Achille Claudio Garavelli

Organization and technology in knowledge transfer

Knowledge transfer is recognized as a fundamental issue for organizations. This research aims at investigating the knowledge transfer process, and finding out the most efficient and effective strategies to support it. Particularly, the research is focused on studying support strategies based on the use of technology. The paper proposes a model that describes both knowledge acquisition and practice. The model components are the actors’ cognitive systems, the processes of codification and interpretation, and the object transferred. The model predicts that a better understanding of knowledge transfer can be achieved by distinguishing organizational similarity from dissimilarity, training from fertilization, and autonomous from interactive practice. This is particularly helpful to discuss what the role and value of technology are in supporting knowledge transfer in organizations effectively.

Benefiting From Markets For Ideas — An Investigation Across Different Typologies

Acquiring and selling knowledge through markets for ideas (MFIs) is a growing trend for organisations embracing the open innovation paradigm. However, the literature has showed that more in-depth studies about how MFIs can be increasingly beneficial for both seekers and owners are needed. Thus, the present study aims at filling this gap by investigating the main characteristics of successful markets through the application of a multiple case studies methodology. Adopting two differentiation dimensions, as closed versus open and internal versus external, four distinct typologies of MFIs were identified and analysed. Accordingly, seven propositions regarding different characteristics of knowledge owners, knowledge seekers, and ideas were posed. The propositions are also referred to the different typologies of MFIs, thus highlighting similarities and differences across the markets. Hence, this work offers a deepening of the understanding of MFIs, by providing implications both to increase the theoretical comprehension of the topic and promote the definition of suggestions and guidelines for seekers and owners.

VULNERABILITY OF PRODUCTION SYSTEMS WITH MULTI-SUPPLIER NETWORK : A CASE STUDY

Despite management capability and innovative production techniques, uncertainty and variability that affect production systems cannot be completely controlled or eliminated. Thus, it is important to evaluate the intrinsic system characteristics that are susceptible to the negative impact of unexpected or unavoidable disruptions on system performance. In this paper, we apply the concept of vulnerability to production systems in order to provide some insight into the effect of uncertainty and variability on system performance. In particular, a model of a production system with a multi-supply network that is subject to process uncertainty and product mix variability is used to analyse the effects of system vulnerability. A case study is used to demonstrate the effects of specific characteristics of a real production system that can render the system vulnerable. The approach demonstrates the difficulty of improving performance without appropriate changes in the product/process design and/or in operations mana...

Organizing for continuous technology acquisition: the role of R&D geographic dispersion

External technology acquisition has been proved to be an important strategy to enhance firms’ innovation performance. However, previous studies claim that companies acquiring technologies tend to not carry on with this strategy over time, thus limiting their attitude toward continuous technology acquisition. Moreover, the extant literature also highlights that this attitude is strongly influenced by their organizational structure. Therefore, in the present paper, we investigate the relationship between how firms organize R&D activities and continuous technology acquisition. Specifically, given the increasing globalization of technological development, we focus on the role of R&D geographic dispersion, and how its influence is moderated by firms’ technological diversification. We tested our hypotheses on longitudinal data of 303 biotechnology firms that acquired, at least, one USPTO patented technology over the period 1982–2012. Results reveal that R&D geographic dispersion is curvilinearly (inverted U-shaped) related to continuous technology acquisition, with negative returns occurring earlier in technology-diversified companies.

The impact of partners’ technological diversification in joint patenting: A study on firm-PRO collaborations

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand if and how the technological diversifications of collaborating firms and public research organisations (PROs) affect the technological impact of the resulting joint-patented innovations. Design/methodology/approach The authors conduct an analysis on a database of 590 dyadic joint patents, assigned to both firms and PROs, registered from 1976 to 2010 to the US Patent and Trademark Office and belonging to green technological classes, as defined by the International Patent Classification green inventory. Findings The study reveals that the assignees’ technological diversification has a significant influence on the impact of the patents jointly developed. Indeed, the results show that the most impactful joint patents result from collaborations involving technologically diversified firms. Research limitations/implications This research sheds further light on the establishment of R&D collaborations between firms and PROs to jointly innovate. Specifically, it provides a novel perspective to investigate the impact of joint patents, by focussing on the assignees’ technological profile. Practical implications The present work suggests that firms characterised by a higher degree of technological diversification are more likely to co-develop patent of higher technological impact, as resulting from collaboration with PROs. Originality/value This study investigates the factors affecting the impact of joint patents resulting from collaborations between firms and PROs. In particular, the present research focusses on the effect of a relevant characteristic of the partners, such as their technological diversification.

Towards Industry 4.0: Mapping digital technologies for supply chain management-marketing integration

The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive picture of the innovative efforts undertaken over time to develop the digital technologies for managing the interface between supply chain management and marketing processes and the role they play in sustaining supply chain management-marketing (SCM-M) integration from an information processing point of view.,Patent analysis and actual examples are used to carry out this study. In detail, first, the authors identify the subset of enabling technologies pertaining to the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) that can be considered the most relevant for effective SCM-M integration (i.e. Industrial Internet of Things, Cloud computing, Big Data analytics and customer profiling, Cyber security). Second, the authors carry out a patent analysis aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of the patenting activity trends characterizing the set of digital technologies under investigation, hence highlighting their innovation dynamics and applications.,This research provides insightful information about which digital technologies may enable the SCM-M integration. Specifically, the authors highlight the role those solutions play in terms of information acquisition, storage and elaboration for SCM-M integration by relying on illustrative actual examples. Moreover, the authors present the organisations more involved in the development of digital technologies for SCM-M integration over time and offer an examination of their technological impact in terms of influence on subsequent technological developments.,So far, much has been said about why marketing and supply chain management functions should be integrated. However, a clear picture of the digital technologies that might be adopted to achieve this objective has yet to be revealed. Thus, the paper contributes to the literature on SCM-M integration and Industry 4.0 by highlighting the enabling technologies for the Industry 4.0 that may particularly serve for managing the SCM-M interface from an information processing perspective.

A Classification of Industrial Symbiosis Networks: A Focus on Materials and Energy Recovery

Industrial symbiosis (IS) has gained more attention in the production economics as the pressure on companies increases for the reduction of waste emissions as well as of primary resources consumption. At present, as the number of IS initiatives increases, many issues about its boundaries, such as the entities involved and the resources shared/exchanged, still continue to remain open. A common classification of IS networks does still not exist.

Supporting Creative Teams in Organizations: An Approach Based on Technology

The purpose of this study is to explain why the use of information technology (IT) is so limited in supporting creativity in organizations and to propose an IT-based Creativity Support System (CSS). The authors analyze the main literature on creativity and critically review the existing technologies for creativity. It emerges that current IT applications either provide very little support to the cognitive processes of a creative team or are inapplicable to organizations. The proposed CSS is based on the idea that technology can take part in an iterative process where each team member contributes to recombine information until a new idea emerges. The CSS is presented with a practical example of application in a new product development process.