none

The interest in effective human resource management has increased dramatically as mean age of the workforce has been growing in the developed western countries. A part of this workforce is constituted for by knowledge intensive workers, in which the motivation dif-fers from other groups of workers. Moreover, existing literature on lifespan development research on motivation fails to differentiate sufficiently between types of worker groups; in a like manner literature on motivation of knowledge intensive workers has neglected to in-clude age differences. This results in a shortage of research of how motivation of knowledge intensive workers differs in regards to their age. The purpose of this thesis is to describe how the intrinsic motivational factors autonomy, variety in tasks, learning new things, receiving positive feedback, and the feeling of accom-plishment and value creation influence knowledge intensive workers differently in regards to their age. The thesis’ research method was qualitative and the primary empirical data was collected through a case study in which interviews with IT consultants of two different age groups were conducted. The findings revealed that differences between the age groups are present. The most ap-parent differences lie in preference for autonomy, learning new things and receiving posi-tive feedback. Variety in tasks and the feeling of accomplishment and creating value also displayed age related discrepancies between the groups.

In today’s economy the importance of knowledge in organizations is well underscored. The management of an organization’s knowledge has become one of the most important strategic vehicles to an organization's sustainable competitive advantage. The design and success of knowledge management systems (KMS) is viewed as the next evolutionary step in the management of knowledge processes and activities. The debate over the efficacy of these systems draws attention to the differences in approach to KMS that may develop among organizations whose employees’ work involves primarily the execution of procedural routines and those who are involved in primarily creative, problem solving work. This study explored empirically the factors defining Knowledge-intensive Organizations (KIOs) and related these factors to the choices of KMS deployed in these organizations. The study was conducted in two phases and employed both quantitative and qualitative methodologies for data collection. Survey and document analysis techniques were used in the first phase of the study which examined KIO defining factors, how they relate to each other, and how they contribute to knowledge intensity in KIOs. In the second phase semi-structured, in-depth interviews and survey techniques were employed. Grounded theory method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was then utilized to uncover how knowledge-intensive defining factors interlace with the choice of KMS deployed in KIOs. The interviews were analyzed using QSR NVivo 9 qualitative data analysis software. Quantitative computations were carried out using the PASW Statistics 17.0 package. The study found that KIOs are described by unique knowledge-intense attributes and these attributes inform the design and choices of KMS implemented in KIOs. This research contributes to the literature on factors that describe knowledge intensity in organizations. It provides the research community with a new articulation of the underpinnings of KIOs and KMS, an important step in advancing subsequent theoreti¬cal developments. The study might also have practical value for sellers and systems designers who are looking at assessing user demand for new KMS design ideas and for decision makers within KIOs who would like to evaluate the offerings of sellers.

This report highlights the complexity of engaging in a post-acquisition integration process of a relatively large knowledge-intensive firm. Findings from a case study is analyzed in relation to previous theory, resulting in four propositions aiming at creating a foundation for further theory development, as well as increased understanding among practitioners in relation to the emphasized problem. It is argued by the authors that increased relative acquisition size of knowledge-intensive firms will: 1) increase demand for a centralized organizational structure, 2) decrease benefits of introducing a new top management, 3) decrease communicative attention towards lower levels, and 4) decrease attention towards subcultures. These factors will ultimately increase the risk for integration failure.

Economic and other forces over recent years have resulted in the rise, in size and importance, of a group within the business community known as &quotknowledge-intensive firms". These organisations typically operate in such sectors as information and communication technology, specialist engineering and other services, consulting, research spin-out companies, multimedia, advertising and education and, in effect, trade in the development, management and adaptation of contemporary knowledge. They are often small-to-medium enterprises and use new business and operational models drawing together human and social capital, contemporary ICT, technologies and networks to produce intangible knowledge products. This research work investigates the interface between those firms and the commercial property assets that provide a platform and environment for their activities. The accommodation of significant change may hold challenges for such large-scale built assets. However, this work considers that evolutionary change is achievable and will present new opportunities for property as integrated and adaptable business environments, responsive to changing demands. The research methodology involves a literature review establishing key economic, business, built environment and social capital parameters for these emerging firms and their operations. That review is reinforced by both primary data collection from 36 knowledge-intensive firms and by the investigation of four relevant but diverse case studies. To allow this wide body of information to be distilled, a Delphi process, using a panel of ten experts, has been successfully applied to prioritise the demand drivers for start-up, established and mature knowledge-intensive firms in the South East Queensland environment. Consensus was secured after four rounds. These outcomes have been again tested against the four previous case studies and a further case study not previously investigated. Conclusions establish that these firms do have priority requirements in their demands for commercial property and that such demands evolve as firms progress through their various stages of development. Overall, firms through all development stages were strongly influenced in locational decisions by business plans parameters, the importance of attracting quality staff, and the provision of an office environment most conducive to the performance of these individuals and teams. Only in the early, start-up stage was accommodation cost a determining factor. Further, the research establishes that significant opportunities exist for the development sector, particularly in the re-use of older buildings and in the creation of clusters. To achieve this, however, new approaches to development and asset and property management may be required. As a result of this research, it is anticipated that asset owners and managers will be better able to align both new and existing commercial buildings to these emerging demands and opportunities.

Recent innovation research has paid more attention to investigating innovation in KIBS. The KIBS sector is widely reported to be more innovative than most other services. However, many past studies in this area have focused on R&D when analysing service innovation in KIBS. While some KIBS (typically those classified as Technological-KIBS or T-KIBS) do made substantial investment in R&D, this is however much less the case in many other KIBS (especially in Professional-KIBS/P-KIBS and Creative-KIBS/C-KIBS). This implies that other activities –apart from conventional R&D– may be applicable to understanding service innovation in KIBS. Knowledge management approaches have been introduced in several previous studies of service innovation in KIBS - but these typically see ‘knowledge’ as an object or property. This study argues for, and develops, an alternative ‘knowing’ perspective, which viewing knowledge as embedded in practice. This approach is underpinned by the interactivity and knowledge-intensity characteristics of KIBS. Their services are typically solutions to specific client problems. Knowledge is thus context-dependent and much relevant knowledge is learned in the very local context of practice. This theoretical standpoint is applied in this qualitative research study, exploring the role of knowing in service innovation in KIBS. In so doing, we employ four data sources (i.e. in-depth semi-structured interviews, expert interviews, observation and archival data) and apply the techniques of template analysis to the rich qualitative data that has been generated. We then delve into three analytical exercises. First, we depart from the current theories of service innovation, framing the exploration in the light of the concepts of service innovation dimensions and dynamic capabilities (introduced in the literature review). Second, we analyse what forms of knowing are involved in the process of service innovation. Third, we synthesise the first two analytical exercises to probe on the interrelation between service innovation and knowing in KIBS - what roles do forms of knowing play in service innovation?One major finding of this research is that service innovation and managing knowing in KIBS are interrelated by the fact that knowing is seen as enacted capability, forms of knowing are constituted in the process of service innovation, and this requires particular capabilities. We identify four ways of knowing in which KIBS engage for service innovation. Here, we incorporate the knowledge relatedness factor and the strategic focus to knowing (i.e. exploration or exploitation). These aspects enable this research to put forth the argument that the more the members of KIBS enact their knowing in practice, the better understanding they have towards the practice, the firm and the environment. Such ultimately becomes important for the sustainability of KIBS, not only to meet current market demands, but also to be able to construct new frameworks and thus to influence market development.

In a globalized world where competition has risen, it has become more and more popular for companies to outsource non-core activities. The main reasons for doing so are due to cost reductions, improving organizational focus, better flexibility and improve product quality, delivery and service. As outsourcing is increasingly growing in popularity, the problems associated is more prominent. For some companies outsourcing is a bridge to all the related benefits, while for some companies it can be a nightmare. When the expectations aren't met, the focal firm will have to re-evaluate the decision. The decision to will therefore to renegotiate with the vendor, switch to another vendor or to backsource. Backsourcing is when activities which previously has been outsourced is brought back in-house. Previous research on backsourcing has focused on functions such as information technology and information system. Little attention has been given towards production and the risk involved. In order for the vendor to produce, knowledge need to be shared. This can be complicated for knowledge-intensive firms considering their value creating resource is knowledge which derives from their intellectual capital. As the know-how of the product is shared to the vendor, the research made is transferred. If the knowledge-intensive firm is dissatisfied with the entered outsourcing agreement, and wishes to end the agreement the know-how will still continue to be shared. Causing the focal firm to feel locked-in with the vendor. If they choose to backsource, the risks related to the shared knowledge appears. As the knowledge is already shared, the question if it can be prevented arises. Which leads to our research questions: RQ1: What are the risks related to intellectual capital when backsourcing? RQ2: How can these risks be prevented? To answer these questions, a case study from a knowledge-intensive firm who faces this problem is examined with our theoretical framework. The risk identified were opportunistic behaviour with the shared intellectual capital, reputational risk, risk with reintegrating intellectual capital, investment risk and risk from earlier contractual arrangement. To prevent these revealed to be difficult but not impossible. To summarize the preventing measure identified, they revolve around legal protection from well-written contracts and patents, careful execution plan, use of external expertise and by avoiding high investment through establishing a pilot plant.

Knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs) depend on their workers’ knowledge assets more than capital- and labour-intensive firms. Knowledge assets, such as human and social capital, enable KIFs to innovate, solve problems, and build relationships. But managing a highly skilled and well-connected workforce presents several HRM challenges – perhaps none more so than hiring. In tight labour markets, workers’ knowledge assets are strategically valuable and rare. To attract knowledge workers, KIFs must signal significant value from entering into employment relationships. They must use hiring strategies that communicate positive organisational attributes (employer branding), as well as HRM practices that entice job seekers (employment inducements).Previous studies on KIFs have focused largely on Western contexts. Few studies have considered HRM by KIFs in developing economies. In China, the focus of this study, KIFs are an emerging organisational form that have grown from privately owned start-ups in high-tech sectors. Such firms encounter hiring challenges at both organisational and external environmental levels. For example, privately owned KIFs face intense labour market competition from state-owned and foreign-invested enterprises for highly skilled workers. This has fuelled upsurges in wages and high turnover. Most private firms are small and vulnerable to market forces, yet scholars know little about their hiring and HRM approaches. Almost no studies have systematically examined hiring as a ‘single’ HRM issue within privately owned Chinese KIFs. By synthesising Western and Chinese HRM literatures, this study developed an analytical framework to explore organisational and external factors that explain variations in KIFs’ hiring strategies and practices. The study conducted interviews with managers and HR workers in seven privately owned KIFs and one state-funded training school.Several case firms had implemented sophisticated strategies that linked hiring with business objectives. Managers and HR workers acquired HRM knowledge from several sources including the Internet and HRM texts, management consultancies, in-house training, the state’s HR qualification, and informal HR clubs. However, firm size and reputation, as well as managers’ tacit beliefs still limited some KIFs’ abilities to attract talented individuals. Firms generally used a wide range of inducements to attract knowledge workers, including competitive salaries, career development, and ‘paternalistic cultures’. Most participants perceived worker referrals, headhunting, and universities to be effective hiring sources. Thus, some firms had developed strategic hiring approaches that enabled them to compete with state-owned and foreign-invested firms. But small KIFs, in particular, must still strengthen their employer branding to offset competition and labour market ‘invisibility’. KIFs must also deliver on their employment inducements, lest they risk high turnover and a loss of valuable human and social capital.

Knowledge-intensive firms are a growing and increasingly important part of our economy. They compete by bringing their knowledge resources to bear on their customers' challenging problems. Such knowledge resources can reside in workers, routines and work processes, stored data and knowledge, and relationships. Scholarship on these important firms, though, has focused largely on their workers' knowledge and skill, i.e., their human capital. This is in spite of the fact that the other forms of knowledge - organizational capital and social capital - both play important roles in firms. Additionally, there has been little research into the role of strategies in these firms. The research questions of this paper are designed to address these substantial gaps in our understanding of these firms. First, I examine the development and use of the full set of knowledge resources. I argue that organizational capital consists of both procedural and declarative organizational capital, and that all of these forms of intellectual capital play unique roles. Second, the paper suggests that the key strategic driver for such firms is how uncertainty impacts their ability to develop and use intellectual capital assets. Specifically, I examine the uncertainty that is brought into the firm by its customer interactions. The paper hypothesizes that the relationship between customer interaction uncertainty and organizational capital, as well as their relationships to human and social capital, will drive the performance of these firms. These questions are examined using both survey and archival data from 94 financial service organizations using linear regression and Hierarchical Linear Modeling. I find support for several of the hypotheses. Customer interaction uncertainty is positively associated with human and declarative organizational capital. Further, human and procedural organizational capital interact to impact performance, as do human capital and declarative organizational capital.

As transformações no capitalismo mundial nos últimos 30 anos geraram condições significativas para o crescimento de atividades de serviços, principalmente aquelas voltadas às empresas e em especial as chamadas intensivas em conhecimento. O objetivo geral do trabalho é contribuir para o estabelecimento do debate sobre knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) ou serviços empresariais intensivos em conhecimento (SEIC) no Brasil. Trata-se de enquadrar a discussão da literatura internacional em uma economia periférica e avaliar sua pertinência. A hipótese é que este grupo de atividades se torna necessário para o desenvolvimento dos países nesta nova era do capitalismo, especialmente por sua atuação na difusão de conhecimento e sua participação positiva em processos de inovação. Neste sentido, os propósitos do texto são: 1) fazer uma revisão da literatura sobre KIBS; 2) definir os KIBS no Brasil em comparação com os outros setores da economia, mostrando sua participação significativa em termos de geração de receita, sua dinâmica de crescimento acima da média nos últimos anos e sua capacidade de empregar mão-de-obra de mais alta qualificação; 3) investigar em que medida este grupo é importante na difusão de conhecimento e em processos de inovação; 4) discutir a concentração destas atividades em áreas metropolitanas. Pelo fato de atuarem como difusores de conhecimento e pelo seu enredamento vasto na cadeia produtiva, os KIBS podem representar uma tendência analítica promissora, especialmente em um momento em que atores públicos têm pensado políticas de desenvolvimento de escopo transversal, nas quais a inovação é elemento central. / The changes in capitalism in the last thirty years created conditions to service industries growth, especially those ones related to knowledge-intensive activities. The main objective of this master thesis is to contribute to build a knowledge-intensive business services debate in Brazil. It means that this thesis tries to bring an important debate from the developed countries academia to a developing country in order to analyze if it could be applied in other context. The hypothesis is that KIBS are necessary to increase economic development in Brazil in the new era of capitalism, also known as knowledge-based economy or informational society. The relevance of these activities is due to their role as sources, carriers and diffusers of knowledge that can generate externalities to innovation processes. The aims of this text are: 1) make a literature review of KIBS debate; 2) define KIBS in Brazil comparing to the rest of service sector, showing how important they are in terms of growth in the last years, high value added generation, and qualified labor force employment; 3) investigate how these industries are important to knowledge diffusion and to innovation processes; 4) discuss the reasons why KIBS are agglomerated in metropolitan regions. Once KIBS are known as sources, carriers and diffusers of knowledge and as they are connected to many of others activities, I assume that they can be an interesting and promising approach. This becomes even more important nowadays, in a context in which innovation takes place as a central issue of the development policies debate.