scholarly journals Bridging the ‘Valley of Death’: Can Agile Principles Be Applied in Industry-Academia Research and Innovation Projects?

Author(s):  
Irina-Emily Hansen ◽  
Ola Jon Mork ◽  
Torgeir Welo ◽  
Geir Ringen

AbstractGovernment funding supports industry-academia research and innovation projects in Norway, sharing the risk of the research component in innovation. However, funding alone may not be sufficient to overcome potential differences in collaborative agendas and ways of working. As a result, positive research outcomes often get stuck in the valley of death, instead of ending up as successful innovations that create value. To contribute to bridging the valley of death, we investigated the importance of six agile principles for collaborative industry-academia research and innovation projects, abbreviated IPN in Norway. The study was limited to the manufacturing sector. We surveyed 124 IPN project leaders (70 from industry; 54 from academia) to evaluate the importance of the knowledge management practices associated with the six agile principles across the three project stages. The statistical analyses indicate the consistency of the agile principles throughout the project stages. This means that agile principles are relevant for IPN projects and can be used as guidelines for improvement of the knowledge management practices. Moreover, the study identifies the agile principles that are perceived as most important to use in different stages of a project. It also identifies the different perceptions of the importance of agile principles of the project leaders from industry and academia. These findings can support project leaders who are implementing agile principles to industry-academia research and innovation projects. The results from the study can also support national and federal research/innovation councils in decision-making when assessing industrial research applications.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2956
Author(s):  
Tomas Cherkos Kassaneh ◽  
Ettore Bolisani ◽  
Juan-Gabriel Cegarra-Navarro

In the last decades, business competition has been increasingly among supply chains (SCs) rather than individual firms. Today, considering the challenges of environmental, social, and economic sustainability, it is becoming even more vital to coordinate and co-manage company resources, activities, and innovative efforts at the SC level. Consequently, knowledge, which is a critical resource for companies, needs to be managed properly not only in single firms but also across SCs. For the education of business managers, this implies a double challenge: first, to make students and future executives become aware of the knowledge management (KM) practices that can be adopted; second, to facilitate the assimilation of these practices for the effective management of SCs, to ensure higher economic and environmentally sustainable performances. Standard definitions and classifications can be of great help, but the current studies are very fragmented. This study contributes by exploring the literature and examining the KM practices that are proposed and defined by the different authors. A systematic review and a descriptive analysis of selected papers showed the trend and focus of papers in the KM and SC fields. In addition, based on the definitions and classifications drawn from the literature, this paper discusses a possible systematization of the key KM practices in SCs. The major contribution of this paper is the effort of re-definition and re-classification of KM practices and their potential importance for effective and sustainable SC management. This analysis can be especially useful for organizing KM courses targeted to current and future business managers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 905-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Jiménez-Jiménez ◽  
Micaela Martínez-Costa ◽  
Raquel Sanz-Valle

Purpose – This paper aims to assess the importance of different knowledge management practices to promote organizational innovation in multinational companies. The links among internationalization, reverse knowledge transfer and social capital and organizational innovation are analyzed. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling was used to check the research hypotheses with a sample of 104 multinational companies. Findings – The results show that internalization has no direct effect on organizational innovation but a indirect effect trhrough the transfer of knowledge from external subsidiaries to the headquarter. Furthermore, this knowledge and other that comes from internal and external social capital is essential for the development of innovations. Research limitations/implications – Self-reporting by the CEOs may be the most significant limitation, as a single key informant provided the data; multiple informants would enhance the validity of the research findings. A second limitation is the cross-sectional design of the research that does not allow observation of the short- and long-term impact of the relationships among the variables. Practical implications – Organizational innovation is not an easy task. However, those multinational companies which foster knowledge management practices that generate new knowledge from external subsidiaries, internal or external social relationships, will facilitate the generation of innovations. In consequence, these companies should foster the generation of knowledge from different sources. Originality/value – The focus of the study in this paper is on multinational companies and the possibility to acquire knowledge from different sources (inside organization, external local environment and international context). Specially, focus on the transfer of knowledge from subsidiaries to headquarters (reverse knowledge transfer), as it is insufficiently investigated by current literature.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bing Li ◽  
Jianpeng Zhang ◽  
Xiaoxia Zhang

Abstract Purpose of the article Knowledge has been considered as the strategic assets and become the source of competitive advantage in organizations. Knowledge management thus receives the extraordinary attention from the top management. Many organizational factors have influences on knowledge management practices. This paper attempts to explore the empirical relationship between knowledge management and organizational culture in the specific situation of China’s commercial banking industry. Methodology/methods The relationship between knowledge management and organizational culture is quantitatively investigated by surveying bank managers. The scale of SECI modes is used to measure knowledge management process and the scale of Denison Organizational Culture Survey (DOCS) is used to measure organizational culture. We explore the underlying relationship by employing the statistical analyses such as correlation, regression and structural equation modeling. Scientific aim The research aims at testing the relationship between knowledge management and organizational culture, and furthermore if there exist linkages between cultural traits and SECI modes. Findings The results of the empirical study confirm the great and positive effect that organizational culture has on knowledge management. Different cultural traits contribute to different SECI modes. Conclusions For obtaining successful knowledge management practices in organizations, it is better to concern about the relationship between knowledge management and organizational culture. The limitation in the paper is the sampling size, which will be solved by an industry-wide survey in our future research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-55
Author(s):  
Arshad Mahmood ◽  
Muhammad Yousuf Khan Marri ◽  
Hussain Ali ◽  
Shahid Nadeem

Purpose: Human resource behaviour tends to play a vital role in organizational overall performance. The study incorporates two of the most prominent behaviours of leadership and examine their influence on organizational performance and knowledge management practices through employee involvement. Method: A sample of 398 participants was collected from different industries from services sector through survey questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were carried out to find means, standard deviation, frequency scores and then tested for model fitness by comparing alternative models through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In order to see the direction of hypotheses, we carried out Pearson Correlations analysis. For testing hypotheses PROCESS macro technique was used. Results: The results indicate that (1) the major influence on knowledge management practices and organizational performance is contributed by employee involvement, further transformational leadership has more impact on employee involvement, knowledge management practices and organizational performance as compared to leader member exchange; (2) employee involvement mediates the relationship between leadership behaviours and knowledge management practices as well as organizational performance. Conclusion: This study concludes that better relationship between manager and employee is necessary for the individual and organizational betterment and it occurs only when individuals are comfortable with their mangers. Keywords: Transformational Leadership (TL), Leader Member Exchange (LMX), Employee Involvement (EI), Knowledge Management Practices (KMP), Organizational Performance (OP) Paper Type: Research Paper


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyprian Ifeanyi Ugwu

Abstract Objective – University libraries in Nigeria are facing challenges arising from poor funding, increasing user demands, and a competitive information environment. Knowledge management has been accepted by information professionals as a viable management tool, but issues surrounding its application require empirical investigation. The aim of this study is to determine the organizational factors that are correlates and predictors of knowledge management practices in federal university libraries in Nigeria. Methods – The study was based on a correlational research design. Twenty heads of university libraries in Nigeria responded to a structured questionnaire developed by the researcher. The questionnaire was validated by experts and its internal reliability was 0.78 obtained through Cronbach’s alpha procedures. The data collected were analyzed using Mean, Standard Deviation, One-Way ANOVA, Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, and regression analysis. Results – The study found that management support and collaboration were the most significant predictors of knowledge management practices in federal university libraries in Nigeria.  Even though human resources policy and rewards systems had positive correlations with knowledge management practices, their correlation coefficients were not significant. Conclusion – The success of knowledge management in university libraries in Nigeria depends on some contextual factors such as the support given by the management staff and the extent of collaboration among staff.


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