablement of the principle along with e-governance. A metric that targets learning and growth perspective of balanced scorecard strategy remains the foundation for all strategies (Kaplan and Norton, 2000, p. 93). Therefore, the objective of this paper is to deal with the KM and also present the illustrations of the state-of-the-art e-governance efforts for citizen engagement. © 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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