Network Strategy for Entrepreneurs

Networks are an emerging area within the literature related to how entrepreneurs transfer knowledge, seek partnerships, and ultimately interact with others. Some terms with which this area has been defined are Business Networks, Knowledge Networks & Collaboration Networks. It is a cross-cutting phenomenon in various areas of knowledge, such as open innovation and entrepreneurship. However, the relevance of the use of networks for entrepreneurs and the development of global start-ups leads us to the need to propose a conceptual framework for the planning and administration of these business networks. It is an analytical investigation with a case study methodology. They are cases of the cities of Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Santiago (Chile) mainly of consulting and software services. From the models usually used in entrepreneurship, those with integrated tools and methodologies for the development of business networks by founders or administrators of start-ups.

NETME: on-the-fly knowledge network construction from biomedical literature

Background The rapidly increasing biological literature is a key resource to automatically extract and gain knowledge concerning biological elements and their relations. Knowledge Networks are helpful tools in the context of biological knowledge discovery and modeling. Results We introduce a novel system called NETME, which, starting from a set of full-texts obtained from PubMed, through an easy-to-use web interface, interactively extracts biological elements from ontological databases and then synthesizes a network inferring relations among such elements. The results clearly show that our tool is capable of inferring comprehensive and reliable biological networks.

Determinants of Knowledge Transfer in Egocentric Networks. Comparative Analysis of Professions

This paper investigates determinants of knowledge transfer in egocentric networks of knowledge recipient and knowledge provider, what is crucial to knowledge management in organisations. Knowledge transfer is assumed to depend on knowledge work, networking competence, and the subject’s profession: teacher, Information Technology (IT) professional, or physician. The paper reports result of a quantitative study among samples of mentioned professionalists. Regression models testing, including mediation and moderation, were performed. The findings indicate that knowledge transfer in the egocentric network of the knowledge recipient increases along with knowledge work, but only when it is mediated by networking competence. Analyses in each profession support a partial mediation in the case of IT professionals and teachers. Knowledge transfer in egocentric network of the knowledge provider increases along with knowledge work of the provider. In the case of physicians, knowledge transfer in the providers’ and recipients’ knowledge networks is affected neither by knowledge work nor by networking competence.

A Critical Review of Organizing Knowledge Management for Innovation

This study critically reviews the literature that demonstrates the relevance of knowledge management process and business intelligence, as well as the challenges arising when it comes to organising for innovation in today’s business organisations. Hence, the to attain desired innovation it is important to integrate business intelligence (BI) and knowledge management (KM) for the diffusion of innovation. Hence, importance of integrating business intelligence (BI) and knowledge management (KM) for the diffusion of innovation. Organisations’ innovation dynamics and knowledge processes that lead competitive advantage of organisations are examined. Literature points that many organisations rely on individual employees’ knowledge and skills. As a result, information systems that enable knowledge management (KM) as a critical tool for gaining a competitive advantage (Campbell, 2012). The seminal argument in this study is that knowledge diffusion and knowledge externalities are the main drive of increase in economy. As a result, this is expected to be a win-win value proposition for such organisations integrating business intelligence and knowledge management. However, owing to changing business conditions and the rapidity of technological development, as well as the rising expenses involved with carrying out R&D operations in many of these organisations, maintaining competitive advantage through internal R&D alone is becoming increasingly challenging. The importance of innovation processes and network dynamics in the context of Integrated Knowledge Networks is explored, which provide feasible possibilities for utilising innovation as an interactive process as well as knowledge processes for creating business intelligence in organisations. Due to the challenges of organising for innovation, the organisations figured to rely on “Open innovation” approach to intentionally seek out unique knowledge and information outside of their organisational bounds. This study also discusses the challenges that organisations hurdle on in managing inter-organizational cooperation because of external knowledge sourcing techniques (Campbell, 2009). This is due, in part, to the fact that they span a wide range of organisations, people, and resources, as well as the interactions that exist between them. The creative processes and network dynamics are facilitated by an architecture that blends organisational and technical aspects in Integrated Knowledge Networks. Hence, the study focuses on twofold to sourcing external knowledge in particular: learning from international business environments and corporate venturing strategy for corporate incubators.

Social Capital and Knowledge Networks of Software Developers

Software development is a problem-solving activity, where ideas are combined in complex ways to create a software product that embodies new knowledge. In this endeavor, software developers constantly look for actionable knowledge to help solve the problem at hand. While knowledge management efforts in the software development domain traditionally involved technical initiatives such as knowledge repositories, experience factories, and lessons-to-learn databases, there is a growing appreciation in the software community of the role of developers' personal knowledge networks in software development. However, research is scarce on the nature of these networks, the knowledge resources accessed from these networks, and the differences, if any, between developers of different experience levels. This research seeks to fill this void. Based on a case study in a software development organization, this research explores the nature of knowledge networks of developers from a social capital perspective. Specifically, it examines the structural and relational dimensions of developers' knowledge networks, identifies the specific actionable knowledge resources accessed from these networks, and explores how entry-level and more experienced developers differ along these dimensions. The findings from the qualitative analysis, backed by limited quantitative analysis of the case study data underpin the discussion, implications for practice and future research directions.

Global Authenticity, Local Authority: Epistemic Power, Discursive Geographies, and the Creation of Civil Society Knowledge Networks

How do networks of civil society organizations spread and contest ideas around the globe? This chapter focuses the ways practitioners within development-focused civil society organizations use spatial discursive practices to label, organize, defend, and undermine the spread and application of ideas. In particular, I look at the way members of civil society organizations defend and promote ideas as authentic and/or authoritative, navigating the need to have their knowledge and practices accepted both by beneficiaries and elite international epistemic communities. I draw on ethnographic fieldwork with two multi-sited case studies of civil society organizations, ranging from global foundations in the USA and Switzerland to their national and regional NGO partners in Kenya and Kyrgyzstan. Actors in both of these networks defend a varied array of ideas that underpin their ecological interventions through invocations of local particularity and global expertise. This chapter thus addresses the ways epistemic communities are formed and knowledge is produced and legitimized via discursive geographies and identities.