Enhancing Global Learning: Knowledge Acquisition and Organizational Practices in Internationalization

PurposeThis paper aims to provide a comprehensive academic literature review on the relationship between knowledge management, knowledge transfer and organizational performance in a specific subset of the creative industry, i.e. arts and crafts organizations. Furthermore, this paper analyzes how knowledge management and transfer within arts and crafts organizations help increase performance and enhance the value of the activity of the so-called “knowledge workers” (i.e. craftsmen), who are the real knowledge owners in the process of value creation.Design/methodology/approachThe literature review follows the model suggested by Vom Brocke et al. (2009). The review follows a five-phase approach so as to be systematic, transparent and replicable. Academic contributions published over two periods are taken into consideration. The first period covers the years 1990-2000, when the concepts of creative industry and knowledge-based economy were developed. The second period covers the years 2000-2016, when scholars started to investigate how to effectively transfer knowledge (very often in the form of “tacit knowledge”) retained by master craftsmen in arts and crafts organizations and the critical role played by craftsmen in the performance of such organizations.FindingsThree main issues have emerged: how arts and crafts organizations manage and transfer knowledge internally; the effects of these activities on organizational performance; and the prominent role of craftsmen. The literature review shows how in arts and crafts organizations there is a considerable link between the concepts of “performance" and "tacit knowledge", even though addressing such link is somehow hard to realize, for several reasons discussed in the paper. The measurement of performance in arts and crafts organizations has become an area of academic investigation only when both the role of knowledge management and transfer and the role of knowledge workers (i.e., craftsmen) have become evident for obtaining a competitive advantage.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper has been an attempt to organize existing studies on knowledge management and transfer and to investigate the relationship existing between knowledge and performance in arts and crafts organizations. Nevertheless, the relationship between knowledge and performance is yet to be explored, as well as the development of techniques for measuring arts and crafts organizations’ performance effectively. The present contribution calls for a systematic reflection on how the transfer of traditional craftsmen’s skills impacts organizational performances in the long run. The definition and implementation of new performance evaluations criteria tailored to enhance the tacit knowledge of craftsmen as a real source of differentiation and competitive advantage for the arts and crafts organizations is somehow still missing.Practical implicationsBy pursuing its objectives, the present contribution aims to represent a step toward enabling arts and crafts organizations to play a vital role in the modern society in a more structured way. This would help to build awareness of the potential of arts and crafts organizations for promoting economic growth, proposing a value proposition different from the one dictated by the globalization and by the triumph of product standardization and mass production.Originality/valueAnalyzing the knowledge management and transfer within arts and crafts organizations with a historical perspective, it appears that the recognition in academic literature of the centrality of knowledge management and transfer within arts and crafts organizations is only recent (i.e. from 2011 onward). Indeed, for approximately 20 years (i.e. 1990-2010), knowledge has been constantly related to technological paradigms and standardized results, with very little research and debate on craftsmanship and the role of craftsmen. Nevertheless, the research shows that over the years, the focus on knowledge in arts and crafts organizations and knowledge transfer has become progressively more detailed and precise: some authors have studied the role of craftsmen in the knowledge economy according to a historical perspective, while some others have analyzed different types of knowledge more thoroughly. For example, Sveiby (1997, 1996), analyzing the concept of "knowing talent" and "tradition", outlines a more prominent role of craftsmen in the knowledge economy and explain how, in sectors with a strong traditional background, the transfer of tacit knowledge is a meaningful challenge for many organizations.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to study the obstacles to knowledge transfer between organizations belonging to different cultures by making use of the socialization–externalization – combination – internalization (SECI) model. The contribution made by this paper is in the use of the SECI model for studying this type of issue. Although it recognizes the epistemological duality between tacit and explicit knowledge, the traditional literature had not adopted this theoretical structure. The explanation for this is an excessively simplistic interpretation of the SECI model in its 1995 version together with a lack of knowledge about Nonaka’s more recent works – Nonakaet al.(2008).Design/methodology/approach– The authors use a comparative case study opposing a failure and a success, and rely on Latour controversies to account for the context and contradictions. One of the authors worked for five years as a mediator in these projects and adopted the reflective practitioner posture of Schön.Findings– Using the SECI model is relevant for studying this question. The results obtained converge with the literature and mark the SECI’s first stage – socialization – as an operation of major importance. The authors show that the failure in knowledge transfer is due to a deficit of socialization, as the lack of prolonged situations of co-presence of the actors, i.e. the lack of shared context, impedes knowledge conversion.Research limitations/implications– To go further, conditions of the socialization context must be better specified and developed. Second, cases in other areas than the health sector to observe the circulation of knowledge could be developed.Practical implications– The findings suggest ways for managers to fight against knowledge transfer barriers in multicultural contexts, relying on the socialization process.Social implications– Accounting for the problem of knowledge transfer in a multicultural context through the SECI model, which focusses on the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge, opens a fruitful line of reflexion. It would organize trips for French managers in China with a strong intercultural dimension.Originality/value– Accounting for the problem of knowledge transfer in a multi culural context through the SECI model, which focusses on the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge, opens a fruitful line of reflexion.

This paper examines the intra-firm transfer of tacit and explicit knowledge in the post-acquisition integration stage in the outward mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of multinational corporations from emerging economies (EMNCs). It also explores rationales underlying the tacit and explicit knowledge transfer in the cross-cultural context. Drawing from the empirical evidence of three Chinese firms’ outward M&A in three European countries, we argue the Chinese acquiring firms emphasized the transfer of explicit over tacit knowledge in the post-acquisition integration in their outward M&A. This can be attributed to complementarity in explicit knowledge, home market advantage, scarcity of key staff and cultural differences.

Cooking is a dietary behavior linked to the optimization of dietary intake in both nonintervention and intervention settings. Incorporation of cooking into daily life to benefit diet requires the acquisition and transfer of knowledge and skills, which can then influence cooking self-efficacy and agency. Utilization of and awareness of tacit (embodied or unspoken) knowledge with transfer to explicit knowledge (spoken, written) may facilitate cooking as a practice. This perspective article will explore the use of tacit knowledge in cooking in the building and transfer of skills, provide a framework for understanding knowledge development and transfer, and provide implications for practice and research.

This study empirically examined the effects of tacit knowledge and transaction cost on knowledge transfer, and transaction cost as a mediator of the relationship between tacit knowledge and knowledge transfer in the port context. Using data collected from a survey of 233 employees in the Keelung Port Corporation in Taiwan, structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test the research hypotheses. The research findings indicated that port employees’ perceptions of tacit knowledge and transaction cost negatively influence knowledge transfer, and tacit knowledge positively impacts on transaction cost. The findings also showed that an employee’s perception of transaction cost mediates the relationship between tacit knowledge and knowledge transfer. The implications of the study findings for knowledge transfer in port operations are discussed.

In this paper, the mechanism of knowledge brokering is analyzed and three models of knowledge brokering are proposed, of which knowledge broker network model is the most important one. For the knowledge transfer process, the concept itself is valuable tacit knowledge and the structures of the concept's relations are also valuable tacit knowledge. The key in the tacit knowledge transfer based on knowledge brokering is switching the explicitness of know-how knowledge to the explicitness of knows-who knowledge and switching the search of tacit knowledge to the search of experts who own the needed tacit knowledge. Formal concept analysis is a very good knowledge visual tool. Concept lattices can be used to describe the experts' knowledge, and the concept lattices will help the knowledge brokers find the right expert quickly.

Purpose This paper seeks to challenge some assumptions that have long existed in the international business and knowledge management literature about knowledge transfer between Western and Russian firms. It aims to open a debate among scholars and practitioners in these fields on issues related to knowledge transfer in this context. Design/methodology/approach The paper offers a critical analysis of issues regarding knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity in the context of business interactions between Russian and Western firms. Findings The paper argues that in the later stages of post-Socialist transition it is no longer valid to attach rigidly the roles, respectively, of sole receiver to Russian and sole transmitter to Western firms. Further, the paper questions the view that problems in the knowledge transfer process are mainly attributable to the lack of absorptive capacity in Russian firms. As post-Socialist transition has advanced, this is no longer the typical case. While Russian firms have taken the learning race seriously and have substantially enriched their knowledge stock, Western firms operating in the Russian market have primarily “learned by doing” and have not intentionally invested in improving their own absorptive capacity. Research limitations/implications The paper invites scholars to examine knowledge transfer between Russian and Western firms in a more nuanced manner that takes into account the changes evident in the latest stage of post-socialist transition. It advocates against subscribing to well-established assumptions that were valid in the beginning of post-Socialist transition, but are not aligned with changed economic realities. Practical implications Western managers are advised to invest more effort into enhancing their understanding of the local knowledge and specific requirements and needs for knowledge transfer to local Russian firms. They should intentionally invest in enhancing their own internal absorptive capacity. Russian managers need to pay attention to the dynamics of the absorptive capacity-learning feedback loop, as well as to the distinction between potential and realised absorptive capacity. Originality/value Unlike the mainstream literature that has examined knowledge transfer between Western and Russian firms, this paper provides a fairer, more balanced view, aligned with changed realities, of the issues associated with knowledge transfer between Russian and Western firms.

PurposeFocusing on entrepreneurship in China's emerging economy, this paper aims to explore the extent to which the human capital and social capital of Chinese entrepreneurs facilitates their acquisition of tacit marketing knowledge.Design/methodology/approachObservation and literature review are presented.FindingsThe paper proposes a conceptual framework that links tacit marketing knowledge and entrepreneurs' human and social capital. When accessibility of the general knowledge of expertise and professional business in a society is low, Chinese entrepreneurs in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) thus depend on their own resources of human capital and abilities of social capital to acquire tacit knowledge. Both specific and general human capitals facilitate Chinese entrepreneurs' acquisition of tacit marketing knowledge. With a strong awareness of the low level of institutional trust in the current transition economy, Chinese entrepreneurs develop the interpersonal trusting relationship to gain social support. Through the trust and trustworthiness, the quality of relationships in business networks creates the personal relational resource for tacit knowledge reciprocity.Originality/valueThis paper fills the gap in the literature by identifying critical intervening components of human and social capitals in the entrepreneurship process in China's emerging market knowledge which have previously remained untouched. The key issues of how Chinese entrepreneurs of private SMEs initially acquire knowledge‐based resources to operate their businesses are critically proposed.

This work elucidated the knowledge transfer method used by an international first tier advanced composite multinational company supplier in transferring the technical knowledge to a Malaysian advanced composite manufacturer. Effective route of knowledge transfer could significantly improve the performance of the company. The process of the transferring knowledge is an ongoing progression of learning, adjusting, and improving. An excellent knowledge transfer could benefit both the knowledge provider and receiver. A “Backward Engineering” investigation on the relationship between the factors during the knowledge transfer process is useful, to be an ideal reference for others. This paper exhibits the technological transfer executed by the aero-composite manufacturer. Method chosen in this study is focus group discussion involving the working committee of respective programme. It was found that a systematic two stages with multi-phases of knowledge transfer has been explored during flat-curvature structures aero-composite project. Tacit and explicit knowledge is important for transferring technical knowledge in industry context. It is noticed that a useful knowledge transfer mechanism has an impact on the performance of organization such as increases in productivity, profits, and growth.

This paper examines the quantitative relationship between knowledge management and technological innovation and their influence on sustainable development. Organizations have increasingly focused on knowledge management processes, recognizing their importance for maintaining competitiveness and sustainability. The purpose of our study was to shed light on the impact of knowledge management processes on a firm’s sustainability and innovation. Specifically, we investigated the relationship between knowledge acquisition, knowledge storage, knowledge transfer, and knowledge application and their effects on product/service innovation, process innovation, radical innovation, and incremental innovation. Using data from 272 questionnaires completed by top managers from companies operating in Greece, we provide strong evidence of a positive relationship between knowledge acquisition, storage, and application on product innovation whereas knowledge acquisition, storage, and transfer have a statistically significant effect on process innovation. Furthermore, we found a strong positive relationship between knowledge transfer and radical innovation. Finally, all four knowledge management processes have a strong positive impact on incremental innovation. The strength of these statistically significant results is reinforced by the magnitude of the corresponding estimated coefficients. The robustness of our results was further confirmed through the estimation of a Structural Equation Model (SEM) with the application of the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique.

Section I. Introduction.- 1. Introduction.- Section II. Tacit Knowledge and Apprenticeship.- 2. The Practice of the Use of Computers. A Paradoxical Encounter between Different Traditions of Knowledge.- Paradoxical Views of Knowledge in the Age of Enlightenment.- On Following Rules.- What is a Computer?.- A Boat Builder on the West Coast of Sweden.- Judging Light in Photography.- Technology and Culture.- Routine Practice and Development Practice.- Error-Location in a Computer Program.- Three Categories of Knowledge.- An Epistemological Error.- 3. The Nurse as Engineer - the Theory of Knowledge in Research in the Care Sector.- Two Irreconcilable Traditions.- Systems Theory in Medical Care.- Expert Systems.- The Theory of Knowledge for Practitioners.- The Concept of Practice.- Who Draws the Boundary between Man and Machine?.- Conclusion.- 4. Automation-Skill-Apprenticeship.- The Dream of the Automated Factory.- Practical Knowledge.- Propositional Knowledge.- Conclusions.- 5. Computerization and Skill in Local Weather Forecasting.- Method.- What is the Weather Like Today?.- Weather Forecasting and Computerization.- Working Knowledge and Skill.- The Inner Weather Picture.- Experiences of Numerical Forecasts.- Experiences of the Computerized Map-Plotting System.- Skill as a Basis for Alternatives.- Conclusion.- 6. Tacit Knowledge, Working Life and Scientific Method.- Section III. Skill and Artificial Intelligence.- 7. Can Skills be Transferable?.- The Politics of Skills Transfer.- What are Skills?.- The Strategic Significance of Skills.- Transferring Skills.- Models for the Transfer of Skills.- Preconditions for the Transfer of Skills.- Technology and Skills.- Artificial Intelligence and Skills.- The Politics of Skills.- 8. Artificial Intelligence and Social Action: Education and Training.- Nature of Expert Knowledge and Its Transfer.- Design Issues.- Social Domains: Design Criteria for AI Systems.- Human-centred Approach for Knowledge Transfer.- Participatory Model.- The Human Domain: AI Technology and its Limitations.- Towards Designing Human-Centred Learning Systems: A Research Initiative at the SEAKE Centre.- A New Initiative in Health Care Training.- The Domain of Health: Some Concerns of Automating Social Knowledge.- A Knowledge-Based Learning System for a Social Domain: A Case-Study in Adult Literacy using the Domain of Diet Planning and Health.- Designing the System: using Learning as a Social Process.- Learning through Designing the Knowledge Base.- Piloting the System with Students and Lessons Learnt.- Back to the Health Care Project: Preliminary Work.- Concluding Remarks.- 9. Skill, Education and Social Value: Some Thoughts on the Metonymy of Skill and Skill Transfer.- Introduction: Skills and Social Interaction.- The Metonymy of Skill.- Power of Knowledge Transfer.- Two Models of Knowledge Transfer Colonial and Independent.- 10. Knowledge Acquisition for Expert Systems.- Computer Knowledge.- System Development.- Understanding the Problem.- The Knowledge Acquisition Process.- Methods.- Conclusion.- 11. Knowledge-Based Computer Decision-Aids for General Practice.- Information Overload in General Practice.- How Do General Practitioners Make Decisions?.- General Practitioners as Experts?.- What Do We Mean by Knowledge?.- What Kinds of Knowledge?.- Certainty and Risk in Data and Knowledge.- Putting Knowledge to Practical Use.- The Oxford System of Medicine (OSM).- The User Interface.- Will General Practitioners Accept a Computerized Decision-Aid?.- Section IV. Artificial Intelligence and the Flexible Craftsman.- 12. Creativity, Skill and Human-Centred Systems.- Common Sense and Tacit Knowledge.- The Acquisition of Skill.- Problems of Human-Machine Interaction.- Human-Centred CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing).- 13. Professional Knowledge and the Limits of Automation in Administrations.- The Problem.- Learning from Experience and the Computerization of Administrative Work.- Distributive Effects of the Use of New Technology.- Substitutive Effects of the Use of New Technology.- Conclusions.- 14. The Changing Nature of the Engineering Craft Apprenticeship System in the United Kingdom.- The 1960s to the Present Day.- The Engineering Craft Job Structure.- Training for Engineering Craft Skills.- Conclusions.- 15. Delegation and Decentralization - Computer Systems as Tools for Instruction and Improved Service to Clients.- Delegation and Central Control in the Norwegian National Insurance Service.- Instruction and Quality of Service.- Information Technology and the Decentralized Organizational Structure.- Quality of Service and the Importance of Direct Contact with the Public.- Conclusion.- 16. Applying Expert Systems Technology: Division of Labour and Division of Knowledge.- New Paradigm or More of the Same?.- Codifying Domain Data.- Experiences from Applied Expert Systems.- The Flexibility Myth.- The Explanation Problem.- ES Amplification of the Organizational Culture.- Concluding Advice to System Designers.

Cet article retrace une expérience de transfert de connaissances menée depuis septembre 2012 dans la ville d’Argenteuil (Val d’Oise). L’expérience s’inscrit dans le projet de recherche interventionnelle DéCLIC : « Réduire les Inégalités d’accès au Dépistage des Cancers au niveau Local : le partenariat chercheurs-décideurs-acteurs comme levier d’actions », projet porté par les géographes de la santé de l’université Paris Ouest (UPO) et l’association nationale des villes pour la santé publique (Élus, Santé publique et Territoires, ESPT). Il comprend une intervention et une recherche. La première consiste à mettre en œuvre un dispositif de co-production et partage de connaissances entre chercheurs, acteurs et décideurs à différentes échelles sur la question des déterminants socio-territoriaux des inégalités d’accès au dépistage du cancer du sein dans les villes. La recherche pluridisciplinaire (géographie, sociologie, sciences politiques, épistémologie), vise à mesurer l’impact de ce transfert de connaissances sur l’action dans les six villes étudiées et sur la réduction des inégalités d’accès au dépistage du cancer du sein dans les villes. Cet article en s’appuyant sur la littérature sur le transfert de connaissances et sur l’expérience empirique menée à Argenteuil, propose une caractérisation du type de transfert de connaissances en cours d’élaboration. Il met en évidence son intérêt pour l’action et pour la recherche. L’analyse du processus de co-production, de partage et d’appropriation des connaissances par les acteurs en présence révèle un caractère à la fois « stratégique » et « profond ».

Interpersonal communication is a critical component of the knowledge transfer process, particularly within the context of farming. In the agricultural sector, effective communication has been identified as a key factor in facilitating the transfer of knowledge from experienced farmers to their successors. This transfer is particularly important in the context of corn farming, where the dissemination of best practices is crucial for enhancing productivity and environmental sustainability. The challenge of fostering effective communication between farmers has led to a dearth of understanding regarding strategies for enhancing agricultural practices. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of interpersonal communication on the process of knowledge transfer regarding corn farming from older farmers to younger farmers in Umba Village, Napano Kusambi District, West Muna Regency. The present study employed a quantitative approach, utilizing a survey method. The research population comprised all 33 young farmers residing in Umba Village, and the sampling technique employed was a census. The data were collected through a variety of methods, including surveys, interviews, literature reviews, and documentation. The research variables were interpersonal communication and the process of corn farming knowledge transfer. The analysis was executed through the implementation of both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicated that interpersonal communication exerted a substantial influence on the efficacy of the transmission of corn farming knowledge between generations of farmers. The presence of openness, empathy, supportive attitudes, positive attitudes, and equality in social interactions fostered the exchange of experiential knowledge between older and younger farmers. Empirical analysis demonstrates that the efficacy of knowledge transfer processes is contingent upon the quality of interpersonal communication. These processes are most effective when communication is of a high caliber, which is evident in all stages of the knowledge transfer process, including initiation, involvement, rumination, and integration in corn farming. The transfer of knowledge in the agricultural sector is not purely technical in nature; rather, it is significantly influenced by the relational and social dimensions inherent in interactions between agricultural actors. Strengthening interpersonal communication between generations of farmers is a strategic element in efforts to regenerate farmers and ensure the sustainability of the corn farming system, and needs to be systematically integrated into the formulation of rural agricultural development policies and programs.

Given the challenge of retaining the research knowledge of an aging, experienced professoriate at South African Universities of Technology, institutions with a nascent tradition of scholarly research, this paper explores the feasibility of a technology-enhanced knowledge management framework for generating, sharing and retaining tacit research knowledge to leverage research outputs at the Central University of Technology (CUT), Free State, South Africa. Since digital trails of established-novice researcher interactions are left behind whenever they interact in online platforms, an examination of such interactions can provide insights into the sharing and transferring of tacit research knowledge from senior researchers to novices. This theoretical study draws on Nonaka and Takeuchi’s Theory of Organisational Knowledge Creation, an emerging technology platform, SharePoint, mainstream literature and the authors’ reflective experiences to develop a technology-enhanced knowledge management model. The paper argues that tacit knowledge can be assimilated from a comprehensive examination of the knowledge production interactions between senior academics and novices enabled by low threshold technology and collaborative sharing of content. This study’s insights are relevant to Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) struggling to create a sustainable culture of scholarly research and grow a new generation of competent researchers amid the attrition of senior academics and the prevalence of systemic blockages in knowledge transfer processes.

Second language learning outcomes are highly variable, due to a variety of factors, including individual differences, exposure conditions, and linguistic complexity. However, exactly how these factors interact to influence language learning is unknown. This paper examines the relationship between these three variables in language learners. Native English speakers were exposed to an artificial language containing three sentence patterns of varying linguistic complexity. They were randomly assigned to two groups – incidental and instructed – designed to promote the acquisition of implicit and explicit knowledge, respectively. Learning was assessed with a grammaticality judgment task, while subjective measures of awareness were used to measure whether exposure had resulted in implicit or explicit knowledge. Participants also completed cognitive tests. Awareness measures demonstrated that learners in the incidental group relied more on implicit knowledge, whereas learners in the instructed group relied more on explicit knowledge. Overall, exposure condition was the most significant predictor of performance on the grammaticality judgment task, with learners in the instructed group outperforming those in the incidental group. Performance on a procedural learning task accounted for additional variance. When outcomes were analysed according to linguistic complexity, exposure condition was the most significant predictor for two syntactic patterns, but it was not a predictor for the most complex sentence group; instead, procedural learning ability was.