Knowledge Integration And Innovation

Technology-based firms continue to compete primarily on innovation, and one continuously required to present new solutions to an exacting market. As technological complexity and specialization intensifies, firms increasingly need to integrate and co-ordinate knowledge by means of project groups, diversified organizations, inter-organizational partnerships, and strategic alliances. Innovation processes have progressively become interdisciplinary, collaborative, inter-organizational, and international, and a firm's ability to synthesize knowledge across disciplines, organizations, and geographical locations has a major influence on its viability and success. This book demonstrates how knowledge integration is crucial in facilitating innovation within modern firms. This book provides original, detailed empirical studies of prerequisites, mechanisms, and outcomes of knowledge integration processes on several organizational levels, from key individuals, projects, and internal organizations, to collaboration between firms. It stresses the need to understand knowledge integration as a multi-level phenomenon, which requires a broad repertoire of organizational and technical means. It further clarifies the need for strong internal capabilities for exploiting external knowledge, reveals how costs of knowledge integration affect outcomes and strategic decisions, and discusses the managerial implications of fostering knowledge integration, providing practical guidance and support for managers of knowledge integration in high technology enterprises.

Since the 1990s, Japanese firms have sought to expand their capacity for innovation by incorporating Western management practices into their organizational culture. This combination of Japanese and Western management practices has been highly successful — Japanese firms are presently at the forefront of technological and service innovation in areas such as digital consumer electronics, mobile phone services, and the games industry. Much can be learned from the success of Japanese companies in these areas.This book presents an analysis of the business model unique to Japanese firms, emphasising four special features: the vertical value chain model, cross-industry collaboration, dynamic knowledge integration, and strategic innovation capability. Drawing upon in-depth case studies, this book presents a new theory of knowledge integration, and places special emphasis on inter- and intra-organizational collaboration as a source of strategic innovation. It is a good reference source for academics, graduate students and professionals in the field of innovation management.

This book develops an integrated perspective on the practices and politics of making knowledge work in inclusive development and innovation. While debates about development and innovation commonly appeal to the authority of academic researchers, many current approaches emphasise the plurality of actors with relevant expertise for addressing livelihood challenges. Adopting an action-oriented and reflexive approach, this volume explores the variety of ways in which knowledge works, paying particular attention to dilemmas and controversies. The six parts of the book address the complex interplay of knowledge and politics, starting with the need for knowledge integration in the first part and decolonial perspectives on the politics of knowledge integration in the second part. The following three parts focus on the practices of inclusive development and innovation through three major themes of learning for transformative change, evidence, and digitisation. The final part of the book addresses the governance of knowledge and innovation in the light of political struggles about inclusivity. Exploring conceptual and practical themes through case studies from the Global North and South, this book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners researching and working in development studies, epistemology, innovation studies, science and technology studies, and sustainability studies more broadly.

Technology-based firms continue to compete primarily on innovation, and one continuously required to present new solutions to an exacting market. As technological complexity and specialization intensifies, firms increasingly need to integrate and co-ordinate knowledge by means of project groups, diversified organizations, inter-organizational partnerships, and strategic alliances. Innovation processes have progressively become interdisciplinary, collaborative, inter-organizational, and international, and a firm's ability to synthesize knowledge across disciplines, organizations, and geographical locations has a major influence on its viability and success. This book demonstrates how knowledge integration is crucial in facilitating innovation within modern firms. This book provides original, detailed empirical studies of prerequisites, mechanisms, and outcomes of knowledge integration processes on several organizational levels, from key individuals, projects, and internal organizations, to collaboration between firms. It stresses the need to understand knowledge integration as a multi-level phenomenon, which requires a broad repertoire of organizational and technical means. It further clarifies the need for strong internal capabilities for exploiting external knowledge, reveals how costs of knowledge integration affect outcomes and strategic decisions, and discusses the managerial implications of fostering knowledge integration, providing practical guidance and support for managers of knowledge integration in high technology enterprises.

Based on a clear and comprehensive literature review, this book contains an analysis of five knowledge locations in Europe and one in South Korea. The case studies in the book cover several European countries (Ireland, Finland, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands). The cases are well grounded in the different contexts that these national settings provide, which allows comparisons between them.

The ways in which codified and tacit knowledge are sourced, transferred, and combined are critical in furthering open innovation. When used effectively, knowledge sharing and organizational success are significantly increased, improving products and services. The Role of Knowledge Transfer in Open Innovation is a collection of innovative research on a set of analyses, reflections, and recommendations within the framework of knowledge transfer practices in different areas of knowledge and in various industries. While highlighting topics including tacit knowledge, organizational culture, and knowledge representation, this book is ideally designed for professionals, academicians, and researchers seeking current research on the best practices for transfer of knowledge as an intermediate open innovation.

The field of project management experiences conceptual, technological, and decision issues when projects are created, implemented, and executed without the needed strategic connection. It is important to improve the connection between knowledge management and project management practices. The Handbook of Research on Effective Project Management through the Integration of Knowledge and Innovation bridges the gap between knowledge management and project management practices by providing both classical and modern views on their relationship. Discussing principles, practices, methods, and real case studies, this book describes the importance of aligning projects with a knowledge-based strategic plan to the benefit of practitioners, professionals, scholars, and researchers in the fields of management and information science.

Im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung müssen Unternehmen ihre Prozesse, Produkte und Geschäftsmodelle anpassen, um ihre Innovations- sowie Wettbewerbsfähigkeit aufrecht zu erhalten. Aufgrund dessen müssen Unternehmen ihre bestehenden Kompetenzen erneuern, indem sie neues Wissen aus der digitalen Sphäre wertstiftend integrieren. Dies stellt jedoch eine erhebliche Herausforderung dar, insbesondere für etablierte Unternehmen, da die konvergente und generative Natur der digitalen Innovation nicht nur den Prozess der Wissensintegration dynamischer macht, sondern auch die Vielfalt und Menge des Wissens erhöht, das über die Unternehmensgrenzen hinweg integriert werden muss. Um diese Herausforderung näher zu beleuchten und Lösungsansätze zu evaluieren, wurden vier Studien durchgeführt und in dieser kumulativen Dissertation zusammengestellt. Diese Studien geben Einblicke in die Besonderheiten der Wissensintegration im Kontext digitaler Innovationen und fördern das Verständnis dafür, wie etablierte Unternehmen die damit verbundenen Herausforderungen bewältigen können. Dabei wird insbesondere der Einsatz von Grenzressourcen, wie bspw. Programmierschnittstellen (APIs), untersucht, da sie einen wesentlichen Mechanismus zur Skalierung der Wissensintegration in digital(isierenden) Geschäftsökosystemen darstellen. In the age of digitalization, companies need to adapt their processes, products, and business models to maintain their capability to innovate and thus to ensure their competitiveness. As a result, companies need to renew their existing competencies by integrating new and valuable knowledge from the digital sphere. However, this poses a significant managerial challenge, especially for established companies, as the convergent and generative nature of digital innovation not only makes the process of knowledge integration more dynamic, but also increases the diversity and amount of knowledge that needs to be integrated across organizational boundaries. To shed more light on this challenge and evaluate possible solutions, four studies were conducted and compiled in this cumulative dissertation. These studies provide insights into the unique nature of knowledge integration in the context of digital innovation and advance the understanding of how incumbent firms can address the associated challenges. In particular, the use of boundary resources such as application programming interfaces (APIs) is examined, as they represent a key mechanism for scaling knowledge integration in digital(izing) business ecosystems.