Basil G. Englis

Knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship and the voice-of-the-consumer

The founder of paperbackswap.com, Bobby Swarthout, developed the idea for his venture while he was a college student. As a student on a limited budget, he had become tired of paying high prices for textbooks. So he developed and launched an online textbook swapping service. Along with a small group of students, he managed to assemble a group of 12 colleges and universities across the United States to participate in textbook swapping. However, after a few months, very few students had used the site. By listening to the potential customers who chose not to participate, Bobby found out that there were too many easy substitutes for the swapping service (e.g. bookstore returns, half.com, efollett, etc.). These alternatives offered either greater convenience or cash in return for used books (especially appealing to students who did not pay for their books themselves), or other appealing features. However, Mr. Swarthout believed in his concept and also listened to the ‘voice-of-the-consumer’ (VOC) and moved his business idea into different consumer/product space: that of paperback books. Along with a few lead users attracted to his original idea, he refined the original idea, gathered resources (an angel who invested in the business) and added technological capabilities. One year later he launched paperbackswap.com. From inception, the firm embraced the VOC as the key tool in driving product development and improvement efforts. For paperbackswap.com listening to the VOC has become part of a closed-loop system where inputs from consumers are analysed and product improvements developed in response and where the loop is closed by listening to how consumers respond to product changes.

Using knowledge management to gain competitive advantage in the textile and apparel value chain: a comparison small and large firms

The ability to store, capture, and disseminate knowledge within and across organizational boundaries has challenged managers for many years. However, as product lifecycles have decreased and environmental complexity and volatility have increased, the need to manage knowledge is intensifying, particularly across the value chain. Firms view knowledge and knowledge management as part of their strategic orientation. The difficulties of managing knowledge of are faced by firms of all sizes. Low-cost strategies may emphasize knowledge that can be used to cut costs, lower prices, and shorten cycle times whereas differentiation strategies may emphasize knowledge that adds value to a product giving it unique characteristics that serve to differentiate it from the competition. This research examines the process of acquisition, retention, maintenance, and retrieval of knowledge both within the firm through organizational memory and across the value chain through knowledge management and compares these practices for small and large firms.