Paul Quintas

Knowledge management: A strategic agenda

Abstract This article explores what knowledge management is and what relevance it has to organizations and the people who work in or with them. Taking a broad definition of knowledge, it raises a number of questions concerning knowledge management as a source of competitive advantage and questions our conceptualization of ‘knowledge’. We provide a brief review of the field and raise a number of challenges for managers. From this emerges an agenda for the development of action-orientated goals for managers, organizations and networks of organizations. These include the formulation and implementation of strategies for developing, acquiring and applying knowledge, and the monitoring and evaluation of knowledge assets and processes for the their effective management.

Academic-industry links and innovation: questioning the science park model*

Considerable resources are being devoted to science parks as policy instruments aimed at promoting research-based industrial and innovative activity. The phenomenon, which began in the US and Europe, is now attracting interest throughout the world, including Eastern Europe, South America, and Africa. The concept of linkage between commercial enterprises and academic research is central to the US and UK science park model. Drawing on empirical research completed in the UK, the paper assesses the potential and actual role of science parks in linking academic research with industrial activity. These findings show that current UK experience does not demonstrate high levels of such linkages. Further, analysis of the empirical and theoretical basis for science parks, drawing on current understanding of the innovation process and the relationship between academic research and industrial activity, suggests that the science park model itself is problematic.

Trans-organizational innovation: a framework for research

Information and communication technologies, the evolution of a pattern of innovation based on technology fusion and the transition towards a knowledge-based economy are dominant trends. These trends support trans-organitational innovation, which typically involves the design of complex and technologically hybrid products. Trans-organizational innovation involves generating new knowledge out of knowledge inputs which are distributed across disciplines and organizations which may be geographically dispersed. This is critically dependent on management processes associated with learning. Learning is a contextually situated and interaction-intensive process, which during product innovation involves mutual interaction between characteristics of product and those of context. Such interactions continually evolve the designed form and functionalig of a product. Existing research has tended to neglect the complexities involved in trans-organitational innovation. A product-in-context framework for analyzing the tran...

Programmed Innovation? Trajectories of Change in Software Development

Explores the idea of trajectories of innovation in software development. Patterns of Innovation are analysed within social and institutional contexts, and within the context of changes in the ways computer technology is used. Three main trajectories of innvation in software development are discussed: technical change (e.g. languages, techniques, tools, methods); organizational and managerial change; and commodification (the substitution of packaged products for custom development). Sub‐trajectories are also described. Concludes that the scope and heterogeneity of software development activity has supported the formation of a number of different and competing trajectories which lead to quite different conclusions about the future of software development.

A product-process model of innovation in software development

Software is acknowledged to be crucial in enabling the widespread diffusion of information technology (IT), but is inadequately dealt with in analyses of technological change and often misrepresented in accounts of IT phenomena. The tools that are used to analyse conventional innovation processes are found to be inappropriatte for software. The characteristics of software which present conceptual difficulty, and the features which drive change in the software development process are identified. Three lines of technological development in software are discussed: product diffusion, innovation in the organization and management of the development process, and innovation in technical practice. These reflect currently dominant and emergent trends, in particular the shift away from wholly custom-built towards packaged software; concern with process issues, including quality accreditation; and technical developments including CASE (computer aided software engineering) and object orientation. A framework is proposed which supports analysis of the distinctions and interactions between technical practice and organizational aspects of the development process, and also explains the interdependence between product diffusion and process innovation.

Implications of the Division of Knowledge for Innovation in Networks

In this chapter we approach innovation in networks and alliances from the perspective of knowledge processes. The central question is encapsulated in the above quotation from Bruce Kogut. Networks comprised of such individual firms each creating and accumulating specialized knowledge may, in an ideal world, benefit from the aggregate specialist knowledge of all the participating organizations. For each participating firm, their partners bring different knowledge from their own-i.e. they bring variety. There is a division of knowledge between participating organizations, implying lack of duplication. The central question is: how do they then understand, access or assimilate knowledge from their partners?

Isomorphic mechanisms in manufacturing supply chains: a comparison of indigenous Chinese firms and foreign‐owned MNCs

Purpose – This study aims to demonstrate empirically the varied mechanisms through which supply chain practices of indigenous Chinese companies are influenced by foreign‐owned multinational companies (MNCs) operating within China. It also provides empirical evidence of how the foreign‐owned MNCs are influenced by the coercive pressures arising from the local cultural norms and begins an exploration of the mechanisms through which isomorphic pressures operate between industries.Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts a multi‐disciplinary approach by applying institutional theory from the field of organisational studies. The study is based on 27 in‐depth interviews in matched pairs of firms consisting of an indigenous Chinese firm and a foreign‐owned MNC in three industries. The interviews also include suppliers and third‐party logistics providers and hence the study extends beyond the dyad.Findings – The findings show a “startling homogeneity” between the SCM practices of the paired firms and across...

Engineering solutions to software problems: Some institutional and social factors shaping change

Software is the core of information technology systems, the major factor i n system costs and the main source o f system malfunctions. The software development process is currently characterized as a labour-intmsive craft activity which has resisted automa- tion. Software engineering covers a set of approaches which are intended to address the long-standing twin problems of low productizlity in software development and the poor quality of software products. It encompasses a range of tools, methods and procedures which aim to assert a n engineering culture to displace existing ad hoc processes. Many governments have supported programmer of software engineering R&D. This article argues that the adoption of sotiware engineering is mediated and resisted by social, organizational, cultural and in~titutionat factors. These are identified and their implications discussed.

Software engineering policy and practice: lessons from the Alvey program

Abstract This article is focused on a government policy initiative— a program of research and development (R & D) in software engineering technologies. It is primarily concerned with the issues surrounding the transfer and use of the results of that R & D, exploring the divide between software engineering R & D and commercial practice. Some light is shed on the differing interpretation of what constitutes an engineering approach to software. More broadly, the article seeks to explain the processes of change within development practice. The analysis is based on the United Kingdoms (U.K.) Alvey R & D program, which contained a large software engineering component. This attempted to promote a transition from traditional craft-based software practice to the rigors of an engineering discipline. The political processes and institutional structures surrounding the establishment and strategy formulation of Alvey resulted in a “technology push” exercise, which found difficulty in bridging the gap between the R & D lab and commercial practice. The article draws on extensive research evidence, gathered both during and after the program, revealing the social, cultural, and institutional factors that inhibit the technology transfer process. We argue that the “exploitation” of software engineering R & D of this type is a nonlinear process: the results of Alvey are likely to feed through into development practice in many unpredictable forms over an extended period of time. The research suggests that policymakers as well as software professionals need to take a whole life cycle view of systems development; that is, that the generation of technology is necessary but insufficient.

Science Parks@@@High Tech Fantasies; Science Parks in Society, Science and Space

Science parks are becoming established in increasing numbers in almost all parts of the world. Promoted as places on the frontiers of science where a new breed of scientist-entrepreneur invents a new future, extolled as high-status workplaces where a new style of employee and flexible labour process is in the making, they are seen as the potential saviours of local and national economies. High-Tech Fantasies criticises the divisive hype of science parks arguing that both the theory and practice are unproductive for the economy and for any socially progressive science and technology. Questioning responsibility, innovation and symbolism, the authors explore the mutual determination of society, science and space.