bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Capturing the competence of management consulting work
Authors: Visscher Klaasjan 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to assess whether the effort of consulting firms and branch organizations to establish a shared and standardized methodology as a means to professionalize consulting and as a standard for training is possible and sensible.Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted among Dutch management consultants, which explored their ways of working and their ways of learning.FindingsThe study shows that efforts to develop a shared and standardized phase‐model methodology do not seem to be effective. Instead of following phase‐models, consultants appear to be improvising bricoleurs, tailoring their ways of working to specific situations, and using broad, heterogeneous and partly implicit repertoires, which are built through mainly through action‐learning. This requires another kind of methodology and another kind of training.Research limitations/implicationsThe article gives a general direction for the development of a consulting methodology and the education of consultants. Further research on consulting practices and repertoires is necessary to explore this direction.Practical implicationsThe paper concludes that the value of phase‐models as a standard is limited. Therefore, branch organizations, consulting firms and corporate universities should not focus their professionalization and training activities on these standardized methods.Originality/valueLittle work has been done yet on the relation between professionalization, methods, and training in management consulting, and no earlier publication has studied this topic quantitatively.
Knowledge management in the public sector: stakeholder partnerships in the public policy development
Authors: Riege Andreas , Lindsay Nicholas 
Published: July 2006

PurposeHow knowledge management theories and frameworks are applied in the public sector is not well understood due to little evidence being published in the literature. This paper aims to identify core issues and challenges that governments face in delivering effective public policy, particularly challenges presented by increasing community expectations, and to highlight the importance of developing public policy via knowledge‐based partnerships with its stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachArguments draw on relevant theory in knowledge management and related fields as well as from public sector experiences.FindingsThe main discussion examines some issues, challenges and opportunities in public policy developments and proposes some practical models to assist governments develop and capitalize on more effective knowledge‐based stakeholder partnerships.Practical implicationsThis paper suggests that some existing process frameworks can provide a good starting‐point to capturing knowledge about stakeholders, highlighting how stakeholders interact with policy development processes. The reviewed literature and ideas proposed herein classify stakeholders from a number of different perspectives and attempt to provide some practical assistance to governments in developing more effective and strategically guided stakeholder policy partnerships, including more effective use of resources and improved knowledge transfer. Such frameworks need to be viewed as being dynamic and stakeholder classifications need to be monitored continually.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the need for more effective government and stakeholder partnerships to develop better public policy, including providing governments with cost‐effective avenues to knowledge and expertise, and facilitating greater public accountability. Several processes are suggeted that can facilitate more transparent and effective two‐way knowledge transfers between public organizations and stakeholders, which are fundamental for establishing successful partnerships.
Business process modeling through the knowledge management perspective
Authors: Kalpič Brane , Bernus Peter 
Published: July 2006

PurposeAs economies move into the information age and post‐industrial era, information and knowledge become important resources to organizations. The article sets out to discuss the role and contribution of business process modeling (BPM) in the knowledge management initiative and in the management of company‐specific knowledge.Design/methodology/approachThe authors consider BPM as a tool for knowledge management that allows the transformation of informal knowledge into formal knowledge and facilitates its externalization and sharing. The article starts with the brief introduction of the theoretical background of business process modeling and its basic concepts, and also presents definitions and concepts of major knowledge categories, knowledge processes and knowledge resources, as have been given by different authors in the knowledge management (KM) domain. These definitions are used as a basis for the knowledge category model and knowledge process model proposed by the authors.FindingsThe article presents findings of the mapping process of the BPM concepts into the knowledge life‐cycle model, proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi and knowledge categories defined by different authors. During mapping, the authors experienced a lack of explicit and widely accepted definitions of knowledge categories and knowledge processes in respect of all knowledge features.Originality/valueThe article emphasizes an important differentiation between various categories of knowledge, identified in the BPM process, as a basis for the business process‐related knowledge categorization and identification of key knowledge processes. The article also presents the theoretical framework, which gives an account of how and when business process models capture and allow the sharing of knowledge. The framework identifies key knowledge categories, stages in knowledge transformation, and activities in this process.
Tacit to explicit: an interplay shaping organization knowledge
Authors: Bhardwaj Meeta , Monin John 
Published: July 2006

PurposeAims to study the role tacit knowledge plays in shaping the knowledge base of the knowledge‐intensive growing organizations using the storytelling method.Design/methodology/approachStories were collected from eight human resource professionals working in eight different knowledge‐intensive growing organizations in New Zealand. Interviews containing loosely structured questions were used for collecting stories. These stories were deconstructed on the knowledge grid. This grid attempted to depict a complex interplay of tacit knowledge with the important subsystems (referred to as threads) of organization.FindingsTacit knowledge seemed to be a major concern for the human resource professionals in knowledge‐intensive growing organizations. It plays a significant role in shaping the knowledge base of an organization by interacting with the important subsystems of organization.Research limitations/implicationsThere is a need to study ways of reducing the risk of being dependent on tacit knowledge of a few employees. Technology is needed that would be able to effectively capture the multidimensional interplay of tacit knowledge with important subsystems of organization.Practical implicationsKnowledge being a strategic input in knowledge‐intensive growing organizations, there is a need to address major concerns related to tacit knowledge that these organizations specifically face due to their knowledge‐intensive nature.Originality/valueTacit knowledge interacts with the important subsystems of an organization, thereby shaping its knowledge base. This paper attempts to demonstrate that tacit knowledge operates in multidimensional contexts.
The effect of knowledge management practices on firm performance
Authors: Palacios Marqués Daniel , José Garrigós Simón Fernando 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThis research proposes to study the connection between knowledge management practices and firm performance.Design/methodology/approachTheoretical relations are tested through an empirical study carried out on 222 Spanish firms in the biotechnology and telecommunications industries.FindingsThis paper shows how the firms that adopt knowledge management practices obtain better results than their competitors.Research limitations/implicationsThe subject of principles has not been considered a dimension of knowledge management. New avenues of inquiry are opened considering this dimension.Practical implicationsIt determines practices that have a positive incidence on firm performance.Originality/valueThe conceptualization of knowledge management practices represents a theoretical innovation. This scale can be used in other knowledge‐intensive industries. The paper concludes that these practices have a positive incidence on firm performance.
Fostering innovation and knowledge creation: the role of management context
Authors: Aramburu Nekane , Sáenz Josune , Rivera Olga 
Published: July 2006

PurposeAt a time when many companies in the Spanish and Basque manufacturing industries are attempting to embark on delocation movements (also commonplace in other countries), the increase in innovatory capacity is becoming an essential element in counteracting such movements and the downsizing that these involve. The study presented here seeks to measure the explicit emphasis given by manufacturing companies from the Basque Region (Spain) in the field of innovation, and the degree of adaptation of their management context to features of the middle‐up‐down model as put forward by Nonaka et al. to promote an effective knowledge generation process.Design/methodology/approachAn ad hoc questionnaire has been addressed to Chief Executive Officers, within the framework of broader research into organizational learning and business performance started in 2002. This questionnaire is focused more on the “hard” elements of the management context than on the “soft” ones, which may limit its usefulness under certain circumstances.FindingsConceptually‐speaking, the methodology used has the value of linking extremely abstract concepts from the middle‐up‐down model (knowledge vision, articulation of this vision by means of concepts and images, “BA”, “information redundancy,” etc.) with specific elements from the management context.Originality/valueThe results of the study reveal that manufacturing companies from the Basque Region have improved their innovatory capacity to a great extent, adapting quite a lot of their management context to new requirements. However, a weak point is detected in them: the absence of an organizational structure that may favor the existence of areas in which knowledge is shared.
Re‐forecasting practice in the UK
Authors: Barrett Richard , Hope Jeremy 
Published: July 2006

PurposeMore frequent re‐forecasting is becoming an important topic on corporate agendas and is seen by many to be the only way to keep financial performance on track at a time when revenues are becoming less predictable. The paper aims to investigate this topic.Design/methodology/approachFor the past four years ALG Software has commissioned a study of the re‐forecasting practices in a sample of the top organisations in the UK by revenue. The objective of the study is to benchmark how frequently the UK's leading organisations currently re‐forecast and what their goals are for the future.FindingsThe results show that the majority of organisations remain dissatisfied with the frequency with which they re‐forecast and wish to re‐forecast more frequently. However, the findings also show that many organisations feel that they cannot re‐forecast as often or as quickly as they would like. In fact, evidence suggests that little, if any, progress has been made during the last four years since this survey was first commissioned. This is due to either the amount of time it takes operational line managers to re‐forecast their resource requirements, or the amount of time it takes the finance function to complete a round of re‐forecasting. The type of application used for budgeting and re‐forecasting appears to make little difference to the time it takes organisations to produce an annual budget or complete a re‐forecast. Central to this issue is the use of non‐financial or “operational” data that predicts future resource requirements, and the limitations of the budgeting systems that organisations currently employ. Regardless of the type of application used for budgeting or re‐forecasting, much of this modelling is still done off‐line on spreadsheets.Originality/valueThe paper is of value to finance managers considering choosing a new budgeting application who will need to ensure that the type of operational modelling of non‐financial driver data, currently done offline on spreadsheets by line managers, can be seamlessly integrated into the central budgeting model.
AML‐related technologies: a systemic risk
Authors: Demetis Dionysios S. , Angell Ian O. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe paper seeks to analyse the systemic effects of AML‐technologies and regulations, at both national and organizational levels.Design/methodology/approachIt focuses the power of systems theory, particularly the insights about self‐referential systems, to describe the organizational and bureaucratic phenomena that have emerged from the introduction of technology in the AML domain.FindingsThe paper confronts the technological instrumentalism both prevalent in the AML community and implied by the actions of regulators. It demonstrates the many false assumptions being made, and calls on the whole AML community to re‐think and clarify its position.Research limitations/implicationsThis is the second paper describing an ongoing research project that focuses theory on the phenomena occurring when information and computer technologies are applied in the AML arena. The project is experimental and in its early stages, and so is necessarily limited in scale, but not in scope. The objective is to invite the AML community into a hermeneutic debate of the ideas, thereby informing AML policy decisions.Practical implicationsThe paper calls for a reconsideration of the underlying assumptions within which AML‐related technology is appropriated by financial institutions. It demonstrates how this technology creates multiple complex systemic phenomena that often act contrary to initial intentions. This complexity is generated not only by data mining and/or profiling technologies, but also by peripheral technologies as they interact with human activity systems in the AML domain.Originality/valueThe paper is one of the relatively few that moves away from narrative description of AML phenomena, to present an academically legitimate theoretical foundation for analysis.
Natural disasters and money laundering risks
Authors: McKenzie Mark , Bryant Kenneth L. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeSets out to examine the dangers of money laundering as a consequence of natural disasters.Design/methodology/approachLists the potential abuses and scans to which unscrupulous manipulators will resort in order to profit from natural disasters.FindingsFinds that criminal groups have established networks and sophisticated technology to effectively carry out their activities.Originality/valueThis is a detailed and eye‐opening revelation of the various criminal opportunities for money laundering spawned by natural disasters.
Monetary implications of FATF regulation of secret bank accounts to combat money laundering
Authors: Shahin Wassim N. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the monetary consequences of the new restrictions imposed in February 2000 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering. FATF established 25 criteria based on its 40 recommendations (currently 49) to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. A total of 23 countries were placed on a list of Non‐Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCTs) for not meeting most of the criteria. Several of the criteria relate to additional tightening or regulation of banking and financial secrecy in these countries. In order to be de‐listed from NCCTs, countries have started regulating their banking and financial sectors by placing restrictions on the degree of secrecy, passing tighter secrecy laws and closing loopholes in existing laws. The new regulatory measures may have money, banking and other economic implications.Design/methodology/approachPresents a theoretical model of a banking firm offering secret bank accounts to examine the impact of changing secrecy laws on deposits, interest rates, money and credit aggregates.FindingsThree different sets of results are plausible depending on the reactions of banks with regard to their deposit rate. The likelihood of banks changing this rate is examined using a profit function analysis.Originality/valueIt provides a theoretical framework for an agenda of future empirical research as researchers should emphasize the impact of tightening secrecy standards on bank deposit rates. The degree of the change in this rate may determine the magnitude and sometimes the direction of the changes in monetary variables.
Creativity is not enough: ICT‐enabled strategic innovation
Authors: Markides Constantinos C. , Anderson Jamie 
Published: July 2006

PurposeTo show how information and communication technologies (ICTs) could help a company implement radical new strategies.Design/methodology/approachGeneralizations are made based on 20 case studies of companies that strategically innovated in their industries by introducing radical new business models. Several of these cases are used in the paper to highlight the points made.FindingsThe paper shows that ICT enables firms to: reach consumers that most competitors cannot serve profitably; offer radically new value propositions to consumers that other firms cannot deliver in a cost‐efficient way; and put in place value chains that no other firm could do efficiently. ICT also allows strategic innovators to scale up their business models quickly and so protect themselves from competitive attacks.Originality/valueThis paper shows that coming up with a radical business model that breaks the rules of the game in an industry is easy! The difficult part is to implement such radical strategies in the marketplace so as to deliver real value to customers in a cost‐efficient and profitable way. The paper demonstrates that ICT is a key enabler in the successful implementation of radical new strategies.
Vehicles for attention creation: the case of a concept car at Volvo Cars
Authors: Backman Maria , Börjesson Sofia 
Published: July 2006

PurposeTo present an example of a successful attention‐generation strategy working with a win‐win logic in media.Design/methodology/approachThe research is part of a broader collaborative research approach investigating new product development processes, comprising several different projects at Volvo Cars. The paper draws mainly on an ethnographic study in combination with an interview study around the project, but also on knowledge from a number of other studies of conceptual work at Volvo Cars which have provided the authors with in‐depth contextual understanding of the practices in use.FindingsThis paper presents the underlying logic when using and exploiting a media‐attractive concept for attention‐generating purposes. It describes how to intentionally generate attention in new ways; a media‐attractive concept may deliberately be exploited to generate attention. The mutual dependence that is produced by media's own striving for attention from its audience and a company's striving for visibility can generate attention of a kind, span and duration beyond regular market activities.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is undertaken in the automotive industry.Practical implicationsThe paper presents an alternative approach to working with attention. As an example of how companies in competitive industries can learn from the attention industries, the paper illustrates a new breed of strategic tools that are increasingly important to consider as traditional tools become inadequate.Originality/valueThe notion of attention has hitherto been used mainly for advertising purposes, or in the media business. This paper examines how attention can be consciously used in strategic work also for other companies.
Stakeholder identification in innovation projects
Authors: Vos Janita F.J. , Achterkamp Marjolein C. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe management of stakeholder involvement within innovation projects is a task of growing importance. The purpose of this paper is to present a method for the first challenge in stakeholder management: the identification of those stakeholders to be involved in innovation projects.Design/methodology/approachAnalysis of stakeholder literature leads to the conclusion that stakeholder identification is considered a problem of classification. Although the availability of a classification model is necessary, it is argued that for a classification model to be of use in identifying stakeholders, such a model needs to be supplemented with an identification procedure for identifying real world parties. Furthermore, a classification model should fit the context the stakeholders are identified for, in this case for innovation projects. These insights have led to the development of a classification model fitting the innovation context, and to the embedding of this model, along with a matching identification procedure, in an identification method.FindingsA partial and integral evaluation of the method on four cases showed its efficacy in the managerial practice of identifying stakeholders within innovation projects.Originality/valueThe method as proposed in the paper can be used for identifying stakeholders in innovation projects. The method can be considered a first step in managing stakeholder involvement.
Influence of top management team vision and work team characteristics on innovation
Authors: Carmen Camelo‐Ordaz , María de la Luz Fernández‐Alles , Salustiano Martínez‐Fierro 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThis work has three main objectives – to analyse whether the strategic vision of the top management team (TMT) directly affects firms' innovation performance; to shed some light on which of the intrinsic characteristics of work teams proposed in the literature influence innovation; and to analyse the joint effect that the TMT's vision and the work team's characteristics may exert on innovation performance.Design/methodology/approachThe sample for this study was chosen from the Dun & Bradstreet database. The population consists of firms with more than 50 employees belonging to the three sectors of the Spanish economy with the largest number of registered patents according to statistics from the Spanish Office of Patents and Brands (960 firms).FindingsThe results indicate that the TMT's strategic vision alone does not explain companies' innovation performance. Innovation also requires the existence of diverse, cohesive, and autonomous work teams whose members engage in fluent informal communication.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical evidence demonstrates the complexity of the innovation performance that has to be encouraged by the TMT, but also supported by the existence of teams with specific characteristics.Practical implicationsThese results offer relevant implications for R&D managers about the way teams should be formed to increase innovation. The paper derives some conclusions about the key characteristics of work teams that, in combination with the view of the TMT, can affect innovation in firms.Originality/valueThe majority of earlier studies have analysed theoretically the effect of both variables – the strategic vision of the TMT and the intrinsic characteristics of teams – on innovation, but separately. This paper analyses the joint effects that the intrinsic characteristics of work teams have on innovation, which resolve some contradictions regarding the way some variables affect innovation of the firm. Finally the results offer empirical evidence on how Spanish firms obtain innovation performances.