Putting social aspects of KM into practice

Knowledge management is not just about IT practices and tools to manage and store knowledge. Except of IT, knowledge management can be backed up by social and cultural measures which are strongly related to a very important aspect of knowledge management, creating an ideal environment for knowledge and promoting the knowledge sharing culture.

The following suggestions are based upon solutions that have been successfully implemented into organizations and on ideas that on my opinion might be helpful if applied.

First of all, I believe that it is very important to create an ideal knowledge sharing environment because as Earl (2001) notes down, tacit knowledge usually is passed down from person to person through everyday interaction and conversation. So in order to pass tacit knowledge around the organization, interaction between the people within the organization should be encouraged and this leads to a solution that promotes the knowledge sharing culture. Two examples are Skandia’s future center (Earl and Nahapiet, 1999) and British Airway’s Waterside (CABE, n.d.) offices. Both companies have created their sites having in mind how to ‘enforce’ their employees to interact with each other and increase the possibility of tacit knowledge exchange.

Another way to promote the knowledge sharing spirit would be a reward system for the employees who are contributing the most. This way those who share the knowledge are rewarded so they know their contribution was not for nothing and also once people start getting rewards for their contribution it is very possible that more will follow and try to contribute.

People who put effort in knowledge sharing can be rewarded differently. For example (Velker, 1999) Xerox gives people the opportunity to get recognition when sharing their knowledge with others so the reward for them is being recognized as an expert or a specialist in the field. A different method of rewarding knowledge contributors could be giving bonuses to those who contribute the most. Of course the problem of quality against quantity is rising up here because it is hard to measure when the contribution is made just for the sake of it or if it is a worthwhile contribution. Of course this is up to the organization to decide how the reward scheme will work.

As it was aforementioned, tacit knowledge is usually exchanged by conversation and social interaction so apart from trying to encourage people within an organization to interact more during work, the organization can provide the means for the people to start interacting outside their work space also. One good way to do that would be organizing group activities like activity weekends, secret Santa, inter-organizational parties, etc. The more people come in touch with each other the more tacit knowledge is exchanged between them and for sure having a friendly environment in the organization can help the flow of knowledge as people will be less reluctant to share their knowledge with people they are friends with. This is backed up by Cortada and woods (1999) as they found out that in most successful projects they had studied people were not hold back from sharing their knowledge as oppose to unsuccessful projects in which people were holding the knowledge for themselves.

Solutions for Albion fabrics

Based on the aforementioned examples and methods of how to promote the social aspects of knowledge management into the organization the following suggestions can be made for Albion fabrics.

To begin with, a redesign of the office space can be made to rearrange the way employees interact. Cubicles must be abolished and create a feeling that there are no boundaries between each and every employee. Also, offices can be set up so they all face each other to promote the team spirit within the office and pass the message that the employees are not individuals who work at the same room but they are a team working together for common targets and goals.

Except from rearrangement of the office space, to encourage the employees to start interacting more with each other some organization rules can be applied. For example a common lunch hour can be scheduled so if all the employees go to take their lunch together the sense of team spirit is raised and they have a chance to discuss during their lunch time. Maybe tacit knowledge won’t be exchanged but at the very less if people communicate the organization is building up the friendly environment that is desired. Also, another way to boost communication between employees would be reducing or even keeping the use of e-mails within the organization to minimal levels. If each person meets the person they want to reach in person instead of e-mailing they will have to socialize and discuss and this way the target of exchanging tacit knowledge is enforced as well as the target of creating a friendly-knowledge sharing environment.

Last but not least, a reward scheme is suggested for the organization. Of course this measure can work in collaboration with the IT part of the organization’s knowledge management system. For example, if a wiki is chosen to support the knowledge management system, the top contributors of the wiki can be rewarded on a monthly basis and given a bonus or a surprise gift for their contribution. To avoid having useless data and information being passed over as knowledge a rating system can be applied so the CKO or all the employees of the organization can vote if the content was useful or not.

References

CABE. n.d. BA Waterside Harmondsworth case study. http://www.cabe.org.uk/default.aspx?contentitemid=240 (accessed February 28, 2009)

Cortada, J.W. and J.A., Woods. 1999. The Knowledge Management Yearbook 1999-2000. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Earl M. (2001). Knowledge Management Strategies: Toward a Taxonomy. Journal of Management Information Systems. 18,(1),p.215-233.

Earl, M.J. and J.E., Nahapiet. 1999. Skandia. Case study LBS-Cs99-015-00. London: London Business School.

Velker, L. 1999. Xerox: from internal solution to KM product . http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/Editorial/Feature/Xerox-from-internal-solution-to-KM-product-9059.aspx (accessed March 1, 2009)

Determining Organisation/Structure... (addendum)

In offering a recommendation on the Organisational approach for AFL’s KMS (My previous post on subject matter), I opted to use The New Knowledge Management Model (TNKM) developed by Mark W. McElroy and Joseph M. Firestone as a base (Firestone and McElroy, 2001). This Model uses internal and external sources to classify itself into Knowledge production and knowledge integration. See diagram below.






This model was chosen because of the importance of AFL to produce new knowledge. This is because the company faces redundancy and needs to produce new products and enter new markets and also establish what its forte is. In addition, the increasing rate of staff turnover requires serious action on the Knowledge integration part.

The classification of TNKM Model

KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION
The activities below if undertaken by the management of AFL will lead to Knowledge production.

Knowledge Acquisition:
Networking: One way of acquiring knowledge is by socialising and networking. First, we need to make the work system more relaxed than it currently is. Adopt an open door policy for teams to mingle freely with superiors. This is in order to create the ‘close knit’ environment, which is extremely important to give a feeling of ownership. Then management should encourage staff to attend external events with Clients and customers.

Knowledge Conversion:
Staff Training: We recommend a regular training of staff on key skills and abilities needed (such as design skills, garment technology, marketing skills, managing time etc). The suggested training should be in-house for now. This option is less expensive and ideal, considering the present economic state of the Company. The drive here is to make sure that each staff attends training at least four times a year. After each training, the staff involved would summarise what they learnt in a report form which can be accessed by other team members. This should facilitate distribution of knowledge

KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION
The activities below if undertaken by the management of AFL will lead to Knowledge integration.

Knowledge Application:
With the training received and knowledge from fashion and garment technology forums attended by staff, the knowledge can be applied by the development of new products. These new products, which would be a combination of knowledge from the designers and the garment technicians, may then be used to expand AFL’s market. Exposing staff to external interaction enables them meet their colleagues in the industry. These interactions can lead to innovative designs and ideas which can be ploughed into new products.

Knowledge Protection:
Following the creation of designs by in house designers, and consequent matching to the right garments by the garment technician, A database should be created which should be held as property of AFL. The company may then need to explore patent licensing for this database to protect it from losing this knowledge.

References:
Firestone J.M and McElroy M.W. (2001) ‘Key Issues in the New Knowledge Management’, KMCI/Butterworth-Heinemann, Amsterdam, Boston, MA.

KMS in Albion

Company Strategy

Albion Fabric's strategy is to have low margins/cost and high volume Dedicated sales team per customer.

Albion Fabric has five teams, each focussed on a single customer, staff turnover is high, which reflects low staff morale. There is little training and knowledge learnt on the job is lost due to staff departures. Each team focuses on a client with different business needs and concentrate on achieving sales targets. Knowledge learnt is not transferred across teams.


Challenge
Inadequate or non-existent staff training is a current problem facing Albion Fabric Limited as an organization. The current challenge is such that the organization has not adequately trained staff due to unlimited resources to include; time, staff and money. To this end staff are ill-equipped to deal effectively with clients or suppliers as very little or no knowledge is not being captured, stored and transferred as staff are very busy trying to meet targets with existing clients. Staff are leaving and taking their knowledge with them
The use of knowledge management systems (KMS) can be introduced to Albion to enable the organization to process information, store and manage knowledge thereby helping to stay afloat and in some cases gain and maintain competitive advantage (Turban et al, 2006)

Resolution
MacSweeney (2002) suggests that the focus of a knowledge strategy can either be inward or outward, either way the strategy should not be Information Technology (IT) driven but IT can support a strategy. He further purports that to have a successful KM strategy, the business community has to be involved from the inception and sponsorship from business executives is essential.

To this end, the focus should be inwards and management could look at providing online training for existing and new staff. This could help counter the problem of high staff turnover, helping stop the brain drain. This would also be advantageous to the company as learning can be shared across teams, bringing new staff up to speed on the processes of the organization and suppliers, which the staff will need to interact with.

Online training is also available to existing staff on areas that require skills update an areas relevant to their roles. It can also be utilized by the organization to cross train other employees in the areas their colleagues are working in to fill any skill gap should any employee be absent due to sickness or leave.

Knowledge based system can also be an essential tool for staff at Albion. Knowledge captured from experts such as design technologists or designers can be stored captured in a knowledge based system. This can be implemented utilizing the company’s portal or intranet. A simple search facility can be implemented within the portal that links to repositories such as Microsoft Word and Excel stored in a file structure such as Windows Explorer. The user logs onto the portal and types in word or title of a document or process and the document is made available to them on the portal.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) made available on the company’s intranet is another solution that may be cost effective and enable Albion staff to save time on finding out about topic that may be vital to the success particular meetings with clients.

The new knowledge management model can be adopted in implementing a knowledge management system in Albion as suggested by Sagsan (2006) as it covers the relevant stages of knowledge creating, sharing, structuring, using and auditing. The model works hierarchically in that one phase e.g. knowledge creating would successfully complete before going onto the next stage. Sagsan (2006) further suggests that as implementation of KM can be a daunting task the new KM model helps in breaking down the tasks into hierarchies which makes the task seem smaller.

Knowledge can be created in Albion through group or team discussions and meetings. On completion of the knowledge creating phase, sharing knowledge can be achieved by introducing team building exercises, discussions over lunch, via emails and by management encouraging a knowledge sharing culture. The structuring may take the form of information storing. In Albion this could possibly be by the use of windows explorer used as a repository and retrieved via the search facility on the intranet. The introductions of the system i.e. search facility and FAQs will facilitate the knowledge using phase though the knowledge auditing may need to be introduced by the sponsor of KM implementation to enable the measurement of intellectual capital and to take account of knowledge assets within the organization. Then the process of creating knowledge will start over (Sagsan, 2006).

Below is a diagram of the KM model:

Fig1 Knowledge Management Lifecycle Model (Sagsan, 2006)

http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/1/22/2280049/kmlcmodel.JPG

Outcome
Employees are more confident in their competence to carry out work effectively and efficiently in their use of scarce resources by the use of knowledge supported by information systems.

The intranet becomes a part of the organizations process. Buyers and garment technologists are educated within Albion about with the use of the internet, which is access controlled

Time is saved trying to locate relevant information and bringing staff up to speed with the organizational processes.

Reference:

Turban E., Leidner D., McLean E, Wetherbe J.,. (2006). Information Technology for Management: Transforming organizations in the Digital Economy (5th Edition) p366

Laudon, K., Laudon, J. (2006). Management Information Systems: Manging the Digital Firm (10th Edition) p434

MacSweeney G., (2002). The Knowledge Management Payback. Insurance and Technology May 6, 2002

Sagsan M., (2006). A New Lifecycle Model for Processing of Knowledge Management. 2nd International Conference on Business, Management and Economics, Izmir

KM in Albion Fabrics from a social perspective.

Four main problem areas were identified for Albion Fabric (AF):

1. Customer service, maintaining our customer base.
2. Staff turnover is high/ loss of organisational memory.
3. Lack of communication between product teams, management and customers.
4. Lack of staff training and long time to competency.

Customer Service:

In the present climate, AF need to ensure it customer service is as good and efficient as possible to avoid the customers moving to other suppliers. The main issues are:

• Late arrival of products from the factories.
• Poor quality of products
• Meeting customers requirements
• Reducing cost

At the present time, knowledge about factories, customers, products etc is mainly held within individual teams (buyers and GT) heads and is not shared effectively, this knowledge includes:

• Strengths/weaknesses of individual factories.
• Workloads for individual factories, (if possible info about workloads from other customers).
• Reasons for late delivery/ poor quality
• Solutions that have proved successful in overcoming late delivery, poor quality etc.(best practices)
• New fabrics, production method which could impact on products (Innovation).
• Requirement of individual customers.
• Factories compliance with ethical practices
• Product/fabric testing etc.

From a social view point, allocating time (possibly once per month) where representatives from the individual teams can meet face to face to discuss these issues is needed. The meetings could include buyers, the chief GT from each team, representatives from the factories (possibly linked by skyp, video conferencing etc.). The discussion from these meeting would allow, tacit knowledge to be both shared and captured (by use of low cost technology e.g. Dragon software, video’s etc.) as well as best practises to be identified.
Danskin (2005) discusses web based technologies that can be used to improve communication with the factories, and other elements within the value chain. They distinguish between functional level systems and strategic level system. Functional system allow members of the value chain to view shipping schedules, ordering schedules and inventory levels, possibly helping to avoid production bottlenecks and reducing problems with late deliveries (possible for AF). Strategic level systems allow the entire value chain to predict changes in customer preferences and therefore react more quickly (probably a bit advanced for AF).

Communication between teams, management and customers

The knowledge held by individual teams can be divided into four main areas:
• Industrial standards and Regulation
• Customers requirement/preferences e.g. Sizing requirements, product designs
• Customer Service, problems and best practices
• Innovation of possible new products. E.g. changes to customer preferences (Engaging Customers)

Explicit Knowledge, such as industrial standard/regulations and the customers requirements could be placed on an intranet (or wiki, blog) which can be accessed by all the teams. This would make the knowledge more readily accessible, which in turn could reduce time and improve efficiency. This could be achieved in two ways:

• Each team has admin help, it could be their responsibility to create and maintain the intranet.
• Every team member could contribute to the intranet.

Tacit knowledge, relating to customer preferences, innovation of new products etc needs to be shared between teams more socially. This could be achieved through more informal methods such as shared lunchtimes, after work social events or new organisational initiatives to promote a better knowledge sharing culture. It could also be achieved through more formal methods such as regular inter-team meetings or presentations. One solution could be for representatives from each team, together with buyers and management to meet regularly (possibly once a month) to discuss current issues such as new product designs, customer services, best practices etc. An alternative solution would be for each team to take it in turns to host a presentation, Q and A session with all the other teams (or possible team representatives), buyers and management. These meeting could be captured in a similar way to the customer service meeting above.

Staff Turnover/ Loss of organisations memory.

AF has a high turnover of staff, which can result in loss of organisational knowledge. The solution discussed in a Communication between teams, management and customers above would help as staff knowledge could be captured before they leave. This and the internet would be useful for bringing new members of staff up to speed (Time to competency).

Discuss incentives to reduce staff turnover??

Staff Training

Time to Competency – could be improved by use of intranets for explicit knowledge and IT capture of meetings, presentations and Q and A sessions for the more tacit knowledge. A buddy system could also be implemented where each new member of staff is assigned a mentor. Most new employee will already have the expertises as a buyer, or GT but needs to be brought up to date on particular customer’s preferences and requirement.
The above would also help staff who are required to work on others teams when needed. They are already experienced in their job but need to have access to the new customer’s requirement and preferences.

Conclusion:

Desouza K and Y Awazu (2006) propose a variation of the SEDI model, Sedi, where socialization is the most important factor in the transfer of knowledge within SME’s. As AF is a small firm with a limited budget, this is an appropriate model for the social size of the organisation.

Even though AF staff are very busy, working to tight deadlines, from a social view point, they need to make time to have inter-team meetings. In the long run, these meetings could actually save time as it provides a forum for team members to formalise their own knowledge and benefit from others knowledge. The teams all perform similar tasks but for different customers, and therefore can benefit from other teams problems and solutions.

References .

Danskin P, et al (2005), “Knowledge management as competitive advantage: lessons from the textile and apparel value chain”. Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 9 No. 2 pp 91-102
Desouza K and Y Awazu (2006), “Knowledge Management at SMEs: five peculiarities”, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol 10. No. 1 pp 32-43

Technology for KM

Knowledge management in any organisation is a important aspect to focus on. As knowledge is a invisible force which drives a organisation to have more competitive edge and more profits, it is really difficult to manage it.

PROBLEMS IN ALBION FABRICS:

Albion fabrics is a organisation with about fifty employees who form into teams and will take care of our clients. We take bulk orders from our clients and get them manufactured from other textile industries. The major problems Albion is now facing are with the manufacturing units, staff turnover and communication between staff, teams, managers and CEO. Here technology can serve as a solution to staff turnover and communication between the employees.

Communication between employees of Albion fabrics is really tough because each of the groups work for different clients and different textile units. This may be because of the time factor, and work load. So I think we can use technology for engaging employees in meetings on a regular or weekly basis. We also think that communication between staff, managers and top level management is very important in our model of KM. We think that any kind of knowledge acquired must be shared effectively from top level managers to the staff and vice-versa. And one of the team members will be outdoors taking care of the quality and technical specifications of the manufactured items in the textile industries. So communication with this person is must.

TECHNOLOGY FOR PROBLEM SOLVING:

Here in Albion fabrics we usually maintain a large repository where staff can find solution to problems possibly, we have internet, intranet, and email. Apart from this we are processing the idea of using video-conferencing regularly where each member of the staff can directly interact with the top level management. We make it a point that every individual must be participating in video conferencing and we also make it accessible from anywhere ie: laptops will be provided to each member of the staff. By this we think that a healthy CoP can be maintained.

We think this can be a great platform to share their knowledge and problems they face while negotiating with the clients or textile units. Also by this we can create a friendly work environment where everyone can feel free to share their opinions.

We have a repository where each problem and the solution will be recorded and stored, also the telephonic conversations between staff where one gives solution to a particular problem will be recorded and we also encourage our employees to share their knowledge acquired by letting the staff know about the problem before it exist. All this will be recorded and monitored by our KM team and will be made accessible to everyone by Podcasting.

By podcasting them every member of the staff will be provided with sufficient knowledge to solve possible problems with ease. By this we are not only providing knowledge in a easy way but also educating the staff continuously with in less time.

We are also thinking of other options such as a Albion radio where each of our staff take turns to be a radio jockey and host the programs. There they can tell us their experiences and discuss the problems faced and someone might be able to give a solution for that problem. This will be a costly option but it can create friendly environment with some fun and knowledge will be provided to everyone(from top level to every member of the staff)

Useful Chapter

Hi Guys,
I saw that Christos didn't get the e-mail that I sent out so here is a link to a pdf I created on the KM Models chapter from a book. The book is called Learning to fly and describes the KM practices employed at BP. Its a very good chapter and is clearly explained so thought it would be useful to share, although very bad of me I know !!
PDF Chapter on KM Models

Use of tacit knowledge

The following notes will probably be most suited to the social aspects of AFL. Although it does not directly address AFL (I can add them later), it does follow some of the outline questions Francis sent. I will be posting another note on my delegated area soon. I thought its good to share and get your views on this first!.

What specific knowledge are we attempting to capture?

Tacit knowledge is rooted in action, procedures, commitment, values and emotions etc. Tacit knowledge is the less familiar, unconventional form of knowledge. It is the knowledge of which we are not conscious. (Kikoski and Kikoski 2004) on tacit knowledge states that “ tacit knowledge is not codified, it is not communicated in a “ language”, it is acquired by sharing experience, by observation and imitation. Rosenberg describes tacit knowledge as “the knowledge of techniques, methods and designs that work in a certain ways and with certain consequences, even one cannot explain why”. (Rosenberg, 1982, p.143).

Why do we need this type of knowledge?

Kikoski’s views on the value of tacit knowledge for an organisation is that competitive advantage can only be gained if companies value their tacit knowledge, as explicit knowledge can be known by others as well but it is the value of tacit knowledge which can help companies to be equipped with a competitive edge. Kikoski’s view shares the importance of tacit knowledge because it creates the learning curve for others to follow and provides competitive advantage for future successful companies. (Kikoski and Kikoski, 2004).

The work of Kikoski and Kikoski on tacit knowledge refers to two philosophers (H-G Gadamer) and (H.Lipps). They have referred to management of tacit knowledge as personal knowledge that each individual possesses and is unique and once unlocked it can be a creative contribution in an organisation management of knowledge. Kikoski quotes “what is unsaid and unexpressed could be the reservoirs of tacit knowledge” (Kikoski and Kikoski, 2004, p. 66).

Management of tacit knowledge?

On management of tacit knowledge Kikoski writes that all organisation that seeks to be successful has to create the conditions enabling everyone in an organization to verbalize their tacit knowledge. Each employee should maximise his contribution to the pool of ideas that provide a competitive edge for the firm. (Kikoski and Kikoski, 2004, chp 2).

He then supports thought on evolution of tacit knowledge that states all knowledge is rooted in tacit knowledge meaning that explicit knowledge depends on or is encompassed by tacit knowledge, whereas tacit knowledge “possesses” itself. He developed the S- curve of tacit knowledge that shows the dependence between increasing development and increasing performance of tacit knowledge.

Madeuf states that the prerequisite for the evolution of tacit knowledge is an open “culture” in organsations to support innovation by for example installing pilot plants or testing prototypes. (Madeuf, 1984, p. 127). Stover claims that interaction with others as opposed to isolation is important in knowledge conversion to take place. (Stover 2004, p. 167).

Rudiger and Vanini say that the only way to recognise the subject of tacit knowledge is via personal contact with external or internal organisations and therefore it is the duty of management to afford these contacts. The work of Baumard found many common characteristics among successful tacit knowledge conversion companies i.e. “resolution of ambiguity through communities of practice; tacit complicity among employees; informal matrices of relationships among employees and reliance on collective knowledge”.

How does this align with company’s strategy?

Tacit knowledge is gained throughout the innovation and production chain of a company. (Howell, 1996) says that the stage at which tacit knowledge is gained and utilized in the innovation and production process is an important strategy and policy issue. (Howell, 1996) believes that tacit knowledge is a source of competitive advantage. Howell argues that the creativity necessary for innovation derives not only from obvious and visible expertise but from invisible reservoirs of experience which need to be vitalized first before using these in the innovation process.

Organisational strategy of gaining competitive advantage should be aligned with KM strategy of valuing “knowledge as an asset” / “providing opportunities for individuals to contribute to the knowledge sharing process”.

A climate of trust and openness between organisation members is the basic condition that allows tacit knowledge to be created, shared and used in the innovation process. Sharing tacit knowledge will be more successful in informal settings than in formal ones. Therefore it is important for the management of AFL to cultivate a commitment to motivate the creation of tacit knowledge and to create an environment in which organisation members feel safe sharing their knowledge.

Tacit knowledge can be gained both in and outside organisation. Inside the organisation by deciding what existing tacit knowledge capabilities the employees/members of organisation carry themselves and what improvements could be made to build up the accumulated learning of the individuals and therefore enhance the tacit know-how competence. Outside the organisation by trying to gain tacit knowledge and skills from other firms, through recruiting the right individuals with the requisite education or work experience, by acquiring parts of or whole new companies, by engaging appropriate consultants or by building networks with other companies

What is the best way of capturing the knowledge?

Tacit knowledge can be gained both in and outside organisation. Inside the organisation by deciding what existing tacit knowledge capabilities the employees/members of organisation carry themselves and what improvements could be made to build up the accumulated learning of the individuals and therefore enhance the tacit know-how competence. Outside the organisation by trying to gain tacit knowledge and skills from other firms, through recruiting the right individuals with the requisite education or work experience, by acquiring parts of or whole new companies, by engaging appropriate consultants or by building networks with other companies

Employees must be given the , space and opportunity to transfer and share tacit knowledge. This must be supported by the culture and organization structure of a company e.g. through the decision making process, HR policies, performance measurements etc. (Cook and Cook, 2004).
There should be a mechanism between the reward systems and the organisational roles and structure, as well as socio cultural factors such as culture, power relations, industry dynamics, etc (Hall and Sapsed, 2005). Communities of practice, social networks, provision of incentives for employees, performance related schemes and bonuses, subsidiaries all can be deployed as measures for better mechanism for capturing and sharing tacit knowledge.

Reference:

Kikoski, C.K, Kikoski, J.F (2004), The Inquiring Organisation: Tacit Knowledge, Coversation, and Knowledge Creation Skills for 21st-Century Organisations, Praeger, Westport, CT and London.

Rosenberg, N (1982), Inside the Black Box: Technology and Economics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stover, M (2004), “ Making tacit knowledge explicit”, Reference Services Review, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 164-73.

Howells, J (1996), “ Tacit knowledge, innovation and technology transfer”, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, Vol. 8 No.2, pp. 91-106.

Rudiger, M, Vanini, S (1998), “ Das Tacit knowledge phanomen und seine implicationen fur das innovationsmanagement”, DBW, Vol. 58 No.4, pp. 467-80.

Madeuf, B (1984), “ International technology transfers and international technology payments, definitions, measurements and firm’s behaviour”, Research Policy, No. 13, pp. 125-40.

Cook, J.S, Cook, L (2004), “ Prompting organizational knowledge sharing”, in Montano, B (Eds), Innovations of Knowledge Management, Hershey Idea Group, Hershey, PA, pp. 300-21.