Iris Berdrow

International joint ventures: creating value through successful knowledge management

Knowledge management is the conscious and active management of creating, disseminating, evolving and applying knowledge to strategic ends. In this paper, we examine knowledge management in the context of international joint ventures (IJVs), activities that cut across organizational and national boundaries, to show how to manage the behavioral and contextual considerations to create value for the parent companies. A case based methodology was used to conduct 20 in-depth interviews and collect archival data from eight IJVs within the NAFTA partnership of Canada, U.S.A. and Mexico. The findings, achieved with the aid of NUD.IST, a qualitative data analysis package, are summarized into six descriptors that differentiate successful and unsuccessful cases. These descriptors are: mindset, controls, strategic integration, training and development, resource contributions and integration, and relationship development.

Learning From IJVs: The Unintended Outcome

Abstract International joint ventures (IJVs) have been suggested as a vehicle to provide opportunities for each partner to gain access to existing knowledge and develop new knowledge. This paper seeks to determine whether in fact IJVs are motivated by a learning imperative. A typology of learning opportunities is measured, mapping out if any learning occurs within the IJV network, and if so where. The processes measured were transfer of existing knowledge to the IJV and between partners, transformation of knowledge through IJV activities to create new knowledge, and the harvesting of newly created knowledge from the IJV back to partner firms. Our data suggests that production-based IJVs are not typically motivated by learning outcomes. We find no conclusive evidence of a direct relationship between learning and performance. However, for a minority of firms, there are strong indirect learning outcomes, particularly regarding partnering and market knowledge.

Service science: catalyst for change in business school curricula

For a service delivery system to produce optimal solutions to service-related business problems, it must be based on an approach that involves many of the traditional functional areas in an organization. Unfortunately, most business school curricula mirror the older traditional organizational structure that dominated businesses throughout most of the twentieth century. This structure typically consisted of vertically organized functions (or silos), such as production, marketing, and finance, with each silo operating largely independently of the others. Similarly, business schools today are usually organized by functional departments-such as marketing, finance, accounting, and operations management-with little interaction among them. Within this traditional silo-structured environment, it is very difficult to properly develop a curriculum, or even a course, in service management. Consequently, a significant gap exists between the education received by business school graduates and the skills that they need to succeed in todays service-intense environment. This paper explores the underlying causes of this gap and suggests ways in which the emerging field of service science can facilitate the changes in business school curricula that will make them more relevant in meeting the needs of todays businesses and organizations.

Bases of Competence: A Framework for Facilitating Reflective Learner-Centered Educational Environments

As the business world becomes more complex, the role of professional higher education in the development of “reflective practitioners” becomes more cogent. In this article, the authors argue for the Bases of Competence model, which articulates base competencies required of today’s higher education professional graduates, as a tool in learner-centered, self-reflective pedagogy and self-assessment. The purpose of this article is to describe the Bases of Competence model and to demonstrate its use in two learner-centered, self-reflective course-level initiatives.

King among Kings: Understanding the Role and Responsibilities of the Department Chair in Higher Education.

The role and responsibilities of the chair of an academic department in higher education is considered from the perspective of both actor and agent, within the context of the institution being served and the department being represented. The intent of this article is to further research on the role of department chair by analyzing it in the context of the institution’s goals and expectations, the stakeholders affecting and affected by the department chair, and the chair’s own capabilities. A 360-degree exploration of the role, expectations and competencies of department chairs was carried out at a private business university in the Northeast area of the USA, including both business and liberal arts department chairs. The results led to new development programs for incoming chairs as well as better supports for current chairs. The design of this project allowed for both the study of the role of department chair and the improvement of support mechanisms to be effective in that role. The design, data and analysis are presented, along with descriptive models.

Bases of competence: an instrument for self and institutional assessment

The Bases of Competence model provides a general framework for learner‐centred skill development and programme‐focused outcomes assessment. Based on previous research, the Bases of Competence model describes 17 skills and four base competencies important to graduates to achieve high performance in the workplace. Taking this work from research to relevant educational application as a tool for student self‐assessment and institutional outcomes assessment is the focus of this paper. Results from a multi‐year, multi‐course assessment initiative indicate that students rate themselves stronger in the foundation base competencies of Communicating and Managing Self, and weaker in more complex competencies of Managing People and Tasks and Mobilising Innovation and Change. Comparisons of skill confidence within each base competence as well as between year, student level, gender and beginning versus end of semester are presented as well. These results are discussed and suggestions made for programme design.

Designing effective global competence development opportunities

While business schools are recognising the need to graduate globally competent students, and are laying claim to doing so, questions are raised as to the effectiveness of their efforts as well as their ability to show evidence of having done so (Hunter et al., 2006). Many will point to the percentage of students who take advantage of study abroad and second language opportunities as evidence, but arguments are made that this is not enough (Hunter, 2004). The missing piece is self-reflection. Based on the premise that students need both conceptual and practical support in understanding themselves within the context of otherness in order to gain the most from an international experience, this paper presents a model for international education programmes that includes pre-departure preparation, on-site structures for interaction, and post-experience debriefing, all focused on learning about self and other.

Leadership and Dependability

In this chapter we investigate the relationship between leadership and dependability. Dependability is a skill that relates to a number of other workplace skills. The Bases of Competence skills model has been used to capture the skills related to dependability. There are four bases—Managing Self, Communicating, Managing People and Tasks, and Mobilizing Innovation and Change—made up of individual skills. Three of the bases consist of four skills and one is made up of five skills. The performance of a leader was shown to relate to the skills and other factors. Leadership performance and dependability are presented through several concepts: 360 degree stakeholder interactions, meeting deadlines, credit given to others, trust, mindfulness, and motivation. The difference between leadership in a crisis and in a stable situation is considered. A case study entitled “Saadiyat: A Global Team in Trouble” concludes the chapter.