[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations

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Developing knowledge-based strategies for a virtual organization that can provide multiple, diverse and contradictory interpretations. This has been described as ‘the sense-making view’ and is one that promotes continual challenge to the current way of doing things within a company and also forms a basis for a continual challenge against procedures that would otherwise become a different set – congealing and outliving their usefulness, perhaps. Skyrme and Amidon (1997) specifically identify three new aspects for the knowledge agenda: 1 Making knowledge and knowledge processes more explicit. 2 The development of strategic frameworks to guide the exploitation of knowledge – in products, services and processes. 3 The introduction of more systematic methods to the management of knowledge. These are the issues we will be addressing in the remainder of this chapter. 7.4 Knowledge as an asset We would all agree that knowledge is an asset – whether it is knowing how long you can leave your car outside a building before getting a ticket, or knowing enough to get an Open University degree that will give you a better job. But knowledge is an asset in a different way from the way in which having cash in the bank, good health, or a rich father is an asset. We may usefully consider it as having four distinguishing characteristics: 1 Extraordinary leverage and increasing returns – unlike most assets, knowledge is not subject to diminishing returns but grows in value. 2 Fragmentation, leakage and the need for refreshment – as a collected body of knowledge grows it tends to branch and fragment. The pieces may lose touch with each other. This means that sometimes a lot of effort is put into creating an area of knowledge that is already known but by people in other places whom we didn’t think to ask. For this reason we need to keep refreshing our communication channels and knowledge reserves. 3 Uncertain value – the results of knowledge gathering or sharing can be extremely difficult to estimate or measure and may not come up to expectations or equally may exceed them. 147
e-Business Strategies for Virtual Organizations 4 Uncertain value sharing – unlike gold coins or share certificates, much knowledge is tacit and/or communal. For this reason, ownership is controversial and difficult to trade, share out or copyright. These complex issues mean that it is not surprising that organizations have not always seen it as obvious that there can be value created by capturing the knowledge lying around in their activities. Today, however, most large organizations are becoming convinced that the returns from successful knowledge management far outweigh the risks. Shining examples such as Glaxo Wellcome, McDonald’s and Oticon are leading the way in this field – a web search for case studies, papers, corporate reports and other discussions of the activities of these companies will illustrate the point. Typically, huge returns come from collaborative knowledge sharing along the supply chain. This is not just about sharing sales and forecast data but knowing: � what material is available for components and how the different materials work; � how the plants operate and equipment compatibility; � about the competition, the market and potential suppliers; and � what impacts all of these (from multiple sources across the supply chain) may have on production and on the business. A knowledge management strategy has to embrace all of these aspects. If the knowledge management procedures do not extend beyond the traditional boundaries of the firm, then they cannot be effective. For this reason, knowledge management directly bears upon new organizational forms in general, and on virtual organizations in particular. Surprisingly, when we know how easy it is for machines and systems to let us down, the technology is the easy part of the procedure. Knowledge can be delivered and accessed through the enterprise network. The hard bits are the organizational and cultural ones – deciding what knowledge to put in the system, how to clean and apply it and how to convince all members of the value network that sharing personal knowledge assets will bring individual as well as corporate benefits. 7.5 Knowledge classification 148 Knowledge can be classified at a strategic level according to whether it is core, advanced or innovative.
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e-Business Strategies for Virtual O
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e-Business Strategies for Virtual O
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Contents Computer Weekly Profession
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Contents 6 Globalization and e-busi
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Contents 11.6 The increasing power
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Computer Weekly Professional Series
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Authors’ Preface There are dozens
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Authors’ Preface model will there
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Authors’ Preface alliances, bette
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1 e-business and the virtual organi
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e-business and the virtual organiza
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Figure 1.2 e-business and the virtu
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1.5 e-business e-business and the v
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Figure 1.3 e-business and the virtu
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Figure 1.4 Virtual objects, Scholz
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Characteristics of the virtual orga
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Figure 2.1 Formation of business al
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� empowerment of staff; Character
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e-business models for virtual organ
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3.4 Models of efficient response e-
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Figure 3.4 Star alliance model e-bu
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Figure 3.6 Market alliance model Fi
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Figure 3.10 Virtual alliance framew
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Figure 3.11 Virtual organizational
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References e-business models for vi
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IS planning strategies for emerging
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Figure 4.1 The evolution of IS/IT p
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Figure 4.3 A framework for SISP (Wa
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Figure 4.4 Planning adopts a busine
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Figure 4.5 Interconnected ecologies
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Figure 4.6 The interrelationships b
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4.8 Conclusion IS planning strategi
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References IS planning strategies f
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Moving from e-business to i-busines
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Outsourcing, partnering and the vir
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Figure 9.2 Outsourcing, partnering
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9.9 Summary Outsourcing, partnering
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References Outsourcing, partnering
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e-business strategies in the virtua
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10.10 Summary e-business strategies
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11 Creating virtual cultures for gl
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Creating virtual cultures for globa
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Four stages of market evolution Mar
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Figure 11.4 The four paths of evolu
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References Creating virtual culture
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Advanced knowledge, see Knowledge A
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[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations

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