Literature on firm internationalization has pointed out knowledge and learning as central components in the internationalization process. While much research has emphasized the development of experience in the firm as the main source of new knowledge, this notion has also been challenged. Furthermore, in internationalization literature, most attention has been paid to market entry and far less to growth in the market thereafter. This research addresses how internationalizing firms capture growth opportunities by acquiring new knowledge in foreign markets. The purpose is to describe and explain how internationalizing firms learn about foreign markets by combining various knowledge sources in order to realize growth opportunities in these markets. To address this purpose, data from two steps of data collection is analyzed. The first step contains qualitative focus-group data from seven Swedish firms and aims to describe learning from a combination of knowledge sources, which leads to the development of a typology of learning strategies. The tentative results from the first step are established in the second step, which contains survey data from 144 internationalizing Swedish firms. In addition to validating the typology, data from the second step explains heterogeneous knowledge outcomes based on differences in learning strategies, suggesting that a diversified strategy has the greatest potential for learning. These results indicate that external knowledge matters more than what has been previously recognized. Furthermore, the results show curvilinear effects of knowledge of the local network and international spread on the realization of international growth opportunities. By integrating components from international entrepreneurship, this research may contribute to internationalization-process literature by (1) describing the typology of how internationalizing firms learn in foreign markets, (2) establishing the described types and explaining the knowledge consequences for internationalizing firms, and (3) explaining how this knowledge impacts the ability to realize international opportunities. This chain of components provides the links between learning and growth of the internationalizing firm beyond the initial market entry.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Texas Christian University, 2007. / Title from dissertation title page (viewed Dec. 10, 2007). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1981. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-79). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Diverse employment nowadays, such as short-term hiring, human resource outsourcing, flexible worktime, and part-time appointment, shows the coming age of a diversified employing. This phenomenon derives a changing relationship between organizations and employees. Through this change, how to perceive and further motivate knowledge worker to achieve optimal labor output becomes an important issue. Different interpretation on psychological contract is a result of different personal perception, sense of value, and message interpretation. Therefore, this thesis sees the personal psychological contract as independent variable and investigates how personal psychological contract plays a role in personal knowledge intake. Furthermore, this thesis also sees self-efficacy as intervening variable and analyzes how self-efficacy involves in personal psychological contract and knowledge learning aspirations of employees.Based on the data from 993 employees from 80 firms analyzing, the researcher obtained the following findings: 1. The difference: a. Gender, educational degree, and job position revealed difference with regard to psychological contract. b. Gender, marriage, age, educational degree, and job position revealed difference with regard to firm-specific knowledge learning aspiration. e. Marriage, Age and job position revealed difference with regard to general knowledge learning aspiration. 2. The relationship: a. Relational and balanced psychological contracts are positively related to firm-specific knowledge learning aspiration. b. Transactional psychological contract has negative relation with firm-specific knowledge learning aspiration. c. Self-efficacy is positively related with general and specific knowledge learning aspiration.

<p>Project management has become a natural way of conducting activities in companies.  The goal is continuous improvement in project performance.  The way knowledge is managed in the company is crucial for gaining competitive advantage.  Knowledge management and learning, has been recognized by academics and practitioners as important to achieving success and improvement in projects.</p><p> </p><p>Achieving continuous improvement is considered a difficult task.  The difficulty lies in capturing and storing the knowledge and learning from one individual to another and from one project to another.  In this study the researcher has reviewed the mechanisms and processes from recent research which are supposed to facilitate knowledge transfer and learning.  Nevertheless, the academic and practitioner researchers do not seem to have a common ground on how to facilitate knowledge transfer and learning, even though there are many mechanisms and processes suggested.  Their results are not concurrent in effective and efficient facilitation of knowledge and learning.</p><p>The researcher has conducted a qualitative case study through seven interviews.  The empirical study was done in a Company X which provides air traffic services.  It shows that some of the practices institutionalized by Case Company X are different from what the literature suggests.  Moreover, the environment wherein these mechanisms and processes co-exist is particular from what the literature suggests.  A learning landscape of Case Company X is identified based on the empirical data.  Recommendations and suggestions are provided in the end to increase knowledge transfer and improve learning in and between projects at Case Company X.</p>

Project management has become a natural way of conducting activities in companies.  The goal is continuous improvement in project performance.  The way knowledge is managed in the company is crucial for gaining competitive advantage.  Knowledge management and learning, has been recognized by academics and practitioners as important to achieving success and improvement in projects.   Achieving continuous improvement is considered a difficult task.  The difficulty lies in capturing and storing the knowledge and learning from one individual to another and from one project to another.  In this study the researcher has reviewed the mechanisms and processes from recent research which are supposed to facilitate knowledge transfer and learning.  Nevertheless, the academic and practitioner researchers do not seem to have a common ground on how to facilitate knowledge transfer and learning, even though there are many mechanisms and processes suggested.  Their results are not concurrent in effective and efficient facilitation of knowledge and learning. The researcher has conducted a qualitative case study through seven interviews.  The empirical study was done in a Company X which provides air traffic services.  It shows that some of the practices institutionalized by Case Company X are different from what the literature suggests.  Moreover, the environment wherein these mechanisms and processes co-exist is particular from what the literature suggests.  A learning landscape of Case Company X is identified based on the empirical data.  Recommendations and suggestions are provided in the end to increase knowledge transfer and improve learning in and between projects at Case Company X.

For doing businesses succeed in today¡¦s competitive environment, Taiwanese companies vary their human resources strategies, such as downsizing, outsourcing or removing production section to lower labor cost region. All of these practices impacted the employees¡¦ job securities. At the same time, the young employees have some different points of view to employment contract. The employment relationship is changing. A psychological contract is an employee's belief about the mutual obligations, and it balances the relationship between the employee and his/her organization. According to the three different types of psychological contact, employees start to think what kind of knowledge they shall learn to benefit both of job availability and career development. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship among psychological contracts, job availability in free labor market, and employee knowledge learning aspirations. Based on the data from 990 employees from 62 firms analyzing, the researcher obtained the following findings: 1. The difference: a. Gender, educational degree, and job position revealed difference with regard to psychological contract. b. Gender, marriage, age, and job position revealed difference with regard to firm-specific knowledge learning aspiration. c. Age, marriage and job position revealed difference with regard to general knowledge learning aspiration. 2. The relationship: a. Relational and balanced psychological contracts are positively related to firm-specific knowledge learning aspiration. b. Transactional psychological contract has negative relation with firm-specific knowledge learning aspiration. c. Job availability in free labor market is positively related with general knowledge learning aspiration.

Needs that are shared by members of an organization can trigger an organizational learning process. To a large extent, needs are implicitly anchored in organizations and people can hardly articulate them. In this article, we present Bewextra, a method that allows for identifying hidden needs in organizations. Thereby, we trigger a knowledge conversion process, which is similar to Nonaka's SECI-spiral. In two case studies, we present how our Bewextra-process is applied to projects in educational contexts in Austria. In a first case study, we show that a combination of learning from past and future experiences extend the scope of the overall outcome. Since learning from future experiences requires a distinct environment (enabling spaces), we present a second case study. Here, we conducted a Bewextra-process with a large number of participants (n > 170), focusing on learning from future experiences.

ABSTRACT This study employed components drawn from Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), the person agency and environment, to investigate the determinants of career-relevant knowledge/skills learning. Three types of psychological contract (PC) and self-efficacy (SE) were represented the person agency, and the job availability in free labor market (FLM) and commitment-oriented human resource management (HRM) were represented environment components. Based on the data from 990 employees from 62 firms analyzing, the findings revealed that relational and balanced PCs are positively related to firm-specific knowledge learning aspiration (KLA), whereas transactional one has negative relation with firm-specific KLA. FLM is positively correlated with self value-added KLA. SE is positively related to both KLAs. The three way interaction of relational and balanced PC, FLM, and SE has significant impacts on self value-added KLA. HRM has no direct impact on KLAs , but moderates the relationship between relational/balanced PC and firm-specific KLA. This study contributes to the psychological contract and SCCT researches, and the findings enhance the understanding of employees¡¦ concerns about their learning decisions which assist employer to consider their knowledge management strategy and practices.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att visa olika perspektiv och åsikter om att implementera det engelska språket i den svenska förskolan. För att kunna besvara syftet kommer arbetet att ligga till grund med bland annat följande frågeställningar: "Vad anser pedagogerna på förskolan om att implementera engelska språket i den svenska förskolan? Anser vårdnadshavarna att det engelska språket ska införas i den svenska förskolan? Vilka uppfattningar har pedagogisk personal i förskolan om estetisk läroprocess?".  Ett tidigare experiment om ämnesintegration mellan engelska och estetisk läroprocess ligger till grund för denna uppsats. Metoderna som användes för att uppnå syftet är kvalitativ (intervjuer) samt kvantitativ forskningsmetod (enkäter). Intervjupersonerna anser att  det engelska språket skall införas i den svenska förskolan, men att endast baskunskaperna ska läras ut, såsom färger, siffror och namn på frukter exempelvis. Resultatet av enkäterna visar på att 70% (exklusive bortfall på 25% och 5% svarade nej) av de tillfrågade vårdnadshavarna vill att det engelska språket ska implementeras i den svenska förskolan. Både tidigare forskning, förskollärarna samt mitt tidigare experiment påvisar att estetisk läroprocess är en lämplig och användbar metod att använda vid implementering av ett nytt språk i den svenska förskolan.