Angel L. Meroño-Cerdan

Strategic knowledge management, innovation and performance

Abstract Our aim is to shed light on the consequences of knowledge management (KM) strategies on firms innovation and corporate performance. Organisations are not aware of the real implications that KM may have. Based on an empirical study consisted of 310 Spanish organisations and structural equations modelling, results show that both KM strategies (codification and personalisation) impacts on innovation and organisational performance directly and indirectly (through an increase on innovation capability). Also, findings demonstrate a different effect of KM strategies on diverse dimensions of organisational performance. Our conclusions may help academics and managers in designing KM strategic programs in order to achieve higher innovation, effectiveness, efficiency and profitability.

Information technology and learning: Their relationship and impact on organisational performance in small businesses

Information technology is seen as a key tool in knowledge management processes. Nevertheless, the presence of information technology neither guarantees knowledge creation, knowledge distribution nor knowledge use. In addition to information technology, a job environment and a culture that encourage sharing and continuous learning should also be created and maintained by management. This paper provides empirical evidence of the relationship between information technology and learning in small businesses as well as their impact on organisational performance. Furthermore, the level of sector knowledge-intensity is taken into consideration. Results show that individual learning along with individual and collaborative information technologies have a positive and significant impact on organisational learning. On the other hand, unlike individual and collaborative information technologies, individual and organisational learning have shown significant and positive effects on organisational performance. Therefore, information technology has a significant impact on outcomes only when in a proper context of learning is in place. Small businesses in sectors with high knowledge-intensity levels are more likely to use more frequently information technology tools and organisational learning practices.

Analyzing e-business value creation from a resource-based perspective

In recent years, scepticism about the value of e-business and information technology (IT) at the level of an individual firm has been renewed. In this sense, information systems researchers face pressure to answer the question of whether and how e-business creates value. To respond to this challenge, this paper develops a conceptual model, grounded in the resource-based theory, for assessing e-business value creation. This model posits three relationships: Internet resources and e-business value, Internet resources and e-business capabilities, and e-business capabilities and e-business value. To test hypotheses, a sample comprising 1010 Spanish firms is employed. The results show that, as hypothesized, Internet resources per se are not positively associated with e-business value. Furthermore, although Internet resources are not positively related to e-business value, they are found to play a critical role in creating e-business capabilities. In addition, the results confirm that e-business capabilities are key drivers of e-business value.

Knowledge management strategy diagnosis from KM instruments use

– The purpose of this article is to measure knowledge management (KM) implementation and determine KM strategy by assigning KM instruments into KM orientations., – Information is collected from ten SMEs in Spain and ten in Austria taking part in a KM audit project., – Results show that instruments can be used to diagnose KM strategy. Besides, some firms characteristics as industry, national culture, size and age act as contingent factors. Personalisation strategy is predominant probably due to be more feasible in first KM stages., – Besides the increase of cases, business strategy could be introduced to explore relationships with KM instruments and strategy., – This study helps management to auto‐diagnosis its KM implementation and strategy, – Instead of sophisticated measures, KM strategy is revealed considering knowledge instruments use.

External Web content and its influence on organizational performance

Research into the Internet has experienced a tremendous growth within the field of information systems. In this sense, the recent literature focuses on more complex research topics. However, there is a need to further investigate into the more basic and primary use of Internet, the external Web site to interact with stakeholders. By external, we mean publicly accessible contents. This paper develops a framework that allows evaluation of external Web content of business Web sites and examines the influence on firm performance. Here, external Web content is studied according to three Web orientations: e-information, e-communication, and e-transaction. In addition, differences in external Web content are analysed according to two contingency factors: business size and business industry. To achieve these goals, a sample comprising 288 Spanish SMEs firms was employed. The results show a positive relationship between external Web content and firm performance. Furthermore, this research indicates the existence of complementarities among the Web orientations. Thus, existing e-information was found as critical for enabling e-transaction to impact upon firm performance. Additionally, e-information and e-communication (jointly considered) were found to mutually reinforce the impact of e-transaction on firm performance. The results also confirm that external Web content is not related to business size and differs slightly by business industry.

Analyzing collaborative technologies' effect on performance through intranet use orientations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on studying the impact of collaborative technologies on firm performance. The methodology used analyzes the influence of collaborative technologies not only directly but through an intermediary variable. This variable represents different intranet use orientations (e‐information, e‐communication and e‐transaction).Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire consisting of close‐ended questions was developed. Face‐to‐face surveys were conducted on a sample comprising 310 Spanish firms in May 2005. Research hypotheses were tested through ANOVA and hierarchical regression analyses.Findings – Empirical results show that distinct collaborative technologies are associated with different intranet use orientations and demonstrate there is a positive relationship between e‐information and organizational performance. That is, the use of collaborative technologies with an informational orientation contributes to increased organizational performance. In addi...

Examining e-business impact on firm performance through website analysis

This paper develops a framework differentiating three dimensions in e-business: e-information, e-communication and e-workflow. The methodology employed (web content analysis on the companys website) allows evaluation of these e-business dimensions. The main research objective is directed to an examination of the relationship between e-business and firm performance. Additionally, differences in the adoption of e-business according to business size are evaluated. To achieve these objectives, a sample comprising 288 firms from the Region of Murcia, Spain was employed. The results show a positive relationship between e-business and firm performance. In contrast, the results confirm that e-business is not related to business size.

The impact of organizational culture on the use of ICT for knowledge management

The paper aims at analyzing the influence of diverse organizational cultures on the use of ICT for strategic KM. By combining literature from different areas, namely strategic KM, ICT for KM, organizational culture and effectiveness, a theoretical model is proposed and tested in a sample of more than 300 firms in Spain. Results show that diverse organizational cultures (hierarchy, clan, adhocracy and market) are found to impact on the use of ICT for strategic KM (personalization and codification) differently. Specifically, corporate cultures based on hierarchies and markets do not impact on the use of ICT for KM, while clan culture favours the use of ICT for personalization strategy and adhocracy positively influences technologies for personalization and codification as well. These findings may have significant implications for researchers and managers.

An analysis and comparison of web development between local governments and SMEs in Spain

The internet has emerged as a key channel for both firms and governments. E-government programmes are diverse, and difficult to assess and compare with e-business initiatives. There is therefore a need for a framework to allow for assessment and comparison of e-government and e-business initiatives. This paper develops a framework (applicable to both business and governments) that allows evaluation and comparison of the development of the external, public side of their websites. This framework has been applied to study differences in web development between SMEs and local governments in Spain. The results indicate that local governments have richer and more advanced websites than SMEs.

Evaluating Internet technologies business effectiveness

This paper focuses on analyzing the relationship between Internet technologies and firm performance. This relationship is examined not only from the simple presence of Internet technologies, but also according to different e-business orientations: e-business orientation to customers and e-business orientation to internal processes. In addition, the relationship between Internet technologies and the proposed e-business orientations is examined. To achieve these objectives, a theoretical model is developed and tested by using structural equation modelling on a dataset of 1010 firms. The results show a positive relationship between e-business orientations and firm performance. In contrast, the results confirm that the merely presence of Internet technologies is not positively associated with firm performance.