Increasing Knowledge Focus - a Means for Entrepreneurs to Remain on a Growth Path: Essays on the Role and Nature of Knowledge Management in Finnish SMEs (summary section only)

This study explores the role and nature of knowledge management (KM) in small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). Even though the role of knowledge as a competitive advantage is commonly recognized in the SME sector, almost no attention has been paid to the managing and developing of knowledge in SMEs. This thesis consists of three different sub-studies that were reported in four individual essays. The results of the questionnaire study indicate that nearly all companies that responded to the questionnaire (N = 108) found intangible assets, i.e. knowledge resources to be their main source of competitive advantage. However, only less than a third of the companies actively deal with knowledge management. The results also indicate a significant correlation between activity in knowledge management and sustainable organic growth of the company. The interview study (N = 10) explored the context and motives of the SMEs for managing their intangible assets, and the concrete practices of knowledge management. It turned out that KM facilitated change management, clarification of the vision and new strategy formulation. All the interviewed companies were aiming at improved innovation process, new ways of doing business and attaining an increased “knowledge focus” in their business. Nearly all also aspired to grow significantly. Thus, KM provides a strategy for these SMEs to guarantee their survival and sustainability in the turbulent markets. The action research was a process to assess and develop intangible resources in three companies. The experienced benefits were the clarification of future focus and strategy, creation of a common language to discuss strategic issues within the company, as well as improved balance of different categories of intangible assets. After the process all the case companies had developed in the chosen key areas. Thus, by systematic knowledge management the implementation of new strategic orientation (knowledge focusing) was facilitated. The findings can be summarized in two main points. First, knowledge management seems to serve the purpose of change, renewal and new strategic orientation in the SMEs. It also seems to be closely related to organic growth and innovation. All of these factors can be considered dimensions of entrepreneurship. Second, the conscious development of intangible assets can increase the balance of different categories of intangible assets and the overall knowledge focusing of business. In the case companies, this in turn facilitated the path to the improved overall performance.

Becoming to Know: Essays on Extended Epistemology of Knowledge Creation

This qualitative, explorative study, which comprises four essays, focuses on knowledge management (KM). It seeks to answer the question: How can the knowledge creation theory of KM benefit from social learning theories? While studying the five development phases of knowledge creation theory of KM through 1995-2008 and applying some social learning theories in essays, the concepts of knowing, learning and becoming have emerged. Drawing on these three concepts and on becoming ontology and extended epistemology as research philosophies the study suggests the ‘becoming epistemology’ concept and develops the ‘becoming to know’ framework. The framework proposes becoming as phronesis of dialectic interactions between learning and knowing. It shows how becoming to know evolves as an interplay between concrete experience and logical thinking in the present and in a living context. The proposed framework could be considered a contribution to the current development phase of the knowledge creation theory of KM because it illustrates how ontological and epistemological knowledge spirals come together, which is the essence of the knowledge creation theory of KM.

Stories of Survival: Knowledge Intensive Organisations and the Finnish 1990s Recession

The recession that hit the Finnish economy at the beginning of the 1990s has been regarded as unusually severe. Organisations’ failure to survive the recession has been researched in their various aspects. However, the reasons for why and how organisations that survived did so have been explored to a somewhat lesser extent. This study concerns organisations that survived rather than those that failed to do so, as studying successful experiences is acknowledged as an important source for learning how to counteract future failure. The thesis examines four knowledge intensive organisations, with the focus on managerial and social aspects of the crisis handling processes. The study deals with managers’ and co-workers’ stories about organisational attempts to survive, rather than seeking to identify causal relationships. Drawing upon a narrative approach and a social constructionist perspective, the crisis handling processes are treated as reconstructions and rationalisations of what happened. A primary assumption of this thesis is that we make sense of experiences in retrospect, and the aim is to describe the handling of crisis situations and the hardships related to economic difficulties, by focusing on the interviewees’ explanations of how those difficulties were dealt with. The stories are about taking control despite the threats induced by an extremely severe economic recession, remaining active, how the managers and their co-workers dealt with the uncertainty experienced, and how the organisations subsequently survived. The analysis also interrogates such issues as trust, authenticity, legitimacy, identity and nostalgia in crisis contexts.

Network Knowledge versus Cluster Knowledge- The Gordian Knot of Knowledge Transfer Concepts

Both management scholars and economic geographers have studied knowledge and argued that the ability to transfer knowledge is critical to competitive success. Networks and other forms for cooperation are often the context when analyzing knowledge transfer within management research, while economic geographers focus on the role of the cluster for knowledge transfer and creation. With the common interest in knowledge transfer, few attempts to interdisciplinary research have been made. The aim of this paper is to outline the knowledge transfer concepts in the two strands of literature of management and economic geography (EG). The paper takes an analytical approach to review the existing contributions and seek to identify the benefits of further interaction between the disciplines. Furthermore, it offers an interpretation of the concepts of cluster and network, and suggests a clearer distinction between their respective definitions. The paper posits that studies of internal networks transcending national borders and clusters are not necessarily mutually exclusive when it comes to transfer of knowledge and the learning process of the firm. Our conclusion is that researchers in general seem to increasingly acknowledge the importance of studying both the effect of and the need for geographical proximity and external networks for the knowledge transfer process, but that there exists equivocalness in defining clusters and networks.

The Context and Diffusion of Knowledge in the Finnish Jewellery Industry - The role of the House of Fabergé

Researchers within the fields of economic geography and organizational management have extensively studied learning and the prerequisites and impediments for knowledge transfer. This paper combines two discourses within the two subjects: the-communities-of-practice and the learning region approaches, merging them through the so-called ecology of knowledge-approach, which is used to examine the knowledge transfer from the House of Fabergé to the Finnish jewellery industry. We examine the pre-revolution St Petersburg jewellery cluster and the post-revolution Helsinki, and the transfer of knowledge between these two locations through the components of communities of people, institutions and industry. The paper shows that the industrial dynamics of the Finnish modern-day goldsmith industry was inherently shaped both through the transfer and the non-transfer of knowledge. It also contends that the “knowledge-economy” is not anchored in and exclusive for the high technology sector of the late 20th century.

Kotitalouden opetustilat osana kehittyvää oppimisympäristöä : asumistoiminnot ja opetussuunnitelma muutoksen määrittäjinä

Home Economics Classrooms as Part of Developing the Environment Housing Activities and Curriculums Defining Change --- The aim of the research project was to develop home economics classrooms to be flexible and versatile learning environments where household activities might be practiced according to the curriculum in different social networking situations. The research is based on the socio-cultural approach, where the functionality of the learning environment is studied specifically from an interactive learning viewpoint. The social framework is a natural starting point in home economics teaching because of the group work in classrooms. The social nature of learning thus becomes a significant part of the learning process. The study considers learning as experience based, holistic and context bound. The learning environment, i.e. home economics classrooms and the material tools there, plays a significant role in developing students skills to manage everyday life. --- The first research task was to analyze the historical development of household activities. The second research task was to develop and test criteria for functional home economics classrooms in planning both the learning environment and the students activities during lessons. The third research task was to evaluate how different professionals (commissioners, planners and teachers) use the criteria as a tool. The research consists of three parts. The first contains a historical analysis of how social changes have created tension between traditional household classrooms and new activities in homes. The historical analysis is based on housing research, regulations and instructions. For this purpose a new theoretical concept, the tension arch, was introduced. This helped in recognizing and solving problems in students activities and in developing innovations. The functionality criteria for home economics classrooms were developed based on this concept. These include technical (health, safety and technical factors), functional (ergonomic, ecological, aesthetic and economic factors) and behavioural (cooperation and interaction skills and communication technologies) criteria. --- The second part discusses how the criteria were used in renovating school buildings. Empirical data was collected from two separate schools where the activities during lessons were recorded both before and after classrooms were renovated. An analysis of both environments based on video recordings was conducted. The previously created criteria were made use of, and problematic points in functionality looked for particularly from a social interactive viewpoint. The results show that the criteria were used as a planning tool. The criteria facilitated layout and equipment solutions that support both curriculum and learning in home economics classrooms taking into consideration cooperation and interaction in the classroom. With the help of the criteria the home economics classrooms changed from closed and complicated space into integrated and open spaces where the flexibility and versatility of the learning environment was emphasized. The teacher became a facilitator and counselor instead a classroom controller. --- The third part analyses the discussions in planning meetings. These were recorded and an analysis was conducted of how the criteria and research results were used in the planning process of new home economics classrooms. The planning process was multivoiced, i.e. actors from different interest groups took part. All the previously created criteria (technical, functional and behavioural) emerged in the discussions and some of them were used as planning tools. Planning meetings turned into planning studios where boundaries between organizations were ignored and the physical learning environments were developed together with experts. The planning studios resulted in multivoiced planning which showed characteristics of collaborative and participating planning as well as producing common knowledge and shared expertise. --- KEY WORDS: physical learning environment, socio-cultural approach, tension arch, boundary crossing, collaborative planning.

Systems between information and knowledge : In a memory management model of an extended enterprise

The research question of this thesis was how knowledge can be managed with information systems. Information systems can support but not replace knowledge management. Systems can mainly store epistemic organisational knowledge included in content, and process data and information. Certain value can be achieved by adding communication technology to systems. All communication, however, can not be managed. A new layer between communication and manageable information was named as knowformation. Knowledge management literature was surveyed, together with information species from philosophy, physics, communication theory, and information system science. Positivism, post-positivism, and critical theory were studied, but knowformation in extended organisational memory seemed to be socially constructed. A memory management model of an extended enterprise (M3.exe) and knowformation concept were findings from iterative case studies, covering data, information and knowledge management systems. The cases varied from groups towards extended organisation. Systems were investigated, and administrators, users (knowledge workers) and managers interviewed. The model building required alternative sets of data, information and knowledge, instead of using the traditional pyramid. Also the explicit-tacit dichotomy was reconsidered. As human knowledge is the final aim of all data and information in the systems, the distinction between management of information vs. management of people was harmonised. Information systems were classified as the core of organisational memory. The content of the systems is in practice between communication and presentation. Firstly, the epistemic criterion of knowledge is not required neither in the knowledge management literature, nor from the content of the systems. Secondly, systems deal mostly with containers, and the knowledge management literature with applied knowledge. Also the construction of reality based on the system content and communication supports the knowformation concept. Knowformation belongs to memory management model of an extended enterprise (M3.exe) that is divided into horizontal and vertical key dimensions. Vertically, processes deal with content that can be managed, whereas communication can be supported, mainly by infrastructure. Horizontally, the right hand side of the model contains systems, and the left hand side content, which should be independent from each other. A strategy based on the model was defined.