Global Knowledge Management Flashcards
What is global knowledge management?
Management of innovation, which, in many firms, would be under the responsibility of their R&D function
What does global knowledge management encompass?
1) Trends in globalisation of R+D of MNCs
2) Differentiating national subsidiary roles
3) Creation of centres of excellence
4) Barriers to effective GKM
5) Mechanism to develop GKM capabilities
What are the different types of R+D?
Imported R+D - conducted in the US by companies with HQs in other countries
Domestic R+D - conducted in the US by companies HQ’d in the US
Exported R+D - conducted in other countries by companies HQ’d in the US
What is the regional ranking for corporate R+D?
1) Asia (driven by China and India)
2) North America
3) Europe
World’s biggest innovators conduct parts of their R+D abroad
What do imported R+D trends in China show?
US leads spending in China
What are the trends in Indian R+D?
- Growth in corporate R+D 115% 2007-2018
- Powered by imported R+D
- Software R+D is the largest investment area
Why do MNCs move TO Asia?
- Access to technical talent that was close to regional customers
- Tech centres in India give around-the-clock capability to develop due to time difference in the US (accessing talent)
- Labour cost
What are the R+D trends in the US?
- R+D exports increased, rise in imports greater
- European companies have provided 63% of US R+D in 2015
- High cost country but close to markets, access to talent and technology, culture of innovation e.g Silicon Valley
Which company is the most visible in Silicon Valley?
TESLA - main offices and factory
What are the European trends in R+D?
They spend less R+D at home
What are the differentiating national subsidiaries’ roles?
- HQs starting to treat subsidiaries as a differentiated network rather than uniform subservient outlets
- Strategic leader, black hole, contributor, implementer
What is a strategic leader in terms of differentiating subsidiary roles?
High strategic importance of local environment, high competence of local organisation
- Detecting signals of change
- Partner to HQ
- Analyses threats and opportunities and develops responses
- e.g UK subsidiary of Phillips in building position in the teletext TV business
What is a contributor in terms of differentiating subsidiary roles?
Low strategic importance of local environment, high competence of local organisation
- Valuable expertise
- Channelled toward projects of corporate importance
What is an implementer in terms of differentiating subsidiary roles?
Low strategic importance of local environment, low competence of local organisation
- No access to critical info, scare resource control
- Lack potential to become contributors
What is a black hole in terms of differentiating subsidiary roles?
High strategic importance of local environment, low competence of local organisation
- Objective is to manage out of this position
- Local presence is important but has little impact
What are the managerial implications of subsidiary roles?
HQ should set a common strategic direction - important where tasks are differentiated and responsibilities are dispersed
HQ should build a differentiated network - allocate subsidiary roles and include in decision making
HQ should direct the process - ensure that roles are coordinated and that the distribution of responsibility is controlled
What factors represent potential sources of innovation and learning for a company?
- Customer preferences
- Competitive behaviour
- Government demands
- Sources of technological info
How can companies capitalise on sources of innovation and learning?
- Be responsive in absorbing info
- Recognise national companies as sources of expertise
- Cooperative effort works better than centralised direction
What is a centre of excellence?
Unit of an org that embodies explicitly recognised (important for value creation) capabilities to leverage/disseminate into other parts of the firm
What is an example of COEs?
Siemens has an R+D lab in Bangalore, India which develops software for 30 areas of business for India and worldwide markets
What is Deloitte’s Future of Work CoE?
A singapore CoE to create solutions and anticipate market disruptions, address the skills mismatch challenge and identify future job requirements
- Local and global talent
- Looking at data science, HR analytics, actuarial science and natural language processing
What are some examples of COEs in terms of the top R+D spenders?
Google (Alphabet) cloud computing COE
VW COE for battery cells
Samsung’s marketing COE
J+J 3D printing COE
They provide research, best practice, support and training for a key area
What are the conditions under which a COE emerges in MNCs?
Parent firm investment
Performance: profitability, innovation, learning and knowledge transfer, competitiveness
Inter-unit relationships: links to sources of competence, subsidiary autonomy, good connections
External factors: strength of local diamond, link to sources of competence
What is Porter’s National Diamond?
Relationship between: - Firm strategy and rivalry - Demand conditions - Related and supported industries - Factors conditions and the impact of government policy and change on how to achieve competitiveness in an industry
How does Porter’s diamond relate to performance?
The superior capabilities and greater-than-unit locus of exploitation for these capabilities drive out positive performance on:
- Profitability
- Competitiveness
- Innovation and learning
How does performance impact COEs?
It influences the COE formation process e.g by inducing greater levels of firm investment in the unit
What are the COE functional areas and how do they impact different performance indicators compared to non COE centres?
3 functional areas; research, development and manufacturing centres
Performance indicators: corporate
- Business volume
- New product introduction
- Profitability
- Competitiveness
All have more impact on performance indicators than non COE
What are the barriers to effective global knowledge management?
Organizational level factors: source of the knowledge and recipient of the knowledge
Nature of knowledge
How do organizational level factors hinger GKM?
- Unwillingness to seek input and learn from others ‘Not invented here’
- Inability to seek and find expertise ‘needle in a haystack’
- Unwillingness to help ‘hoarding of expertise’
- Inability to work together and transfer knowledge - tacit knowledge ‘stranget’
How is the nature of knowledge a barrier to GKM?
Tacit vs Codified
Codified knowledge can be made independent from knowledge carrier whereas tacit is difficult to articulate in a meaningful and compete way
Cross cultural distance
What are the mechanisms for developing GKM capabilities?
Addressing barriers:
- Leadership
- HR procedures
- Lateral cross-unit mechanisms
Measures to develop collaboration are costly but important, need to diagnose and address the source
How can an organisation address unwillingness to seek input and unwillingness to help?
- Demonstration of leadership behaviours
- Articulation of shared valuer
- Develop unifying goal
- Recruitment, promotion, compensation
How can an organisation address unable to find expertise?
- Informal networks: strong professional relationships, connectors
- Information systems: knowledge management databases, benchmark systems
How can an organisation address unable to transfer knowledge?
Formal lateral mechanisms - cross unit groups
Informal networks - connectors, strong professional relationships
What are the concluding remarks on GKM?
- GKM enhances performance
- HQ mentality imperative
- Transnational learning capability is challenging and a long term initiative
- Protectionist pressures worldwide are impacting global R+D
