Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2016-06-06T20:49:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Diego Gilberto Ferber Pineyrua.pdf: 1464888 bytes, checksum: ccfec98efbaa1f52748896f92080de3d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-06T20:49:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Diego Gilberto Ferber Pineyrua.pdf: 1464888 bytes, checksum: ccfec98efbaa1f52748896f92080de3d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-25 / This thesis identifies the characteristics of the knowledge creation process in cellulose companies in the context of a complex adaptive system. The sector has a complex supply chain, including the steps of reforestation, timber, cellulose production and paper manufacturing. It is characterized by being capital intensive and labor-intensive, have forest based and strong land concentration, all of which lead to economic concentration. The cellulose industry has gone through major processes of mergers and acquisitions, where tacit knowledge is acquired and the new company needs to hire people with tacit knowledge, converting it into tacit knowledge of another person. It has an export bias and has significant technological advances. The application of the theory of complex adaptive systems in an organizational environment led to knowledge management in a new direction The process of knowledge creation, is a part of the activities of a knowledge management program. Studies on the tacit and explicit knowledge approach the investigation of the knowledge creation process. From the literature, it has been prepared eleven study proposals that formed the basis for the development of field research in five major companies in the cellulose sector, four in Brazil and one in Uruguay. With the development of propositions, assumptions have been made making the connection between the main research question, gathering the assumptions and propositions in two study centers, to thus form the basis of the integral guiding questionnaire interview script. The methodology of the study predicted the development of the method of multiple case studies, through which the information of the companies were analyzed together and crosswise. Empirical evidence shows that companies have few features of a knowledge organization. To the knowledge conversion modes proposed a new nomenclature for the process of knowledge creation, and adaptation, disclosure, disposition and internalization. It was observed by environmental monitoring forms the interaction and interdependence characteristics of a complex adaptive system in the companies surveyed. There is a relationship among suppliers, specialized companies, customers and competitors who maintain a flow of information and market trends. The information and external expertise enable the development of employees with skills to organize themselves quickly and redirect efforts to the entire organization. At the end we present the model of knowledge creation for the cellulose companies with shares used in the adaptation of the environment and organizational knowledge. / Este trabalho identifica as características do processo de criação do conhecimento nas empresas de celulose no contexto de um sistema adaptativo complexo. O setor possui uma cadeia produtiva bastante complexa, abrangendo as etapas de reflorestamento, produção de madeira, fabricação de celulose e fabricação de papel. Caracteriza-se por ser intensivo em capital e mão-de-obra, ter base florestal e forte concentração fundiária, aspectos que levam à concentração econômica. O setor de celulose passou por grandes processos de fusões e aquisições, onde o conhecimento tácito é adquirido e a nova empresa precisa contratar pessoas com conhecimento tácito, convertendo-o em conhecimento tácito de outra pessoa. Possui um viés exportador e conta com significativos avanços tecnológicos. A aplicação da teoria de sistemas adaptativos complexos em um ambiente organizacional levou a gestão do conhecimento a uma nova direção O processo de criação do conhecimento, constitui uma parte das atividades de um programa de gestão do conhecimento. Os estudos sobre os conhecimentos tácitos e explícitos abordam as investigações do processo de criação do conhecimento. A partir do levantamento bibliográfico, foram elaboradas onze proposições de estudo que serviram de base para o desenvolvimento da pesquisa de campo junto a cinco grandes empresas do setor de celulose, sendo quatro do Brasil e uma do Uruguai. Com a elaboração das proposições, foram formuladas premissas fazendo a ligação entre a questão principal da pesquisa, agrupando as premissas e proposições em dois pólos de estudo, para assim, formar a base orientadora do questionário integrante do roteiro da entrevista. A metodologia utilizada no estudo previu o desenvolvimento do método de estudos de casos múltiplos, através do qual, as informações das empresas foram analisadas em conjunto e de forma cruzada. As evidências empíricas demonstram que as empresas possuem poucas características de uma organização do conhecimento. Para os modos de conversão do conhecimento é proposto uma nova nomenclatura para o processo de criação do conhecimento, sendo adaptação, revelação, disposição e interiorização. Observou-se pelas formas de monitoramento do ambiente as características de interação e interdependência de um sistema adaptativo complexo nas empresas pesquisadas. Existe um relacionamento entre os fornecedores, empresas especializadas, clientes e concorrentes que mantêm um fluxo de informações e tendências do mercado. As informações e conhecimentos externos possibilitam o desenvolvimento dos colaboradores com habilidades de se auto-organizarem rapidamente e redirecionarem esforços para toda a organização. Ao final é apresentado o modelo de criação do conhecimento para as empresas de celulose com as ações utilizadas na adaptação do ambiente e dos conhecimentos organizacionais.

In economic geography, a main research focus is on the relationship between innovation and space. Based on the observations of spatially clustered innovative activities in urban environments, a central argument is that the exchange of innovation-relevant knowledge across firms and other actors as well as the accompanying learning processes are promoted through geographical proximity. Agglomerations are said to offer multiple advantages, e.g. through frequent face-to-face contacts and opportunities for intense collaboration, a common labour pool and shared institutions. From this perspective, a location in large urban environments is beneficial for innovation, while by contrast, being located outside of agglomerations is not (Fitjar & Rodríguez‐Pose 2019). This dissertation relates to growing debates around the unease with the seemingly accepted truths about the strong connection of agglomerations and firm innovation. The research field has been found to be urban-biased, focussed on cases of successful regions and delivering multiple explanations of their success – while neglecting innovations occurring outside of agglomerations and largely portraying such regions and their actors as disadvantaged (Shearmur 2017). Within the emergent studies of innovation in peripheral contexts, some specifics have been proposed based on empirical studies, but a coherent theoretical framework is missing (e.g. Eder 2019). Against this background, this dissertation aims to contribute to a better understanding of innovation from a peripheral perspective based on comparison of firms by location. It explores knowledge creation processes and innovation activities of Hidden Champions in Germany. These highly innovative and globally active manufacturing firms are quite evenly distributed across Germany. By exploring practices and strategies of these firms towards innovation from a comparative perspective, this study investigates the following overarching research question: • What are the characteristics and main drivers of innovation outside of agglomerations and in how far do these differ from those inside agglomerations? This research builds on relational perspectives on economic action by adopting a geographical lens (Bathelt & Glückler 2003, Yeung 2005). It focusses on actors and how they act and interact in space without privileging any spatial scale or mechanism such as local interaction. Spaces and places are not perceived as territorially bounded units but as contexts in which actors organise their often multi-scalar relations. Following these basic theoretical positions, several concepts and approaches are utilised to develop a detailed understanding of firm innovation in space. While notions of slow innovation and the reliance on firm-internal capabilities point towards reduced interaction requirements especially of firms in peripheral regions to innovate (e.g. Shearmur 2015), the proximity approach (Boschma 2005) and the notion of global pipelines (Bathelt et al. 2004) highlight that geographical proximity is not a necessary precondition for interactive knowledge creation and innovation. Based on these conceptual perspectives and linked to the goal of understanding key mechanisms of innovation from a peripheral perspective, the guiding research question is complemented by the following sub-questions: • How and where do firms gain relevant knowledge for their innovation activities? • Which role do internal capabilities as well as external efforts towards innovation play and how do firms assess both dimensions? • What is the role of the firms’ location, especially regarding local options of knowledge creation? Based on a mixed method research design including a quantitative survey among the Hidden Champions and qualitative interviews with representatives of these firms, three dimensions relevant to the understanding of knowledge creation and innovation are considered for the empirical analyses: practices of knowledge creation at the individual level, strategic approaches towards innovation at the organisational level and the socio-spatial contexts in which knowledge creation processes and innovation are organised. The overarching finding of this dissertation is that firms like Hidden Champions largely follow the same principles to innovate independently from their location. Thereby, the results highlight the commonalities of firm innovation in urban and peripheral contexts instead of pointing towards major limitations or specificities of innovation in more peripheral regions. With taking the firm at the centre of analysis, this research demonstrates that regional economic pre-conditions do not necessarily relate to the capacities of firms to innovate. Neither do investigated firms located inside agglomera-tions largely capitalise on options of local interaction, nor do firms located outside of agglomerations face major disadvantages due to the lack of local options to source knowledge and interact. Instead and irrespectively of their location, firms strategically engage in various firm-internal and -external options to gain knowledge and have the capacities to shape their multi-scalar socio-spatial contexts for knowledge creation according to their needs. The results underline that intense interaction with externals is only one out of many options for firms to gain knowledge. Next to strong internal capabilities, non-interactive modes of knowledge sourcing via desk research, for instance, and more informal modes of knowledge creation via the participation in trade fairs have been identified as integral parts of firms’ innovation activities. This study suggests that such forms of ‘selective openness’ have not been sufficiently addressed in the research field so far. Selective openness not only stresses the strategic approaches of firms towards innovation but also the variety of options for knowledge creation which are usually not reliant on or connected to the regional contexts of firms. Moreover, this study finds that the connection between innovation and agglomeration is not as clear as suggested by urban perspectives, at least for the German context. Rather, much of the urban/rural and core/periphery divide seems to be discursively produced. This dissertation complements existing research on the geographies of innovation by providing insights from a peripheral view on innovation. It contributes to current debates on urban-biased perspectives and the dichotomous representation of firm innovation in urban and peripheral contexts. Based on the empirical results, it proposes a more differentiated view on openness and suggests recommendations for place-based policies towards regional development and innovation.:Summary 9 1. Introduction 11 1.1. Research objectives and questions 13 1.2. Hidden Champions in Germany 16 1.3. Structure of the dissertation 18 2. Re-thinking the geographies of firm innovation 21 2.1. Firms and innovation 22 2.1.1. Understanding firm innovation 24 2.1.2. Coordination of internal and external knowledge for innovation 25 2.1.3. Varieties of open innovation 29 2.2. Geographies and innovation 33 2.2.1. Beyond territorial innovation 34 2.2.2. Questioning the status quo: urban bias and the periphery label 41 2.2.3. Current understandings of innovation outside of agglomerations 45 2.3. Conceptual framework 51 2.3.1. Positioning the own research 51 2.3.2. A relational perspective on economic processes in space 55 2.3.3. Beyond dualistic conceptualisations of innovation and space 59 3. Methodological approach 66 3.1. Critical realism as the basic ontological and epistemological perspective 66 3.1.1. Basics notions of critical realism 67 3.1.2. Implications for research methodologies 68 3.2. Research design 69 3.2.1. Multi-dimensional comparative approach 70 3.2.2. Triangulation 72 3.2.3. Comparison 73 3.3. Empirical and analytical methods and proceedings 75 3.3.1. Development of a database of Hidden Champions in Germany 75 3.3.2. Quantitative survey 81 3.3.3. Semi-structured interviews 85 4. Patterns and socio-spatial contexts of firm innovation – Quantitative results 90 4.1. The spatial distribution of Hidden Champions in Germany 90 4.2. Firm characteristics and innovation patterns 93 4.2.1. Organisational and spatial aspects of firm structures 93 4.2.2. Innovation activities 94 4.2.3. Information sources and collaboration 96 4.3. Comparison of the firms by location 98 4.4. Types of innovative firms 101 4.4.1. Approach, implementation and results of the cluster analysis 102 4.4.2. Types of innovators and their locations 107 4.5. Interim results and arising questions 110 5. Strategies and practices towards knowledge creation and innovation – Qualitative results 113 5.1. Firm profiles 116 5.1.1. Firms located outside of agglomerations 116 5.1.2. Firms located inside agglomerations 120 5.2. The global integration of firms 124 5.2.1. Firms, their niche markets and ways of internationalisation 124 5.2.2. Knowledge creation strategies and the role of geography 127 5.2.3. Organisational structures to secure the global reach 134 5.2.4. The significance of innovation and high quality 136 5.3. Strategies towards innovation 137 5.3.1. Corporate culture and ambition 138 5.3.2. Key internal and external drivers of innovation 139 5.3.3. The temporal dimension of innovation 142 5.4. Firm-internal organisation of innovation activities 144 5.4.1. Main challenges 145 5.4.2. The headquarters as the central corporate unit 148 5.4.3. Internationalisation of knowledge creation and innovation 150 5.5. The external dimension of innovation activities 155 5.5.1. Access to external sources of knowledge 155 5.5.2. Collaboration with partners 158 5.5.3. Evaluation of the external dimension for innovation 164 5.6. The role of the regional contexts for firm innovation 165 5.6.1. The perception of regional contexts at the headquarters 166 5.6.2. The regional embeddedness of firms 171 5.6.3. Evaluation of the regional dimension 175 5.7. Summary of findings and comparison with the quantitative results 176 6. Firm innovation beyond agglomeration – Discussion of results 180 6.1. Globally dispersed knowledge dynamics and secrecy 180 6.2. The processual character of innovation activities 185 6.3. The role of the places and spaces for firm innovation 191 7. Main findings, conclusions and outlook 196 7.1. Summary of main findings and contributions of the research 196 7.2. Conclusions and policy recommendations 200 7.3. Reflections on the study and avenues for future research 202 Appendices 206 References 220

Information technology (IT) organizations have become an integral part of many firms, with increasing strategic significance. Consequently, investments in IT represent a significant percentage of a firm's expenditure. Despite the investment, the business value of IT has been difficult to quantify, creating uncertainty about a firm's investments in IT innovation. The purpose of this nonexperimental study was to examine relationships between a firm's innovativeness and 3 IT organizational design factors: knowledge creation, dynamic capabilities, and communication structures. The research questions addressed the relationships between a firm's ability to innovate and specific design elements of the IT organization. The study was based on Nonaka's dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation, Schumpeter's industrial market structure, and Wernerfelt's resource-based view of the firm. Data were collected from an online survey with 115 employees of firms that depend on IT to deliver their products or services. Pearson product-moment correlational analysis revealed statistically significant relationships between the IT organizational design factors and a firm's ability to innovate. The implications for positive social change stemming from this study affect managers of firms that rely on IT to deliver products or services. The findings suggest that the design of the IT organization influences the performance of the firm through cost reduction and its sustainability through innovation, both of which lead to community economic empowerment thus benefiting the general public.

Knowledge management (KM) has been determined by many researchers as one of the most important domains within the information systems (IS) field, and knowledge sharing (KS) has been identified as the most vital component of KM. Lack of KS within organizations has been approached from many perspectives. One perspective that has been outlined in recent studies is the organizational culture (OC) perspective, which examines the interaction between OC and KS behaviors. Although research has been conducted on OC and KS, the findings of recent studies have been contradictory. These conflicts were due to the different operationalization of KS. The purpose of this research was to conduct a multi method study to investigate the interaction between KS and OC in detail. A case study within a Fortune 50 organization was undertaken to address the problem. By focusing on socialization adopted from the socialization, externalization, combination, internalization (SECI) model, the iceberg theory, and the Competing Values Framework (CVF), two questions were explored to address an unexamined area within the body of knowledge. Per the recent calls for research, the questions addressed KS itemized into knowledge seeking and knowledge contributing, and investigated the phenomenon at multiple levels of the organization. The first question examined the interaction between OC and KS via socialization amongst peers for: (a) overall organization, (b) non-managers, (c) first level managers, and (d) second-level managers. The second question examined the interaction between OC and KS via socialization amongst various levels for: (a) subordinates and managers in overall organization, (b) non-managers and first level managers, and (c) first level managers and second level managers. Data were collected through 82 surveys, 23 interviews, 23 observations, and company records for the calendar year of 2017 to provide multiple types of data for triangulation. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, correlation tables, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), and visualization. The qualitative data were analyzed through open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The combined results were triangulated to reach the conclusions. The MANCOVA displayed a significant interaction between OC and KS via socialization. Furthermore, the triangulated results showcased that perceived bureaucratic culture and perceived competitive- bureaucratic culture had a negative relationship with KS via socialization amongst peers, knowledge seeking for manager to subordinate, and subordinate to manager, but not for between level knowledge contributing. While perceived clan culture had a positive relationship with KS via socialization amongst peers, and for knowledge seeking from managers, but not for between level knowledge contributing. Perceived competitive culture was only discovered to have a negative relationship with knowledge seeking for level two managers, while having a positive relationship with knowledge contributing to employees, and knowledge contributing amongst peers with knowledge seeking as moderating variable. The various organizational levels also showcased distinct results which requires further investigation. Future research suggestions were made to extend the body of knowledge through various directions, alongside an IS solution recommendation for organizations to improve KS.

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Yes / Although previous studies have shown the positive effect of research and development (R&D) intensity on new product performance (NPP), our understanding about the mechanisms through which R&D intensity influence NPP is less understood. In this paper, we focus on the mediating role of international R&D teams in explaining the effect of R&D intensity on NPP. Since R&D teams are dispersed across the globe, thus examining the role of international R&D teams will provide a more nuanced understanding of the mechanisms through which R&D intensity contributes to NPP. Using survey data from 201 Ghanaian firms engaged in internationalization activities, the results suggest that the use of international R&D teams mediates the relationship between R&D intensity and NPP. Moreover, the findings indicate that the use of international R&D teams improves NPP and that this linkage is amplified when the knowledge creation process inside the firm is stronger. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and practice.

Within dynamic 21st century knowledge economies, future-building knowledge, that bears capacities to transcend existing boundaries and create something new, is of particular importance. Within the first decade of the new century, new concepts such as "learning from the future" or "self-transcending knowledge" developed within knowledge management. So far, they lacked a theoretical grounding in relevant learning theory as well as a sound acknowledgement and consideration of such knowledge structures' emergence and social embeddedness. Thus, key principles and leverage factors for designing respective knowledge processes were difficult to derive. This dissertation investigates theoretical ground that can provide a basis to explain the creation of future-building knowledge in collective structures. It is guided by the following research question: "How can the emergence of self-transcending knowledge in collective organizational settings be rooted in theories of knowledge, learning and cognition?" Starting from the model of knowledge-based management, the model is expanded by exploring cognitive, creative and social systemic aspects of knowledge creation on a transdisciplinary basis. Research draws on constructivist learning theory, complexity-based approaches in knowledge management and organizational learning, recent accounts in cognitive science (enaction/embodiment) and a creative logic of emergence to derive an integrated model for collective self-transcending knowledge. The model contributes to the integration of knowledge management, organizational learning and cognitive science, expanding knowledge-based management towards attention-based management. The model's three dimensions and three domains form an integrated theoretical basis to derive key principles and leverage factors for steering future-building knowledge processes. Simultaneously, they reveal leverage factors' limited - i.e. enabling, not determining - impact on processes of "organizing future". (author's abstract)

In today's increasingly competitive business environment, the use of knowledge to gain a competitive advantage has become a serious concern for all organisations. However, some industries have been affected more acutely than others in the transition to a knowledge-based economy. Despite the increasing number of studies relating to Knowledge Management (KM), few have explored this concept within the Airline Industry (AI). As all the studies and model of this research have built on the relationship between KM and organisational performance (OP), the AI is the context of the study within the area of Gulf Cooperative Countries (GCC). This area has been chosen as it provides a good airlines-based industry which is mature. A comprehensive and critical assessment of different KM models was made through a review of the available studies in order to evaluate KM and to identify the processes that affect OP. This research proposes a conceptual model that represents KM processes and OP measurements. This research adopts a qualitative research approach through a case study strategy to identify and test a conceptual model proposed from the literature review. Four international airlines companies were investigated through extensive face-to-face semi-structure interviews, followed by observations, and documentation with managers, senior managers, general managers (GMs) and vice presidents (VPs) to produce accurate results. Data findings were then reported and analysed. The main finding revealed that most studies relating to knowledge management processes and their effect on organisational performance took place in different sectors other than the AI. Also, KM processes and their effect on OP appear to be neglected, leading to conflicts in KM adoption. However, KM processes are applicable in the AI and these processes are not only used and implemented, but are also perceived as important in influencing positive OP. The only KM processes that generally received less support from the participants in terms of perceived effectiveness in affecting positive OP were knowledge translation/repurposing and knowledge disposal. The main contribution of this research is a novel model for KM processes and OP. This model serves as a guideline for the stakeholder and decision maker to be adopted in organisations to lead to more effective implementation and adoption of KM disciplines. It also provides a practical guideline for future KM research which at present seems fragmented within the AI. The suggestion for future research is to further validate and improve the generalisability of the KM processes model to the entire AI in the world and across other industries. Moreover, due to the time constraints and lack of funding, there were no attempts made in this research to assemble a sample that is representative of all the airlines in the world. In order to increase the generalisability of the results of this study, the sample size needs to be expanded and quantitative research might be considered.

Digitalization initiates and drives significant changes to the process level, organization level, and business level of software-intensive product development (SIPD) companies and their customers. Digitalization creates new opportunities through digital transformation strategies of the business environment. Digitalization also significantly reduces the turnaround-time on a transaction, driving new challenges for the alignment of business and technology changes. For a successful business model realization, a company must understand what capabilities the organization has (in staff and products), what is required, and more importantly, how to turn these capabilities into good-enough abilities without disturbing the effectiveness and efficiency of the daily operations. Integrating the product and service development and the value delivery with a learning organization is critical for efficient business model change (BMCh). This thesis seeks to develop conceptual models for how BMCh is linked to value, learning organization design, and the transformation of capabilities into abilities derived from business model activities and actor interactions. Such conceptual models facilitate to investigate and identify critical mechanisms and capabilities needed to effectively and efficiently manage BMCh at full scale for SIPD companies, allowing them to exploit the on-going digitalization, may it be through (disruptive) business model innovation, technology innovation, or by continuously adapting and evolving the business operations.   I use the SIPD company as the unit of analysis, with the dual-lens of value and knowledge, set in the context of a business model and how the value creation and capture are influenced by the interaction between two actors performing a business model activity. I build on the business model literature and infuse theories for knowledge creation, learning organizations, and contractual promises to create value. Conducting a cross-disciplinary literature review, followed by a synthesis of related literature, industry best-practices, and an associated design science study, my propositions were validated in a longitudinal case study exploring a service industrialization program in the telecommunication industry. I have produced five conceptual models and seven propositions as a start to be able to support the design of a governance mechanism, as the critical engine for both the learning organization and effective and efficient BMCh. The industry now explores the models found during the case study. My synthesis shows a need for further research into BMCh regarding early detection and measurements of gaps in value, gaps in knowledge, ambiguity, equivocality, and abilities. Flexible role-based governance views present the measurements, as part of the governance mechanisms for full-scale, effective, and efficient BMCh. Further, I also aim to implement such governance mechanisms in software, by using the associated research in intent-driven systems. In the meantime, I propose industry to build knowledge and experience related to the seven propositions.