Rob Harris

Improving tacit knowledge transfer within SMEs through e‐collaboration

Purpose – The implementation of e‐learning can help SMEs to develop skills to cope with their operational environments, but current literature suggests they are not effectively engaged, partly due to a lack of understanding and mistrust of vendors. This paper considers the potential for a more effective transfer of marketing knowledge to firms through e‐learning and e‐collaboration frameworks.Design/methodology/approach – This research identifies the perceptions of SMEs towards e‐learning and the propensity of managers to embrace technology‐based training. It investigates SMEs preference for training delivery and the potential for an e‐centric collaborative learning environment to support effective knowledge transfer.Findings – Organisations must be capable of learning from experiences and of disseminating learning, to respond to emerging market conditions. The research endorses the need for a focused approach to e‐learning that facilitates social interaction and learning in order to harness the value of ...

Professional accreditation in the Australian tourism industry; an uncertain future

Until recently, individuals seeking recognition of their professional standing within the Australian tourism industry had but one option, membership of the Australian Institute of Travel and Tourism. More recently, employer bodies in several tourism industry sectors, namely, retail travel, meetings and inbound, have acted to develop individual accreditation schemes designed to confer a level of professional standing upon individuals working in their respective sectors. This paper begins with an overview of the individual tourism-related accreditation schemes currently operating in Australia and then moves on to discuss the forces that have led to their development. Following on from this discussion, the operational difficulties that these programmes have encountered are examined along with their respective future outlooks. It is argued that there appears to be a certain consistency in the problems faced by existing programmes and that these difficulties place a question mark over the longer-term viability of at least some of these schemes. These difficulties, it is suggested, parallel many of the problems being faced by organisation-based accreditation schemes in the tourism industry. In the final part of this paper, some suggestions are made as to how these problems might be addressed.

Inclusive and Accessible Special Event Planning: An Australian Perspective

People with disabilities have a right to access the full range of social activities and services available in a society. Nonetheless, the way that the built and social environments are constructed restrict access of the group to participation, and hence, their rights of citizenship. This paper looks at how those engaged in the organisation of events can facilitate the involvement of people with disabilities in the conferences, festivals, and sporting events that they conduct. The paper begins by providing a brief overview of selected statistics and legislation associated with disability in Australia. The paper then looks at the operationalization of event planning in Australia through a review of complaint cases made under the Disability Discrimination Act, 1992. The review provides an insight into the current discriminatory practices employed by event and venue managers. The paper then presents a ‘best practice’ case study of the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games to show how disability and access issues were incorporated into the event planning and operations processes. The paper concludes with some directions that event and venue managers may employ to better incorporate people with disabilities within their programs.

Technological, Managerial and Organizational Core Competencies: Dynamic Innovation and Sustainable Development

Technological, Managerial and Organizational Core Competencies: Dynamic Innovation and Sustainable Development investigates the impact of knowledge management, information systems, finance, organizational networks, internationalization, strategic management, marketing, entrepreneurship, and sustainability on an organization that pursues dynamic innovation and sustainable advantage. This book provides research and practice for graduate and undergraduate programs, as well as business firms with different technological, managerial, and organizational perspectives. Edited By: Farley Simon Nobre (Federal University of Parana, Brazil), David Walker (University of Birmingham, UK) and Robert J. Harris (The University of Wolverhampton Business School, UK)

Developing a collaborative learning environment through technology enhanced education (TE3) support

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the development of a knowledge transfer project, part funded through TE3, designed to encourage innovation and improve the capability of SMEs in the West Midlands region of the UK. Knowledge is critical to developing competency within small businesses and managers that understand how their customers behave and translate that insight into innovative products/services are more likely to succeed.Design/methodology/approach – Adopting an action research methodology, the paper aims to describe the TE3 funding process and address the effectiveness of a project designed to overcome some of the contextual issues relating to the development of SME capability through technology supported learning. It describes the development of a knowledge transfer framework (The Collaborative Learning Environment) designed to specifically target the needs of SMEs.Findings – Firms that efficiently tap into all relevant sources of knowledge are likely to thrive, whilst those that ...

Community Engagement and Public Events: The Case of Australian Folk Festivals

The impact of public events on their host communities has been an area of increasing researcher focus over the past decade. While acknowledging this, little effort has been directed at identifying those practices purposefully employed by the organizers of such events for community engagement purposes. This exploratory study, undertaken in the Australian context, seeks to go some way towards addressing this gap in the literature by examining one type of public event -folk festivals- which anecdotally have a reputation for being proactive in the area of community engagement. The methodolgy for this study involved an extensive literature review, a series of in -depth interviews with senior managers of selected folk festivals (20), and examination of secondary data sources relating to these same events. An analysis of this material resulted in the identification of a number of community engagement practices. These practices were grouped under three broad headings: transactional, transitional, or transformational. Additionally, a number of factors were identified as drivers for the adoption of these practices, while others were found to impact upon their use and/or effectiveness. It was also determined that a broad range of formal and informal comunity groups were embraced through the community engagement process. The significance of the findings from this study lie in their capacity to provide event organizers, both in the folk festival area and the broader public events field, with a deeper appreciation of the range of potential community engagement practices, along with key considerations in their use, as they seek to build a positive operational climate within their host communities.

Managing alcohol and drugs in event and venue settings: the Australian case

One of the major challenges of operating events and venues is that of managing attendee/patron alcohol and drug use. In the Australian context, a rising number of alcohol and drug-related incidents in and around these settings have resulted in a renewed focus on how these negative outcomes can be more effectively controlled. In order to aid those charged with the task of addressing this matter—event and venue managers, police, security firms, alcohol and drug regulatory bodies, and governments at all levels—this article seeks to identify those variables with the potential to impact this management issue. Further, it aims to provide the previously identified stakeholders with a deeper appreciation of the raft of practices that are currently in use, and potentially available to them, as they build responses to this challenge at the individual state, precinct, venue, or event level. The research approach used involved an extensive literature review and a series of in-depth interviews with key stakeholders across three states—New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia.

An Exploration of the Relationship between Large-Scale Sporting Events and Education for Sustainable Development: The Case of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games

This study explores the relationship between large-scale sporting events (LSSEs) and education for sustainable development (ESD). A case study-based explorative research approach was employed utilising the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games (MCG) – one of only two LSSEs that have taken place in Australia (the other being the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games) which have purposely sought to engage with a sustainable development agenda. The enquiry concludes that the MCG acted as a vehicle for ESD and in so doing impacted, to varying degrees, organisations, groups and individuals across its host community (the State of Victoria). Various factors were identified that impacted the ESD process in this context. Facilitating factors included the presence of an environmental strategy inclusive of ESD elements; a pre-existing commitment by government to sustainable development; and the use of partnerships by the events organisers to progress its environmental agenda. Constraints on the ESD process were also identified. Central amongst these were the failure to embrace environmental considerations in the MCGs enabling legislation and the limited resources given over to, and lack of emphasis placed upon, the events overall environmental programme.

Independent inventors and inbound open innovation: using a resource-based approach to create a tool for screening inventor approaches in order to facilitate technology in-licensing

Open innovation literature identifies independent inventors as a source of novel external knowledge. This knowledge may be licensed into an organisation in order to supplement internal R&D activity, typically as part of an inbound open innovation strategy. In opening an organisation up to approaches from individuals the capacity of the core team to identify promising licensing opportunities is diminished by the sheer volume and variable quality of approaches received. Based on a survey of 202 UK independent inventors this paper utilises a resource-based approach to identify the key resources possessed by successful independent inventors. Using this data, we devise a preliminary screening tool to facilitate technology in-licensing from independent inventors.