1,721,135 research outputs found
Knowledge transferring and small and medium enterprise’s (SME’s) effectiveness: emerging insights and future directions
No full textPurpose – This paper aims to define knowledge transfer and small and medium enterprise’s (SME’s)
effectiveness. This research framework examines how employees understand, create and apply knowledge in a
day-to-day working context, and how knowledge and other organisational factors influence knowledge
transfer within the organisation.
Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative research approach was applied. The authors conducted
semi-structured group interviews with the members of three departments of a small hi-tech company. All
collected data were manually coded, using in vivo coding and discussed among the authors. As the continuation
of the semi-structured group interview, the technique of cognitive maps was applied.
Findings – According to the results, the critical elements of knowledge transfer within small hi-tech
companies seem (1) available slack time, (2) reciprocity and level of trust among employees, (3) social capital of
employees and (4) practically oriented technical knowledge. It is also noted that the knowledge transfer is
carried out to solve the problems identified by the employees, and these seek knowledge directly from the
knowledge bearers who represent a kind of organisational memory.
Practical implications – Knowledge transfer in SMEs occurs almost exclusively face-by-face, and
individuals involved pay attention to the time required by this process. The co-creation of an organisational
space that allows and supports an open discussion within and between departments is therefore of
fundamental importance in order not to preclude organisational learning. In addition, non-financial incentives
must be established to help transfer tacit knowledge. This allows to overcome the difficulty of employees in
recognising the organisational knowledge base that they see above all in themselves.
Originality/value – This paper throws additional light on understanding how knowledge transfer happens
within small hi-tech companies. The applied qualitative research methods allow a better understanding of the
“how” and “why” questions associated with the social processes surrounding knowledge transfer
Sustainability indicators for the yachting industry: Empirical conceptualization
No full textSustainable development has gained attention in recent years not only among academics but has also become widespread among enterprises, which have realized that their operation should address environmental and societal prosperity as well as economics. However, something cannot be managed without measuring it, and this also applies to sustainability. When conducting a systematic literature review on sustainability indicators (SIs) for the yachting industry, their absence is observed; this must be rectified if enterprises from the yachting industry wish to operate sustainably. Therefore, the research question posited in this research is following: which are the most suitable SIs for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the yachting industry and its related three business sectors (i.e., yacht-related service sector, yacht-related manufacturing, and yacht-related maritime infrastructure)? After collecting the sustainable indicators evidenced in the literature, a literature review was completed with indicators from other international initiatives and provided a restricted list to be first verified through peer review (expert judgment) with academics from France, Italy, and Slovenia. Afterward, the list of SIs was tested by conducting interviews with 18 SMEs from the yachting industry in Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain, asking them about the appropriateness and relevance of the proposed SIs. According to their feedback, the proposed SIs were revised and adapted to suit their needs and specific aspects. The final list of SIs for the yachting industry consists of 33 SIs for the yacht-related service industry, 38 for the yacht-related manufacturing industry and 38 for the yacht-related maritime infrastructure industry. The SIs were finally categorized based on both Triple-Bottom-Line (TBL) concept and an operational typology of indicators: input, process, output, and outcome. By suggesting the SIs for the yachting industry, this study aims at helping SMEs in identifying “hot spots” by developing their own sustainability assessment system, being able to develop relevant sustainability reports and increase stakeholders’ engagement
An Eco-Critical Perspective on Business Models: The Value Triangle as an Approach to Closing the Sustainability Gap
Get PDFDespite business models having been discussed thoroughly by academics there are still some epistemological and ontological issues that have yet to be resolved. Business models seem to have stalled at the technological era and have not fully engaged with the era of sustainability. The purpose of our paper is to add a new lens and richness to sustainable business model research by building on the need for more interdisciplinary approaches. This paper applies an eco-critical approach to analyse the 20 most often cited business model frameworks. We explore the conventional understanding of the business models based on the language applied and reflect on gaps in the current perspectives of sustainability. The analysis shows that existing business model frameworks exclude natural and social aspects of organisational environment from the discussion and tend to neglect the interrelationships between economic and not-economic actors as well as the intertemporal trade-offs. Based on the results of the analysis we propose a new sustainable business model framework named "Value Triangle", which explicitly includes as core elements society incorporating the natural environment and future generations and three types of co-created and co-delivered value: public, partner and customer. The Value Triangle together with the corresponding canvas is presented through a business case for sustainability represented by Italian company Loccioni. The results show that the proposed business model framework and canvas allow managers to understand, analyse and evaluate their business models along all three dimensions of sustainability - economic, social, and environmental simultaneously. Such an understanding helps drive the field towards making a meaningful contribution to solving the UN global challenges and sustain ability agenda. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Business model transformation toward sustainability: the impact of legitimation
Get PDFPurpose – This study aims to identify the legitimacy issues raised during a sustainable business model innovation, deployed by an Italian company, which was analyzed through the lens of the legitimation theory and the business model innovation theory.
Design/methodology/approach – A single case study methodology is employed for empirical research.
Semistructured interviews, with top and middle management, were conducted together with the analysis of several internal and external documents, to corroborate the case analysis.
Findings – Results show how the potentiality of digital technologies allows the development of new sustainable business models, which, though, still need to gain legitimation to be accepted. The study findingsallow drawing both on the business model innovation theory and on the legitimation theory, as they show how
legitimation is a dynamic concept that involves internal as well as external stakeholders to support business model innovation.
Originality/value – The paper is novel, since it addresses the topic of sustainable business models development, showing how companies can get legitimation. The paper builds on existing theories and provides a practical example
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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