1,721,011 research outputs found
Knowledge in Four Deformation Dimensions
No full textThis paper sketches a complexity conceptualization of knowledge. Building from evolutionary theories, it defi nes knowledge as rules that reduce environmental uncertainty through connections between ideas and facts. Knowledge is conceived as a structure validated through action, a process contextualized in individual experience and a system embedded in social and cultural experience. It exhibits four characteristics of a complex system: it is sensitive to initial conditions, exhibits multiple feedback loops, is non-linear and is recursively symmetrical. Knowledge's four interdependent deformation dimensions are identified (personal, common, tacit and explicit) and their interactions are discussed. This conceptualization of knowledge as a complex system contributes to the knowledge-based theory of the firm by providing some micro-foundations to organizational knowledge, and it opens the opportunity to re-think theories of communities of practice, entrepreneurship and firm creation, the role of managers, and knowledge management
Strategic Analysis: A Guide to Practice
No full textStrategic Analysis: A Guide to Practice is uniquely designed to bridget the theory-practice divide. The book presents the fundamentals of strategic management theory alongside methods of analysis. Analytical mehtods are then applied to the theoretical concepts to describe best practice. \ud
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Students will be able to develop their skills with applciation exercises that allow them to practise the theories and analytical methods on real cases. The book contains a running case, "WineRidge", that allos the students to develop a comprehensive strategic analysis of a single organisation. Unlike traditional cases, WineRidge has been designed as a set of reports that mirrors the type of information from which an analyst would work. \ud
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In an environment of KPIs, profit centres, devolved decision making, project organisations and new public sector management, graduates will soon find themselves making strategic decisions. Yet many educators increasingly feel that the traditional approach to teaching strategy (based on detailed theory education) does not translate into an ability to apply what is learned. Strategic Analysis: A Guide to Practice provides that vital link
Vers une conceptualisation cognitive de l’architecture\ud des competences
No full textL’objectif de cette recherche consiste a examiner les conditions d’obtention d’un\ud
avantage concurrentiel pour une firme multi-activites. Nous proposons un\ud
renouvellement des outils de diagnostic en exploitant les théories emergentes du\ud
Modele des Ressources et Competences (MRC) et de l’approche cognitive des\ud
organisations.\ud
Alors que les theories traditionnelles des determinants de la performance des firmes\ud
multi-activites examinent la problematique du point de vue de l’alignement de la\ud
strategie et de la structure de la firme avec les circonstances d’un environnement\ud
exogene, l’approche cognitive pose l’environnement comme endogene, produit d’une\ud
mise en acte par l’entreprise de son univers. Dans une telle perspective, la coherence\ud
strategique de la firme se substitue e l’alignement avec l’environnement comme\ud
determinant premier de la performance. Le concept d’architecture des competences\ud
dont nous proposons une conceptualisation cognitive permet l’articulation entre les\ud
deux theories.\ud
La validite de notre construction theorique est testee via l’examen de trois cas de\ud
groupes industriels diversifies: Alpha, Delta et Gamma. Chaque cas est analyse sous\ud
l’angle des trois cadres theoriques (contingence, configurationnisme, architecture des\ud
competences). L’objectif de la recherche est d’evaluer la pertinence de notre\ud
construction conceptuelle, comparativement aux modeles etablis. L’analyse des cas\ud
indique que notre theorie de la cohérence strategique permet un diagnostic plus fin\ud
que les autres approches analytiques dans les situations complexes, pour lesquelles les\ud
leviers de performance sont causalement ambigus et difficilement reperables par les\ud
methodes etablies
Making Sense of the Resource-Based View?
No full textThe Resource Based View (RBV) of strategic management has been criticized for relying\ud
on inconsistent assumptions of rationality, and mutually inconsistent underlying\ud
hypotheses. In this paper, I outline how these critiques can be addressed by re-building\ud
RBV on a sense-making foundation. The core notions from sense-making of bounded\ud
cognition, retrospective sense-making, incrementalism, loose coupling, causal maps and\ud
organizational paradigm are introduced. These are then used to propose a re-construction\ud
of key RBV constructs, extending some conceptual discussions, and providing for a\ud
conceptually consistent formulation. Implications for the use of RBV as a theory and\ud
future research are discussed
Knowledge in four deformation dimensions
No full textThis paper sketches out a complexity conceptualization of knowledge. Building from\ud
evolutionary theories, it defines knowledge as rules that reduce environmental\ud
uncertainty through connections between ideas and facts. Following, knowledge is\ud
conceived as a structure validated through action, a process contextualized in\ud
individual experience and a system contextualized in social and cultural experience.\ud
Knowledge exhibits four characteristics of of a complex system: it is ensitive to initial\ud
conditions, it exhibits multiple feedback loops, it is non-linear, and recursively\ud
symmetrical Four inter-dependent deformation dimensions of knowledge are\ud
identified (personal, common, tacit, and explicit) and their interactions are discussed.\ud
This conceptualization of knowledge as a complex system contributes to the\ud
knowledge-based theory of the firm by providing some micro-foundations to\ud
organizational knowledge, and it opens the opportunity to re-think theories about\ud
communities of practice, entrepreneurship and firm creation, the role of managers,\ud
and knowledge management
The Metaphor of Detectives' Thinking Styles and the Research Process
No full textThe literature on research in organizational theory and the social sciences at large is primarily focused on the formal dimensions of the research process and largely ignores the cognitive activities involved in theorizing. We use Dean's (2000) hierarchical typology of the thinking processes of police detectives as an analogical framework to reflect on the cognitive processes of organizational researchers. Graphical depictions of the investigative thinking styles of method, challenge, skill, and risk are presented in a 3-D model. From this we construct a model for the research process that incorporates both the formal dimension related to the management of the research project and the dimension of the cognitive modes activated. We draw implications for theorizing, the conduct of research projects, researchers' self-reflexivity, and the training of research students
Qantas: The High Flyer of the Airline Industry?
No full textOn 19 August 2004, Qantas announced record net profits of 11.4 billion. Commenting on the results, the CEO of Qantas, Geoff Dixon, said the record full-year result, achieved in difficult conditions, was a tribute to Qantas staff and management: 'the group responded extremely well to the myriad challenges it has faced over the past 12 months.' Qantas' record profit for 2003-04 were in sharp contrast with the financial performance of most airlines worldwide. After losses in 2001 and 2002, airline finances were dealt further blows in 2003 by the Iraq war, and the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. Estimates of consolidated losses in 2003 for the industry ranged between US6.5 billion (International Civil Aviation Organization)
Conjoint Start-ups: A Practice Perspective on New Venture Creation
No full textThis study reports on an attempt to establish a new process of new venture creation: conjoint start-ups. The literature on entrepreneurship usually distinguishes between novice and habitual entrepreneurs (e.g: Westhead, Ucbasaran & Wright, 2005). Novice entrepreneurs have no prior start-up experience, whilst habitual entrepreneurs have established clusters of new ventures. Research distinguishes between serial entrepreneurs, who typically launch unrelated ventures, and portfolio entrepreneurs who start related ventures. These broad entrepreneurial trajectories mirror the corporate strategies of related and unrelated diversification (Porter, 1980). Traditionally, habitual entrepreneurs have been known to establish clusters of ventures in sequence, one business at a time. The phenomenon of conjoint start-ups differs from the above types in two respects: - first, conjoint start-ups form a cluster of related ventures launched simultaneously, not in sequence; - second, the cluster is inititated by several entrepreneurs working collaboratively, rather than by one person. Therefore conjoint start-ups are expected to have traits in common with corporate collaborative ventures (alliances, networks and consortia). The process of launching conjoint start-ups exhibits two differences of note compared to a typical, single firm, process of new venture creation. The first one is related to governance: in order to institutionalize the cooperation between the businesses, governance structure and processes must be established. In our case study, all entrepreneurs have agreed to take minority stakes in each other's firm and to market their services under the same umbrella brand. This led to lengthy negotiations about governance and intellectual property, and the drafting of a charter for the cluster of conjoint start-ups, covering shareholders' agreements, intellectual property, joint marketing and referral business, and key contingencies. The second difference with a traditional new venture creation process is the need to establish a community of practice across the clustered ventures: in order to effect cooperation, the clustered ventures must establish shared practices. In our case study, the entrepreneurs have had to develop shared processes, tools, and language specific to their cluster
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