Fons Wijnhoven

Post-merger IT integration strategies: An IT alignment perspective

When a company decides to merge with or to acquire another company, a major question is to what extent to integrate the information technologies and the organization. Interpreting merger objectives to proper IT integration strategies is a complex and time-consuming process, due to a lack of explicit understanding of the problems involved. The current literature in this field is meager and has not yet resulted in a theory. For this purpose, we developed a variant of the IT alignment model. In this model, we identify three ambition levels of mergers and IT integration from the literature. Additionally, we describe four integration methods that fit with these ambitions. The relations between these objectives and methods are moderated by contextual factors. Three hospital cases, with different merger and IT integration ambitions, describe the practice of this model. The case studies also add several new variables and relations to it. This result facilitates further research in post-merger IT integration by delivering an empirical research model.

Managing heterogeneous knowledge: a theory of external knowledge integration

Knowledge integration has been theorised at the levels of organisations and inter-organisational dyads. However, no theory exists yet of the integration of knowledge from an organisations environment. This paper addresses this void in the literature by presenting a theory of external knowledge integration. It considers organisations as open systems confronted with intra-organisational, inter-organisational, and extra-organisational knowledge heterogeneity. It presents a prescriptive theory of how organisations should deal with these three levels of heterogeneity by three external knowledge integration capabilities: knowledge identification, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge utilisation. The paper develops propositions of how organisations should balance divergent and convergent external knowledge integration capabilities to achieve flexibility, efficiency, and scope. As such, the paper builds further on Grants seminal work and provides a prescriptive theory of external knowledge integration.

Knowledge logistics in business contexts: analyzing and diagnosing knowledge sharing by logistics concepts

Knowledge sharing is regarded by many management scientists as a main factor to evaluate organizational learning and knowledge management performance in organizations. Therefore, it is important to develop instruments for the analysis and diagnosis of knowledge sharing. Unfortunately, management practice and science lack instruments to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge sharing within and between organizational units. This paper explores the possibilities of logistic concepts in analyzing and diagnosing knowledge sharing. Because the logistics concepts have been developed in physical/material elements sharing, it might be impractical or misdirecting in the virtual/knowledge area. Consequently, each concept has been evaluated to its practicability for knowledge-sharing analysis and diagnosis, leading to the KNOWLOG instrument and further understandings of the nature of knowledge sharing. These insights and the instrument are applied to three cases: a knowledge logistics coordinator, a high-tech equipment manufacturer and an IT consultancy/software company. The author concludes with pros and cons for the knowledge logistics approach to the effective management of knowledge sharing.

Misunderstandings in Global Virtual Engineering Teams: Definitions, Causes, and Guidelines for Knowledge Sharing and Interaction

This chapter defines the misunderstandings which might occur in engineering, especially when teams are “virtual”, and the risks linked to these misunderstandings. Based on related work and our experience in particular in the VRL-KCiP network of excellence, we make the assumption that if we intend to manage these risks; we have to focus on communication errors, which are rooted in six interrelated semiotic layers. We suggest general guidelines in terms of crosscultural communications and discuss the role that IT-based tools could play in solving misunderstanding problems in virtual engineering teams.

Models of information markets: Analysis of markets, identification of services, and design models

The Internet reduces much of the costs of information sharing, but it does not solve information receivers’ reading and interpretation limitations. Search engines ease information retrieval but do not solve the problems of specifying information needs and evaluating retrieval results. This article approaches these problems as information market problems with solutions consisting of information market service process models. These models link information suppliers and information buyers and define activities, information resources, and information flows for the information market services. The models identified may improve the quality, speed, design and realisation of information market services summary goes here.

Information services design : a design science approach for sustainable knowledge

Introduction: Information Services Design and Exploitation 1. Information, Information Service Foundations, and Design Research 2. Design Science Foundation and Information Service Problem Analysis 3. Creating Business Models and Plans for Information Services 4. Creating Effective Process Models for Information Services 5. Designing the Information Service Infrastructure 6. Information Service Exploitation 7. The Singerian Perspective: Integrative Problem Solving Cases 8. References

Product‐oriented design theory for digital information services: A literature review

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to give a structured literature review, design concepts, and research propositions related to a product-oriented design theory for information services. Information services facilitate the exchange of information goods with or without transforming these goods. Exemplar information services are e-publishing, electronic communities-of-practice, and management reporting. The importance of information services in the current economy merits the development of an explicit product- and process-oriented design theory. Design/methodology/approach – This article focuses on the product-oriented design theory by applying Walls et al.s framework. A product-oriented design theory of information services identifies relevant descriptive and explanatory insights (i.e. content, use, value, and revenue), meta-requirements, and meta-designs. The paper describes design problems for information services, and gives key requirements for information services. Next, it describes the information, organizational and information technological components of an information service, and identifies at least four information service architectures. Finally, it gives research hypotheses, research ideas, and discusses practical implications. Findings – The results form a product-oriented design theory for information services. The paper gives a structured way for practitioners to analyze information service design challenges, and suggestions are given for requirements and design decisions on three aspects (content, use feature, and revenue). Originality/value – Given the previously fragmented nature of the literature, this paper gives new opportunities for research and practice

The Inventor game: game-theoretical analysis of knowledge-sharing between inventors and employers

Knowledge-sharing has often been analysed by one-shot game models, where the balance between costs and the value of knowledge exchanges for different exchange partners has been calculated. This paper reviews this literature and discusses five of its assumptions: (1) the assumption of homogeneity of knowledge, (2) the assumption of one-shot solutions, (3) the assumption of knowledge as value, (4) the assumption of knowledge as the only instrument for an actor to influence the payouts, and (5) the assumption of deterministic profits from negotiation results. We propose a more realistic game-theoretical model for analysing knowledge-sharing, based on alternative assumptions, that is, heterogeneity of knowledge, multi-stage negotiations, knowledge value realized via production functions, the need for side payments, and the working of nature and discount factors. Our model may help in establishing new firms on the basis of existing knowledge owned by companies and their employees.

Manufacturing Knowledge Work: The European Perspective

The handling of knowledge in specific contexts is often labeled knowledge management. A more precise analysis of the literature in the knowledge management field, though, distinguishes four different domains with regard to the handling of knowledge in context, i. e., knowledge management, knowledge processes, knowledge media, and knowledge exploitation. These domains we name knowledge work. We also introduce four approaches to the study of knowledge work, and operationalize the domains of knowledge work, knowledge contexts and the knowledge concept itself, to help researchers and practitioners in the manufacturing field to be more precise with regard to their analyses of knowledge work.

Service Registry Design: An Information Service Approach

A service registry is a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) component that keeps a ‘catalogue’ of available services. It stores service specifications so that these specifications can be found by potential users. Discussions on the design of service registries currently focus on technical issues, while service registries should take into consideration information needs of business domain users. In this regard, the authors consider service registries as information services and develop a comprehensive framework for designing service registries. This framework introduces aspects that determine a design space for service registries. In this design space, the authors identify views, requirements, processes, and means in the design of a service registry that supports the lifecycle information of a service. A vital part of these requirements is further implemented and demonstrated in a prototype built as a ‘proof-of-concept’ for the framework. This paper also discusses a case study used to evaluate the prototype. In this case study, a registry prototype has been populated with realistic services of a large insurance company, and 21 experienced IT and business professionals from a consultancy organization evaluated the prototype for its user satisfaction.