Knowledge Integration Dynamics

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. This book also emphasises on inter- and intra-organizational collaboration as a source of strategic innovation.

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.

Exploring the theoretical concept of collaborative dynamic capabilities, this book illustrates how service innovation can be achieved in an era of technological convergence. Focusing on e-healthcare systems within hospitals and private businesses, the author provides detailed case studies and answers topical questions about generating service innovation across different industries. Making a new and thought-provoking contribution to research on innovation and technology management, this useful book engages with theory and provides applicable solutions for practitioners to implement in the future.

How to get the most out of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.

Innovation in technology and services was once the result of specialist knowledge developed within a single corporation; now, a single focus on the development of new products and services is no longer enough. In Interactive Business Communities, Mitsuru Kodama shows how a new business approach can enable managers to access, share and integrate diverse knowledge both inside and outside the corporation using Boundary Networks to operate across more formal organizational and knowledge boundaries at all levels. Drawing on his studies of large corporations in America and the Far East, Mitsuru, shows how different companies have already started to take this path. He explains the kind of networks and strategic partnerships that have emerged and gives practical guidelines on how to begin forming in-house business communities and extending this to interactive business communities with customers and other organizations. This book is a valuable resource for business educators and researchers, and senior executives responsible for strategy, particularly in high-tech industries, will find insights and ideas to tackle 21st century market and business discontinuities.

This volume presents theoretical and empirical research on universities and their entrepreneurial ecosystems to better grasp the connections between universities and their surrounding environments and their engagement with sustainability. The book provides a better understanding of the entrepreneurial characteristics of universities. It examines the ways in which universities’ collaboration and participation in an ecosystem support business and industry transformation. It also investigates how universities function within the university/industry/government/third sector relationship nexus. The book enables the systematisation of the literature while simultaneously builds theory, empirically testing existing theories, and contributes towards a future research agenda geared towards sustainability. The book gathers contributions from varied geographical contexts providing an international perspective.

With recent advances in IT in areas such as AI and IoT, collaboration systems such as business chat, cloud services, conferencing systems, and unified communications are rapidly becoming widely used as new IT applications in global corporations’ strategic activities. Through in-depth longitudinal studies of global corporations, the book presents a new theoretical framework and implications for IT-enabled dynamic capabilities using collaboration systems from the perspective of micro strategy theory and organization theory. The content of the book is based on longitudinal analyses that employ various qualitative research methods including ethnography, participant observation, action research and in-depth case studies of global corporations in Europe, the United States and Asia that actively use collaboration systems. It presents a new concept of micro dynamism whereby dynamic "IT-enabled knowledge communities" such as "IT-enabled communities of practice" and "IT-enabled strategic communities" create "IT-enabled dynamic capabilities" through the integration of four research streams - an information systems view, micro strategy view, micro organization view and knowledge-based view. The book demonstrates that collaboration systems create, maintain and develop "IT-enabled knowledge communities" within companies and are strategic IT applications for enhancing the competitiveness of companies in the ongoing creation of new innovation and the realization of sustainable growth in a 21st century knowledge-based society. This book is primarily written for academics, researchers and graduate students, but will also offer practical implications for business leaders and managers. Its use is anticipated not only in business and management schools, graduate schools and university education environments around the world but also in the broad business environment including management and leadership development training.

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.