Carlo Bagnoli

Knowledge management in small and medium enterprises: a structured literature review

Purpose This paper aims to review and critique the knowledge management (KM) literature within small and medium enterprises (SMEs), offers an overview of the state of research and outline a future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach Papers published in KM journals are analysed using a structured literature review methodology. The paper analyses 89 papers published in ten journals specialising in the field of KM. Findings KM within SMEs is a research area of growing importance. Findings show that literature on KM in SMEs is fragmented and dominated by unrelated research, with few comparative studies between countries and several countries receiving little attention. Additionally, different definitions of SMEs are used and different kinds of SMEs (e.g. micro, small and medium) are often treated as equivalent, making comparison almost impossible. The results show a failure to address the implications of findings for practitioners and policymakers, which risks relegating the KM research on SMEs to irrelevance. Originality/value The paper presents a comprehensive structured literature review of the articles published in KM journals. The paper’s findings can offer insights into future research avenues.

Where there is a will there is a way: IC, strategic intent, diversification and firm performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether strategic intent influences developing intellectual capital (IC) and if IC affects performance measured in terms of product and service diversification within small and medium enterprises over time. Design/methodology/approach – This study discusses if and how structural equation models can be located within the third stage of IC research, and subsequently presents an analysis developed using 1,392 questionnaire responses through a temporal lens. Findings – Empirical results show how relational, human and structural capital strongly connects to support a firm’s performance measured in terms of product and service diversification. Additionally, IC and strategic intent influence each other creating a constraint effect on one side and an ambition effect on the other. Interestingly, the constraint effect is much higher than the ambition effect, and this falls in line with a contingency approach to strategic intent. Practical implications – Several prac...

Managing dualities for efficiency and effectiveness of organisations

Purpose – The paper presents the concept of duality, which presupposes the synthesis of two apparently opposing organisations properties. The purpose of the paper is to empirically verify whether management of dualities correlates with effectiveness and efficiency of organisations.Design/methodology/approach – The research examines 21 dualities at the normative and strategic level of organisational policy. The research was undertaken in two phases. In the first phase, effectiveness and efficiency indicators were defined by applying the analytic hierarchy process method within an expert group. In the second phase, a questionnaire was sent to 49 CEOs of mid‐size and large companies operating in the food, beverage and foodstuff production industry in Slovenia. The questionnaire applied the semantic differential scale.Findings – The fundamental research hypothesis argues that organisations that are able to transcend the so‐called duality paradox thus enhance their effectiveness or/and efficiency. The results...

Aligning knowledge strategy and competitive strategy in small firms

Despite the claim of more and more scholars that there is a need to align knowledge strategies with competitive strategies, little research allows for more precise conceptualizations concerning this problem of inter-level strategic fit, and few have attempted an empirical investigation. This is especially true in the specific context of small firms (SFs), despite the fact, that their knowledge-based resources are more important than their property-based resources. This study aims to investigate, through a quali-quantitative analysis carried out on a sample of SFs in northeast Italy, the alignment between knowledge strategies and competitive strategies. We have identified two types of competitive strategies pursued by SFs, i.e. human resource-based (HR-based) and product and customer service quality-based (PCSQ-based). We have also identified two types of internal knowledge strategy, i.e. exploitation strategy of internal knowledge, and exploration strategy of internal knowledge, as well as two types of external knowledge strategy, i.e. exploitation strategy of external knowledge, and exploration strategy of external knowledge. Our findings reveal that SFs pursuing HR-based competitive strategies tend to adopt exploitation strategies of both internal and external knowledge, while firms pursuing PCSQ-based competitive strategies tend to adopt exploration strategies of both internal and external knowledge.

Intellectual capital management in the fourth stage of IC research: A critical case study in university settings

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of a university that uses a collective intelligence approach for managing its intellectual capital (IC). Specifically, the authors investigate how one of Europe’s oldest business schools, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy), manages IC through stakeholder engagement to achieve academia’s third mission so contributing to social and economic development. Design/methodology/approach Data are collected through semi-structured interviews and Ca’ Foscari University’s strategic plan. Secundo et al.’s (2016) collective intelligence framework is used to analyse the data. Alvesson and Deetz’s (2000, pp. 19-20) critical management tasks – insight, critique and transformative redefinition – are adopted to frame and discuss the results. Findings On the assumption that a university is a collective intelligence system, the findings demonstrate that IC management needs to change to incorporate an ecosystem perspective, reflecting the fourth stage of IC research. The IC management at the university incorporates its core goal (what), the collective involvement of internal and external stakeholders to achieve the goal (who), the motivations behind the achievement of the goal (why) and, finally, the processes activated inside the university (how) and indicators to assess value creation. Research limitations/implications A new perspective for managing IC in universities that adopts a collective intelligence approach is further developed. Contributions to the fourth stage of IC research – IC in an ecosystem – are highlighted that expand the concept of IC value creation beyond universities into wider society. Practical implications Two key consequences of this case study are that more stakeholders have become involved in IC management and that IC management requires critical rethinking, given the universities’ evolving role. Originality/value This paper brings together issues that are usually dealt with in separate domains of the literature: IC management and collective intelligence in the university setting.

Voluntary Disclosure Strategies and the Cost of Capital of Italian Blue Chips

How do the Italian blue chips actually deal with disclosure about their business model? Does their disclosure strategies affect the cost of capital through a reduction in information risk premia? Performing a cluster analysis on the contents reported in annual reports, investor relations and press releases, the study firstly identifies four different disclosure strategies. Subsequently it uses an original model to extract the information risk premia from time series of stock prices and trading volumes time. The level of information risk premia is split between market-related and firm-specific drivers in order to compute their correlation with trading volume and the different disclosure strategies identified. Overlaps from results in cluster analysis and information risk premia determinants let us conclude that broad and exhaustive financial communication allows reduction of the cost of capital.

When the investors speak: intellectual capital disclosure and the Web 2.0

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate intellectual capital (IC) discussions held between investors using Web 2.0 tools. More precisely, this paper investigates the determinants of IC disclosures (ICDs) on internet stock message boards (IMBs). Design/methodology/approach Four hypotheses were developed and tested through content analysis of 60,996 messages posted on two main IMBs, Yahoo!Finance and TheLion.com, followed by descriptive statistics and logistic regression testing. Findings The findings show that Web 2.0 is bringing new opportunities to disclose IC. Traditional theories, such as agency, stakeholder, signalling, and legitimacy theory, cannot be applied to the Web 2.0 context. Therefore, a new approach that focusses more on the personal motivations for disclosing IC is called for. At a glance, the results show that IC is disclosed on IMBs, and several elements influence both the quantity and quality of those disclosures. Sometimes “trolls” disturb the dialogue and discourage participation by other investors. Conversely, online influencers facilitate ICD. To filter messages, the time of posting, the length of the messages, and the sentiment the messages contain should be considered along with the author of the message. Originality/value This paper contributes to the existing literature by investigating the IC disclosed on IMBs. The findings provide insights about how ICDs are developed using Web 2.0 tools.

Le mappe strategiche per vincere le resistenze all’integrazione aziendale

Business integration is certainly an important source of opportunities for firms but also a particularly challenging managerial task. Business integration is usually conceived for achieving technical and strategic complementarities but often fails at delivering the expected value as the importance the post integration phase is undervalued. This article follows the development of Innova Group, from a medium national player to a multinational group. Through a deep qualitative study we show how the persistence of identities, knowledge and practices inhibits the achievement of an effective integration and of the expected advantages. Moreover we show how the visual representation of cognitive models of organizational members in strategy maps offers important benefits as for the reciprocal understanding and strategy development.

Organizational Identity and Value Triangle: Management of Jungian Paradoxes to Enable Sustainable Business Model Innovation

Biloslavo et al. add a much-needed new lens to understanding the nature of sustainable business models. Drawing on an interdisciplinary approach and adopting a Jungian dialectical approach, they explore the connections between organizational identity, paradoxes, and sustainable business model innovation. A sustainable business model framework termed the “Value Triangle” is applied to an illustrative case study of Japanese firm Muji. The result is a new perspective on designing sustainable business models incorporating paradoxical characteristics of organizational identity. This chapter supports the contention that organizational identity and sustainable business models can be mutually constitutive.

Lo strategizing in contesti complessi

Strategy-making takes place in webs of socio-material practices, where agency is mediated by artifacts and actors continuously reframe the way on which they give sense to their actions and objectives. Despite agency still depends on human actors, material artifacts can play a critical role in these ensembles of practices making strategizing always open to transformation. The practices associated with the strategy formation encompass conflicting people mental models, distributed knowledge and materiality for the development of a systematic, coherent and coordinated strategic process. The activities that qualify strategy-making are multifaceted and include a more or less deliberative and routinized individual decision-making and the conscious or unconscious exploration of emerging patterns. According to a cognitive approach to strategy-making, what strategists decide is largely influenced by their different perceptual filters, which are unique, as they were formed through the specific ways of engaging with the world, and by the construction of shared meanings. This consideration puts scholars to elaborate about the use of visual artifacts to frame strategic thinking and conceptualize a shared strategic orientation. The unfolding character of strategizing process stimulates to better understand the knowledge production process that explains the epistemic nature of the process itself. In particular, it has been demonstrated that the use of visual representations supports the knowledge production during the innovation processes as it facilitate the abstraction and the concretization of innovation practices. The potential benefits of using visual representations for fostering strategizing process have not yet been analysed extensively. Few case studies reflecting on the crucial role of visual representation in the strategy process and decisions in complex setting. This study aims to fill these gaps and explores how strategy maps shape the strategic practices within Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. The Italian University setting is a complex research field as it is a multivoiced domain and a rapidly changing one. A recent reform is stimulating a radical change in the management policies making the strategy processes a pluralistic and uncertain work. Lo strategizing in contesti complessi Filippo Zanin, Carlo Bagnoli Ringraziamenti | Acknowledgments Gli autori intendono ringraziare il prof. Ignacio Canales, il prof. Robert Macintosh e il prof. Donald Maclean e due anonimi reviewer per i loro preziosi commenti su un estratto del presente lavoro, presentato alla conferenza di Glasgow 2013 organizzata dalla Strategy Management Society. In quell’occasione il paper è stato premiato come «best paper award, third place». Thank you to prof. Ignacio Canales, prof. Robert Macintosh and prof. Donald Maclean, Conference Program Co-Chairs of the SMS Glasgow Special Conference 2013 Strategy in Complex Settings and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on earlier draft of this manuscript. The paper was selected as finalist for the Special Conference Glasgow Best Proposal Prize (third place). Lo strategizing in contesti complessi Filippo Zanin, Carlo Bagnoli