Carla C. J. M. Millar

Sustainability and the need for change: organisational change and transformational vision

Purpose – This paper aims to provide an introduction to the special issue on the theme of sustainability and the need for change.Design/methodology/approach – The paper gives an overview of sustainability and its managerial and policy dilemmas for organizations. It also outlines the topics covered in the papers in the special issue.Findings – The question that the papers seek to answer is: how can organisations deal with the sustainability challenge? The papers cover the key sustainability dilemmas: how to balance short term priorities with long term vision, organisational change with stability, strategic goals with day to day implementation, domestic with international responsibilities; how to manage the corporate brand, image and reputation; how to influence policies nationally and internationally, and foster relations, all in the realm of effecting the change in attitude and behaviour that sustainability demands.Originality/value – The paper introduces an eclectic collection of papers that are intended...

Singapore in transition: from technology to culture hub

Purpose – This paper aims to present an approach to the knowledge‐based economy that focuses on the developmental synergies between technology (especially information and communication technologies), culture and place (hub) as expressed in the innovative milieu of the inner city.Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on research in city and urban planning, which emphasizes the importance of quality of a place, location or city and the more intentional emphasis given to development of human and cultural resources, which are conducive to innovation, learning, creativity and change in a knowledge‐based economy.Findings – Singapore is chosen as a case study of analysis for a knowledge‐based economy in transition because of its developmental approach and strategic shift from one focused on technology‐intensive sectors to one focused on high knowledge‐intensive companies and towards a free‐spirited dynamic creative hub in the making. It displays many characteristics typical of a knowledge‐based economy ...

Knowledge repositories in knowledge cities: institutions, conventions and knowledge subnetworks

Suggests another dimension of research in, and application of, knowledge management. This theoretical paper adopts a conceptual, multi‐disciplinary approach. First, knowledge can be stored and transmitted via institutions. Second, knowledge “subnetworks” or smaller groupings within larger networks can become key repositories of knowledge. The concept of knowledge “subnetworks” needs to be tested against empirical evidence, which should include a cross‐national comparison of knowledge‐based cities. The paper provides some insights to policy makers in designing or developing global cities. It is one of the few papers that discusses the connection between knowledge management and growth of global cities.

Development and knowledge resources: a conceptual analysis

– The purpose of this conceptual paper is to provide a typology of governance structures (three were identified) that offers an integrated approach to understanding knowledge as a global resource and facilitates research on the growing competition for knowledge resources between multinational corporations (MNCs) from developing and developed economies in this twenty‐first century., – The paper analyzes and structures the social science research on the importance of knowledge as a resource and the role of MNCs in the knowledge creation and dissemination process. Second, the global debate on globalization, economic inequalities and economic development, the role of the state and international public policy, and the nature of international political economy and collective action was discussed. Third, a typology of three governance structures was introduced., – The paper provides a three‐fold typology of governance structures, exchange, gifts and entitlement, to clarify knowledge as a resource in international business and development research., – The continuing prominence of MNCs in the context of the up and coming MNCs from the developing world will make the analysis of knowledge as a resource even more fundamental., – The integrated approach to the literature of economics, social sciences, anthropology, IB, and the formulation of a typology of governance structures for global knowledge resources MNCs from developed and developing economies are competing for, against a general framework for understanding the nature of knowledge resources and their role in development, especially on how knowledge resources can be created, governed, distributed and exchanged, has not been provided as yet – hence the value of this paper.

The State in Science, Technology and Innovation Districts: Conceptual Models for China

Abstract Throughout the world the creation of successful technology districts has become a major issue for public policy makers. This paper analyses the potential role of the state in entrepreneurship and the creation of technology districts, and outlines implications for Chinas social market economy. We identify three types of technology districts: (1) market-driven technology districts such as Silicon Valley in the USA and Cambridge in the UK; (2) state-driven technology districts targeting foreign multinational companies, such as Sophia Antipolis in France and Singapore; (3) state-driven technology districts which nurture local companies, such as the Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park in Taiwan. We believe that these three typologies provide the foundation for better understanding the potential role of the state in science and technology for China in the early 21st century.

ManAGEment: the challenges of global age diversity for corporations and governments

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the challenges, worldwide of managing an aging workforce. The paper offers suggestions for public policy and for individual organizational approaches to developing, managing and motivating an aging workforce. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews in depth international literature, public policies and corporate policies that deal with an aging workforce. Findings – In virtually every nation in the world, society is aging and the costs to society – on multiple dimensions demand organizational action and changes in public policy. For the first time in recorded history the number of people aged 65+ will exceed those 15 and under starting in 2015. It is also predicted that those 80+ will be greater than those under 15 in Europe by 2060. Originality/value – This paper explores the impact of a worldwide aging society on the management of organizations and the demands that this aging will place on public policy. It addresses the profound impacts of c...

The innovative future of service industries: (anti-)globalization and commensuration

This paper is about the innovative future of service industries, with a focus on knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). The authors discuss the unique characteristics of service industries, the effects of internet technology and standardization in the realm of globalization and the future global knowledge based society. The paper analyses the link between the assessment of KIBS – by both stakeholders and clients – and commensuration, which is defined as comparing different entities to a common metric and measurement. This conceptual paper argues that the temptation to ‘quantify’ the value of KIBS as if they were commodities in global free markets is mistaken and especially problematic in a knowledge based society and that the necessary conceptual framework will include commensuration and possibly concepts from the sociological study of exchange and gift-giving.

Open source communities: an integrally informed approach

Purpose – To reframe analysis of the open source software (OSS) phenomenon from an AQAL perspectiveDesign/methodology/approach – The approach is a review of current research thinking and application of the AQAL framework to suggest resolution of polarizations.Findings – The authors find that AQAL is valuable as an integrating framework allowing a more holistic understanding of the complex economic, social and cultural characteristics of open source communities.Originality/value – The original value of this paper is to link, within the AQAL framework, current parallel streams of OSS research, the traditional economic and the social and anthropological, by introducing considerations of psychological contract and intrinsic motivation.

The Ethical Dilemma of Information Asymmetry in Innovation: Reputation, Investors and Noise in the Innovation Channel

A sufficient and steady stream of innovations is widely seen as a basis for healthy modern economies. Governments divert substantial resources from other purposes in society to increase innovation. Yet the failure rate among innovative SMEs is high, suggesting that resources are wasted. Avoiding such waste is a challenge for both governments and investors, but also raises a question for the innovative company, namely how to build and fund the enterprise on an ethical basis. The dilemma of giving in to temptations to ‘cut corners’ clearly exists, for example to exploit the inevitable asymmetry of information arising in innovation and potentially deploy this in support of misleading claims about specific capabilities and/or the unjustified creation and exploitation of reputation. This is consistent with Olaf Fisschers finding that entrepreneurs starting new ventures tend to exhibit an inherent bias towards compromising their own values in order to succeed at any cost. When the innoSMEs aspirations are unrealistic or the proposed innovations are of marginal value, the ethical issues are broader and extend also to those who are potential financiers. Noting this as a gap in the ethics literature, we argue that the current situation fails to match economic and ethical ideals and that work is needed to develop tools which allow those who provide finance and support for innovation to target it more effectively at those who have a prospect of successfully launching genuine innovations and thus reduce the ‘noise’ in the innovation field.

Leadership, knowledge and people in knowledge-intensive organisations: implications for HRM theory and practice

In order to offer insights into the management of HR challenges in Knowledge Intensive Firms/Organisations (KIO’s), this Special Issue explores three strands of research: International HRM, leadership and the knowledge-intensive firm/organisation. In this introduction against the background of global developments affecting KIOs, we will first highlight the key leadership issues in global KIOs, including managing, creating and sharing knowledge, and motivating and developing those employed in KIOs. Then we introduce the papers in the special issue, including a Practitioner’s Vision of HRM in a global KIO, and seven research papers from authors from Australia, Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Switzerland, Thailand and the United Kingdom on leadership in KIOs that reflect the title of this article: leadership, leading knowledge and leading people in knowledge-intensive organisations. And finally, we sketch some future developments and recommendations for further research relevant to international HRM.