The purpose of this study was to determine the current levels of global knowledge and attitudes of sixth grade elementary school students in Kaohsiung City; to compare the differences of students¡¦ global knowledge and their global attitudes between different personal background; to analyze the relations between students¡¦ global knowledge and their global attitudes, and to explore the forecasting abilities of students¡¦ global knowledge and global attitudes on students¡¦ personal background. The field of ¡§global knowledge¡¨, as used in this study, consists of four sub-categories that include world history and geography, global systems, global issues, and cross-cultural understanding. The filed of ¡§global attitudes¡¨, as used in this study, consists of five sub-categories that include the area of interdependence, the human rights, international cooperation, acceptance of people from other countries and a desire for peace, instead of war. The study took into consideration differences in knowledge and attitudes which stemmed from different backgrounds and experiences. The correlations among the knowledge, attitudes, and other variables, i.e., school location, gender, ethnicity, parents¡¦ social economic status, source of information, frequency of going abroad, and tutoring hours for learning English per week were explored. The researcher compiled questionnaires about global knowledge and global attitudes for the sixth graders in Kaohsiung City. The sample was consisted of 790 students with collected 749 valid questionnaires from public primary schools. The data was analyzed by using the SPSS software, Independent t test, One-way ANOVA, Scheff¡¦s method statistical methods ,Pearson Product-moment Correlation, and Stepwise Regression Analysis. The empirical results of the above study were synthesized as follows: (1)The average ratio of correct answers among sixth-graders in the area of global knowledge was 56.45 %, while performance levels across the four sub-fields varied. The best scores were achieved in global issues; the second highest in cross-cultural understanding, the third in global system, and the lowest scores, in world history and geography. (2) On a Likert scale of 1 to 5, the average score on the scale measuring global attitudes was fixed at a positive 4.31. The degree of inclination in attitudes toward five dimensions on the global attitude scale differed. The most positive attitude was toward the area of interdependence; the second favored the human rights; the third indicated international cooperation; the forth was acceptance of people from other countries and the final measurement of student attitudes confirmed a desire for peace, instead of war. (3) Students¡¦ global knowledge and global attitudes were positively correlated. (4) Variables of parents¡¦ social economic status, tutoring hours for learning English per week and school location proved to be reliable predictors of different levels in the global knowledge possessed by the sixth grade students participating in the study. Students who were high parents¡¦ social economic status had higher scores than those who were low. Students whose tutoring hours were longer for learning English, scored higher than those who have not. School location was near to urban area, also scored higher than that was far from urban area. (5)Variables of school location, tutoring hours for learning English per week, parents¡¦ social economic status, and gender proved to be reliable predictors of different levels in the global attitudes possessed by the sixth grade students participating in the study. When school location was nearer to urban area, students¡¦ global attitudes were more positive; Students¡¦ tutoring hours for learning English per week were longer, their global attitudes were more positive. Students with higher parents¡¦ social economic status showed more positive attitudes. Female students¡¦ global attitudes were more positive than males. According to the results of this study, the researcher makes some suggestions for families, primary schools, the society and the future investigations.

This paper examines the mediating effects of dynamic capabilities on the relationship between global knowledge management competences and competitive advantage. The predictions of dynamic capabilities were tested using a sample of international enterprises in Taiwan. The results indicate that dynamic capabilities are the key to competitive advantage. The performance of an organization can be considered as the outcome of a complex isomorphism and reciprocal influences between its internal and external competences and dynamic capabilities related to environmental uncertainty and turbulence. Structural equation analysis is applied to empirically testify the relationships and the path model suggests that dynamic capabilities of an organization play an important role on transforming global knowledge management competences toward competitive advantage. These results provide evidence of the dynamic capabilities view that the dynamic capabilities refer to the capacity of the firm to shift its boundaries in order not to be overwhelmed when the environment pressure becomes excessive.

Since 1962, the World Bank has involved itself in higher education discourse and practice through the provision of loans and grants to developing nations. Initially, such involvement focused primarily on tangible infrastructure projects such as building schools and providing textbooks for students. Over time, however, the Bank has increasingly come to involve itself in less tangible projects such as policy work, technical assistance, and educational discourse – including the creation of the imaginary of the Global Knowledge Economy (GKE). Through this increased focus on higher education policy and discourse, the Bank has come to wield increasing authority over the discourse of knowledge and its means of production. In order to better elucidate the rising authority of the World Bank over higher education and discourses of knowledge production, this dissertation explores the historical development of the Bank’s work in higher education broadly, as well as in two specific countries, Morocco and Indonesia. The dissertation studies the Bank’s involvement in higher education through a critical historical method, which combines traditional historical analysis with a critical policy studies lens. Through this analysis, I argue that the authority of the World Bank over the discourse and practice of higher education and knowledge production has increased significantly through time due to the Bank’s role in the creation of a new global profession of higher education economists, and that this increased authority reveals an underlying irony in the Bank’s thinking and operations. The irony is that the Bank relies upon a fundamental belief in the power of free markets in the economic sphere, but increasingly deploys methods of centralized planning over higher education and knowledge production through these new professionals. This profession is allowed to flourish in part because the Bank and the GKE both exist within a global realm in which the global public sphere has not been clarified. This dissertation adds to the historical record of the Bank’s involvement in higher education discourse, policy and practice, while also exploring the need for more robust theories of the public sphere and for alternative views of knowledge and education at the global level.

Over the last two decades the role of knowledge in organizations has attracted considerable attention from organizational practice and academia (Beamish & Armistead, 2001; Blackler, Reed, & Whitaker, 1993; Grant, 1996; Jasimuddin, 2006; Nonaka, 1994). A broad research community has emerged around with about 40 peer-reviewed journals (Serenko & Bontis, 2013a, 2013b; Serenko, Bontis, Booker, Sadeddin, & Hardie, 2010) which has attracted scholars from fields such as management, information management and library sciences, psychology and organizational studies, sociology and computer sciences as well as engineering and philosophy (Baskerville & Dulipovici, 2006; Gu, 2004; Lee & Chen, 2012; Martin, 2008; Venzin, Von Krogh, & Roos, 1998; Wallace, Van Fleet, & Downs, 2011). The assessment of the KM field ranges from suggestions that KM is in a state of "pre-science" with different paradigms and disagreement about fundamentals in the field (Hazlett, McAdam, & Gallagher, 2005) while others see a ‘healthy arena with a strong foundation in multiple theories and clear direction for future work (Baskerville & Dulipovici, 2006).

Taiwan¡¦s high-tech multinational corporations have two main brand strategies. One is OEM/ODM, and other one is OBM. Different brand strategy will influence the consideration of global arrangement governing the organization network and the global knowledge transfer model. There are five roles building in different meaning in global organization network. And in the knowledge transfer model, there are three different dimensions named knowledge transfer fountain-heading, knowledge transfer interface and knowledge accumulate meaning. According to the administrative department of Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park¡¦s meeting for defining the classification of high-tech industries. This research chose four multinational corporations which nationality is Taiwan. These are the computer-related manufacturing industries and the communication-related manufacturing industries. This research concludes some propositions through the interview with top managers of these sample corporations. Positions are as follows: Proposition 1: Different brand strategies will influence the classification of tendency in exploiting advance technology. Proposition 2: Headquarter will play the different roles in global research network according to the different brand strategy. Proposition 3: The subsidiaries of high-tech corporations will have diversity of role playing and different frequency of knowledge transferring according to brand strategies. Proposition 4: The brand strategies will influence types and frequency of knowledge transferring. Proposition 5: Brand strategies will influence the market knowledge¡¦s flowing direction. Proposition 6: In technology knowledge transfer, the low-end and manufacturing skill will duplicate to the manufacture-based plant, and the high-level and advance knowledge will keep in the headquarter. Proposition 7: human being is the most important interface in the knowledge transfer process.

Over the last two decades the role of knowledge in organizations has attracted considerable attention from organizational practice and academia (Beamish & Armistead, 2001; Blackler, Reed, & Whitaker, 1993; Grant, 1996; Jasimuddin, 2006; Nonaka, 1994). A broad research community has emerged around with about 40 peer-reviewed journals (Serenko & Bontis, 2013a, 2013b; Serenko, Bontis, Booker, Sadeddin, & Hardie, 2010) which has attracted scholars from fields such as management, information management and library sciences, psychology and organizational studies, sociology and computer sciences as well as engineering and philosophy (Baskerville & Dulipovici, 2006; Gu, 2004; Lee & Chen, 2012; Martin, 2008; Venzin, Von Krogh, & Roos, 1998; Wallace, Van Fleet, & Downs, 2011). The assessment of the KM field ranges from suggestions that KM is in a state of "pre-science" with different paradigms and disagreement about fundamentals in the field (Hazlett, McAdam, & Gallagher, 2005) while others see a ‘healthy arena with a strong foundation in multiple theories and clear direction for future work (Baskerville & Dulipovici, 2006).

Benefiting from the process of globalisation and becoming an information and knowledge society, has become the vision for many governments throughout the world. However, as it has been demonstrated in this thesis, becoming an information and knowledge society is much easier for developed countries that already possess some of the prerequisite criteria, such as an efficient and effective ICT infrastructure. By investing in such an infrastructure, the interaction and exchange of data, information, and knowledge from a local knowledge system with the global knowledge system is enabled. Through this two-way flow of information, the other criteria these countries have to comply with are stimulated, making it much easier and faster for these countries to achieve their goal. However, for the developing countries that are still in the grip of the digital divide, the goal of becoming information and knowledge societies seem nearly unattainable. Owing to this digital divide that is experienced by developing countries, combined with other barriers such as the social barriers that include the overall health and education level of citizens, the citizens of these countries cannot take part in the interaction and exchange process. Thus, this interaction and exchange process cannot aid these countries in complying with the other criteria needed to become information and knowledge societies, and in this way, the progress of developing countries towards becoming information and knowledge societies are seriously hampered. How does the interaction and exchange of data, information, and knowledge between developing countries’ local knowledge systems and the global knowledge system contribute to their development and positive participation in the global information and knowledge society? This is the research question that has guided this thesis. To get an answer to this question the author addressed the following issues:<ul> <li>The author sketched the theoretical foundation of this thesis by providing a brief historical perspective of the Information Science domain. This provided a better understanding of concepts such as data, information, knowledge, global-, western-, and scientific knowledge as well as indigenous-, traditional-, and local knowledge as applied in this thesis. The underlying relationship between these concepts were also explored. Furthermore, the phenomenon of the global information and knowledge society was discussed as one of the opportunities presented by globalisation.</li> <li>The author then analysed the criteria of the information and knowledge society as discussed in Chapter 3, and identified indicators that the stated criteria are constructed from. To investigate whether developed countries are information and knowledge societies, these indicators were applied to Norway and the USA. It was concluded that both countries comply with the stated criteria and are thus information and knowledge societies. </li> <li>The author followed the same method of investigation and applied the indicators identified in Chapter 4 to two developing countries, namely Niger and South Africa. It was concluded that both these countries do not comply with the stated criteria and, thus, are not information and knowledge societies. Furthermore, barriers were identified by the author that inhibit these countries from becoming information and knowledge societies.</li> <li>Lastly, the author discussed proposed solutions and recommendations that can be used to overcome the various barriers that inhibit the progress of developing countries becoming information and knowledge societies. </li></ul> / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Information Science / DPhil / unrestricted

In this thesis, I draw on the particular experiences of Indian hi-tech immigrants arriving in a growing Canadian technological cluster, the Waterloo Region, located in south-western Ontario. This bilateral pattern of international labour migration between India and Canada reflects both nationsʼ efforts to enhance their economic competitiveness in a global knowledge economy: India as a global exporter and Canada as an importer of knowledge professionals. The stereotypical association of Indian nationals with technology work brings both restrictions and opportunities for Indian hi-tech immigrants navigating a racialised as well as gendered technology labour market in the Waterloo Region. My main aim is to reveal a microcosm of gendered negotiations involving individual economic migrants, their skilled spouses, their employers and the welfare state, particularly in the guise of officials regulating migration and access to childcare. The complex set of individual behaviours, ideologies, attitudes and practices all contribute to the emergence and maintenance of, as well as challenges to, particular gendered divisions of productive and reproductive work among these new entrants to Canada, as they lose the significant employment, social and familial networks and supports that typically are available in India. These Indian newcomer families view their responsibilities to their family to be as significant as their engagement in the Canadian labour market, as well as the advancement of their individual careers. In practice, however, familial responsibilities remain a more significant aspect of womenʼs lives, reproducing gendered divisions of both paid and unpaid work that mirror traditional gender roles and ideologies. The labour market participation of this particular group of Indian hi-tech immigrants, and especially professional immigrant mothers, is limited by the non-recognition of foreign credentials and cultural and/or racial discrimination but perhaps to an even greater extent by the lack of sufficient provisions for reproductive work under Canadaʼs liberal welfare state.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:24:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia Urvinis.pdf: 819816 bytes, checksum: cb3cbefd97bf61fdefb7a31a9e586891 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-08-07 / Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo / This research aims at investigating the local-global knowledge which emerges from the discoursive practices of two teachers of English who have just started the course Reflection on Action: the teacher of English learning and teaching and two other ones who have already finished the same course. Our theoretical construct is based on Contemporary Applied Linguistics on the perspective of Moita Lopes (2006a; 2006b; 2002); Kumaravadivelu (2006) and Celani (2005). This study is grounded on the binominal local-global knowledge (Canagarajah, 2005); on the official documents that guide the practice of teachers of English in the Brazilian educational context (São Paulo, 2008; Brasil, 2002; 2000; 1998) and on Vygotsky s Sociocultural and Historical Theory of teaching and learning (Vygotsky, 1930/1989; 1934/2001, among others). The research is conducted by an interpretative methodology (Myers, 1997; Moita Lopes; 1996; Erickson; 1986, among others) and the data has been collected through two instruments: a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview (Rizzini, Castro and Sartor, 1999). For analyzing and interpreting the data, three categories of analysis have been established: the category of thematic content, the observation of how the participants place their enunciates and deontic modalizations (Bronckart, 1997/1999). The study concentrates on three areas of analysis (a) senses, meanings and aims of teachinglearning English in the educational context; (2) planning and criteria for curriculum content selection; and (3) pedagogical practices. The results showed that the teachers who were taking the first module of the course Reflection on Action presented a discourse strongly supported by local knowledge, but heading to a dialogue with a global one. On the other hand, the teachers who have already finished the course achieved more autonomy to reflect about the global knowledge in their relationship to local one to promote the teaching-learning English for specific contexts / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo investigar os saberes locais-globais que emergem nas práticas discursivas de duas professoras de inglês iniciantes do curso Reflexão sobre a ação: o professor de inglês aprendendo e ensinando e de duas professoras egressas do referido curso. Este estudo foi realizado dentro da perspectiva da Linguística Aplicada Contemporânea, com base em Moita Lopes (2006a; 2006b; 2002); Kumaravadivelu (2006) e Celani (2005). Apoia-se nos conceitos de saber local e global (Canagarajah, 2005), nos documentos oficiais que orientam a prática dos professores de inglês no contexto educacional (São Paulo, 2008; Brasil, 2002; 2000; 1998) e na teoria de ensino e aprendizagem sócio-histórico-cultural (Vygotsky, 1930/1989; 1934/2001; 1934/2003; dentre outros). A metodologia de pesquisa utilizada foi a interpretativista (cf. Myers, 1997; Moita Lopes; 1996; Erickson; 1986, dentre outros) e a coleta dos dados foi feita por meio de dois instrumentos: um questionário e uma entrevista semi-estruturada (Rizzini, Castro e Sartor, 1999). Para a análise e interpretação dos dados foram utilizadas três categorias: conteúdo temático, observação do posicionamento enunciativo dos participantes e modalizações deônticas (Bronckart, 1997/1999). Três foram os eixos de análise: (a) sentidos, significados e finalidades de ensinar e aprender inglês no contexto educacional; (b) planejamento e critérios utilizados para a seleção de conteúdos; e (c) ações pedagógicas. Os resultados obtidos a partir da análise dos dados revelaram que as professoras ingressantes do curso Reflexão sobre a Ação apresentaram um discurso fortemente apoiado em conhecimentos locais, mas já apontando para um diálogo com os globais; por outro lado, as egressas adquiriram mais autonomia para dialogar com as teorias globais para promover o ensino-aprendizagem de inglês para contextos locais

Thesis (Ph. D. (Administration)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / The thesis drew from a combination of phenomenology, interactionism and critical theories because South Africa in itself consists of a polity with national dynamics, within the matrices of globality in which connectivity plays a determining role, especially in terms of the capacity to competitively participate in the global knowledge economy. Guided by reading collectively and critically from the economic, physical development, policy analysis, interpretative as well as collaboration planning approaches, among others, and the mono-centric, multilevel and adaptive models of governance, the thesis constructed a conceptual argument that the primate enablers for modernized infrastructure, skills and culture attached to the preconditions for blended pedagogies, are modernized planning and governance. However, the attainment of planning, governance, infrastructure and skills is in itself inadequate to inculcate the culture necessary for the integration of elearning with conventional didactics. This observation is confirmed through international experiences that involve the developed countries that are in the very high and high Human Development Index (HDI) categories such as Australia, Poland and Korea as well as Thailand, Brazil and Algeria, respectively, where the presence of planning, governance, infrastructure and skills has not automatically precipitated a culture required for blended pedagogies. This evidence does not seek to underplay the significance of planning, governance, infrastructure and skills in the integration of e-learning with conventional didactics, but the thesis has established that the existence of modernized planning, governance, infrastructure and skills are a necessary, rather than a sufficient, condition. From the literature review, the thesis deduces that e-culture is a virtually sufficient condition for the establishment of blended pedagogies. Hence, variables such as GDP per Capita, Gross Fixed Capital Formation, Average Annual Growth of General Government Final Consumption Expenditure, Research and Development Expenditure and Public Expenditure on Education, that demonstrate the level of human development of a country, do not necessarily reflect capacity to enable the establishment of blended pedagogies. Such conditions do not always coexist with pre-eminence of communication using Internet and/or Mobile Phones, characteristic of the “Net Generation Culture”. The vi latter, as a specific form of e-culture, is heavily dependent on infrastructure and skills which are, among others things, reflected in Gross Fixed Capital Formation, Employment to Population Ratio, Labour Force Participation Rate, Labour Force with Tertiary Education, Total Electrification Rate as well as Employment to Population Ratio. The observation made above is corroborated by the experiences of developing countries such as Vietnam, Zambia and Kenya, which are in the medium and low HDI categories, wherein the absence of appropriate and adequate infrastructure, skills and e-culture together with planning and governance imperil the evolution of the national culture into that of the “Net Natives”. From an empirical perspective, consistent with the hybridization of philosophy, the thesis conveniently selected a target population that consisted of a total of 15 countries, wherein 14 of these observations provide a backdrop against which South Africa’s relative readiness and appropriateness of planning, governance, infrastructure, culture and skills for blended pedagogies are determined. A combination of purposive and quota sampling procedures was adopted to select the 15 countries across the four HDI categories. The 15 countries are classified in terms of the 2015 United Nations Development Programme HDI conceptions, which produced four levels of “very high”, “high”, “medium” and “low”. A total of 28 variables were selected for Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The thesis used secondary data sources for textual and empirical data, where the latter was largely drawn from the United Nations Development Programme Reports. The textual data were analysed qualitatively through thorough descriptions, classification and drawing of connections, the statistical data were organized into a 15 (observations) by 28 (variables) raw data matrix and analysed through the PCA. Verbal tools were used to provide thick descriptions of contexts regarding historical, social, demographic and economic backgrounds in order to situate the motive underlying the planning and governance of blending e-learning pedagogies with conventional didactics in South Africa. From a quantitative perspective, PCA was used for statistical modelling that standardized the data and produced a variety of useful statistical summaries such as Principal Components, Eigenvalues, Communalities, Correlation Matrix, Component Loadings, Component Scores and Scattergrams. vii Given that the raw data consisted of 15 observations by 28 variables, a 28 by 28 variables correlation matrix was generated. Of the 378 correlations that the thesis discovered, 183 are direct and 195 are indirect. However, 276 of the 378 relationships are negligible; only 102 correlations were strong and significant enough to deserve closer examination. Principal Component Analysis extracted a total of 15 Principal Components; and, the first seven according to the thesis, accounted for the cumulative percentage of 92% in the interrelationships. Furthermore, it is evident that Principal Component 1 consists of the characteristics of Modernized, Planning, Governance, Infrastructure, Skills and Culture, which are diametrically different from the Frustrated Development, Unsustainable State Intervention and Societal Inequalities, Limiting e-infrastructure, e-skills Constraint, Muted Development Potential and the Non-existent e-culture that are associated with the rest. Given the significance and strength of the eigenvalue and component loadings on Principal Component (PC) 1, it should signify the presence of enabling environments for e-infrastructure, e-governance, e-culture and e-skills consistent with modernized planning and governance of blended pedagogies. Therefore, a country that scores negatively on PC 1 and positively on PC 2 would represent a society that is far less prepared for blended pedagogies where an unrelenting state investment for e-infrastructure, e-governance, eskills and e-culture would translate into a replacement behaviour rather than integration of conventional didactics with digital technologies. This infers that the status of governance, infrastructure, skills and culture would remain less optimal for the adoption of blended pedagogies. For such countries, investing heavily in blended pedagogies without first creating the requisite conditions for engagement in the global knowledge economy would imply that they would have sought to exploit non-existent capacity in governance, infrastructure, skills and culture. South Africa's component score on PC 1 is -0.58, which would in terms of the analysis mean that this country lacks the character of modernized planning, governance, infrastructure, skills and culture that are necessary for engendering blended pedagogies. Countries such as Norway, Australia, Poland, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka that have variably trotted the blended pedagogies score positively on PC 1. Besides, viii some of these countries have not been successful in blended pedagogies, notwithstanding their apparent enabling environments. Conversely, South Africa's component score on PC 2 is extraordinarily higher than all of the 14 countries; and, it is 2.15 points higher than the nearest score. It is important to recognize that South Africa's score on PC 2 is an extreme case and a virtual outlier that has no connection to the rest of the fourteen countries, especially those in the Medium and Low HDI. Overall, South Africa's component scores highlight the relative dearth of appropriate planning, governance, infrastructure, skills and culture, that are necessary for the adoption of blended pedagogies. Whereas the thesis finds that there is no direct correlation between the level of human development and adoption of blended pedagogies, the latter appears to be a result of convoluted processes that involve the creation of enablers for e-culture largely through planning, governance, infrastructure, skills and culture. These qualities are embedded with societal equality, equity of access to services, capital formation, employment, education as well as Internet infrastructure. The thesis therefore, concludes that South Africa's potential for human development is derailed through endless planning that has become an end in itself. Planning for its own sake, which defines South Africa's democratic history, means that modernized governance, skills and e-culture that are necessary for blended pedagogies have remained substandard. The thesis establishes that South Africa’s national as well as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) planning demonstrates ambition and interest, which is however pursued in the absence of effective governance of implementation and adoption of appropriate educational technologies. Evidently, South Africa is yet to attain modernized planning, governance, skills and culture appropriate for the implementation of blended pedagogies, notwithstanding the infrastructure provided in some of the schools for teaching and learning. Instead, South Africa’s pedagogic digital transformation is characterized by replacement of conventional didactics with e-learning rather than integration for blended pedagogies. Therefore, this evidence suggests that, although South Africa’s educational ICT infrastructure seems to be relatively modernized, the absence of appropriate and adequate planning, governance, skills and e-culture impairs the successful implementation of blended learning. The thesis, therefore, recommends ix that adoption of blended pedagogies should be supported through the creation of eculture in households, underwritten by modernized planning, governance, infrastructure and skills for competitive participation in the global knowledge economy.