Innovation in small construction knowledge‐intensive professional service firms: a case study of an architectural practice

Small construction knowledge‐intensive professional service firms (SCKIPSFs) are becoming increasingly important agents of innovation within the construction industry. The nature and process of innovation in SCKIPSFs, however, is generally considered through the constraining prism of research results generated from significantly different contexts, such as from manufacturing sectors or non‐project based firms. A theory of innovation for SCKIPSFs is developed from a longitudinal 22‐month case study of a small architectural practice. Two forms of knowledge‐based innovation were discerned from the empirical work: exploitative innovation and explorative innovation. ‘Explorative innovation’ was found to be located in immediate ‘new’ project domains, and entailed search, variation, experimentation, activity to solve project‐specific problems; while ‘exploitative innovation’ concentrated on developing generic organisational infrastructure to ‘refine’ and ‘improve the efficiency’ of the firm operations to nurture capability for future activity. The key challenge for SCKIPSFs is to develop and manage an appropriate balance between explorative and exploitative innovation over time in order to generate sustainable competitive advantage.     

Knowledge contribution in information system development teams: An empirical research from a social cognitive perspective

The extent of knowledge contribution is the key to the success of system development projects. Knowledge contribution refers to the knowledge that is provided to increase a team's efficiency and achieve its goal. This study proposes a research model exploring factors that influence the extent of knowledge contribution from a social cognitive perspective. These factors include the team relationship commitment, team relationship norms, and awareness of expertise location. Additionally, this study argues that a team's awareness of expertise location mediates the effects of affective commitment and relationship norms on knowledge contribution. The result shows that the awareness of expertise location plays a crucial mediating role in the relationships between the two socially prescribed motivations and knowledge contribution. Moreover, team relationship commitment has an important impact on team established relational norms.     

基于作战辅助决策系统的目标威胁评估排序模型

为提高防空武器系统对付多目标的能力,建立了基于辅助决策系统的目标威胁判断排序模型。首先简述了其理论概念,然后介绍了威胁判断排序的辅助决策系统模型,并建立了知识库,分析了空中目标威胁的因素。该模型具有较好的人机交互功能和自学习功能,可自动获取或修改知识库中的知识,能够智能地确定目标的威胁程度,为指挥员进行作战指挥提供了有效的决策工具。     

Categorical formulation of mathematical design theories applied to system design process analysis

Given hierarchical system specifications, embodiment and integration processes of subsystems are crucial in designing complex engineered systems. To complement the current mathematical design theories that do not sufficiently support these processes, this study applies general design theory to formulate these processes based on the mathematical structure of design knowledge studied in the literature using category theory. Specifically, the composition of embodiment operations and the relations among subsystems in integration operations on the category of sets and topological spaces are elucidated. Furthermore, the formulation is applied to analysis of a system design process of a production line in model-based systems engineering.     

Global social knowledge management – Understanding barriers for global workers utilizing social software

Utilizing social software as a part of a global knowledge management strategy has raised increasing interest in enterprises as well as in the educational domain. Rather than being proactive, organizations tend to face barriers related to knowledge management after the problems occur. When dealing with social technologies in a distributed setting, organizations and individuals face a variety of barriers currently unrecognized in knowledge management literature. Within the study, we analyze knowledge management literature extending the body of knowledge with barrier analysis regarding global challenges as well as social software. Our focus is especially on knowledge exchange and globally distributed collaboration activities in organizations. We argue for contextualized understanding of the barriers, recognizing the challenges studied in similar activities. The paper concludes with a synthesis of these interrelated components, proposing a Global Social Knowledge Management-barrier framework that demonstrates the wide spectrum of possible challenges in globally distributed, social software supported knowledge management activities.     

Innovation quality in knowledge cities: Empirical evidence of innovation award competitions in Finland

Innovation awards have for long attracted policy makers as a method for innovation promotion. Still, academic research on innovation awards has thus far received little attention. In particular, empirical studies on the motives to enter award competitions and the realized impacts of winning an innovation award are scarce. This study addresses this research gap. Firm-level evidence, questionnaire data on innovation award winning companies of the Finnish national Innofinland and Quality Innovation of the Year award competitions, indicate that the motives for companies to participate in award competitions and the realized impacts of winning an award are largely the same: media coverage and a credibility boost. The importance of innovation awards in innovation policy was, however, considered only as mediocre or modest. As a conclusion it can be stated that innovation awards are an additional tool for innovation promotion, alongside innovation inducement policies including tax reductions and direct funding, as they produce significant positive effects for the award winning companies, and an additional indicator of innovation quality in the context of knowledge cities.     

Regional evolution and waves of growth: A knowledge-based perspective

The evolution of a regional economy and its competitiveness capacity may involve multiple independent trajectories through which different sets of resources and capabilities evolve together. However, there is a dearth of evidence concerning how these trends are occurring across the globe. Based on the underlying tenets of the streams of research relating to regional competitiveness, knowledge cities/regions, and knowledge-based urban development, this paper seeks to present an empirical approach to establishing such evidence in relation to the recent development of the globe’s most productive regions from the viewpoint of their growth trajectories and the particular form of growth they are experiencing. The aim is to uncover the underlying structure of the changes in knowledge-based resources, capabilities and outputs across regions, and offer an analysis of these regions according to an uncovered set of key trends. The analysis identifies three key trends by which the economic evolution and growth patterns of these regions are differentiated – namely Fifth Wave Growth, Third & Fourth Wave Growth, and Government-led Third Wave Growth. Overall, spectacular knowledge-based growth of leading Chinese regions is evident, highlighting a continued shift of knowledge-based resources to Asia. In addition, a superstructure is observed at the global scale, consisting of two separate continuums that explicitly distinguish Chinese regions from the rest in terms of regional growth trajectories.     

The consumer’s perception of artificial food additives: Influences on acceptance,risk and benefit perceptions

Food additives, such as food colours or sweeteners, play an important part in food supply. For a variety of reasons, some consumers might regard the use of food additives, especially artificial ones, with suspicion; food additives are considered unnatural, unhealthy or even a public health risk. The goal of this study was to investigate consumers’ perceptions and the most essential variables related to the acceptance of food additives. Two versions of a paper-and-pencil questionnaire, one investigating artificial food colours and the other investigating artificial sweeteners, were distributed to a large sample of Swiss German households. The final samples for artificial food colours and artificial sweeteners comprised 506 and 487 participants respectively. The questionnaires contained items on consumers’ acceptance, risk and benefit perception, trust in regulators, knowledge of regulation and their preference for natural products. The relationships between variables were investigated in a path model, which was constructed based on a review of previous literature. The path coefficients suggested that risk and benefit perceptions significantly influence the acceptance of the two selected food additives. The risk and benefit perceptions were influenced by consumers’ knowledge of regulation, their trust in regulators, and their preference for natural products. In the discussion, the study’s findings are examined in terms of their implications for further research and for the development of concrete communication materials.     

Regional and Global Technological Knowledge Search Strategies and the Innovative Performance of Large Multinational Corporations

This study focuses on the innovative performance implications of large MNCs' regional and global technological knowledge search strategies. In networked MNCs, the parent can still offer valuable knowledge to subsidiaries. The parent's and a subsidiary's knowledge becomes complementary if an MNC appropriately adopts a global strategy at the parent level and a regional strategy at the subsidiary level. An analysis of the world's largest firms in the Electrical Equipment industry shows that, in general, a global strategy improves the innovative performance of the MNC. Meanwhile, only the combination of a global strategy at the parent level and a regional strategy at the subsidiary level is positively associated with the innovative performance of the MNC. This study contributes to the literature on networked MNCs and the debate of globalization and regionalization. Managerial implications are discussed as well.     

Concept maps as the first step in an ontology construction method

A method is proposed to be used as the first step in the ontology acquisition process. This method is based on the use of concept maps as a means of expression for the expert, followed by an application that assists the expert in detailing the structure of the knowledge represented in the map. This application analyses the concept map, taking into account the map topology and key words used by the expert. From this analysis a series of questions are presented to the expert that, when answered, reduce the map ambiguity and identify some common patterns in ontological representations, such as generalizations and mereologic relations. This information can be used by the knowledge engineer during further knowledge acquisition sessions or to direct the expert to a further improvement of the map. The method was tested by a group of volunteers, most of them engineers working at the aerospace sector, and the results suggest that both the use of concept mapping as well as the refining step are acceptable from the point of view of the end user, supporting the claim that this method is viable as an option to reduce some of the difficulties in large scale ontology construction.