Mini Tracks – Calls for Papers & Workshops

Mini Track :Measuring Intangibles & Intellectual Capital

Mini Track: Knowledge Sharing in Higher Education

Mini Track: “Innovation Management” within Knowledge Management.

Mini Track: Knowledge and Information Dynamics.
Mini Track: Linking KM and IC to economic growth

Mini-Track on Measuring Intangibles and Intellectual Capital   

Chair: Bernard Marr
             The Advanced Performance Institute.   www.ap-institute.com

The struggle to measure and asses intangibles is the number one challenge the research community is facing today. Many argue that without measures we can know nothing and understand nothing. Without measures we can’t do any research, organisations can’t manage their intangibles and they can’t produce meaningful IC statements. However, when it comes to measurement we are facing a real dilemma: we can’t really measure our intangibles in the same way we can measure tangible aspects of performance. When it comes to intangibles we have to rely on proxy measures. This in turn has important implications of how we can use those measures.

Key questions arising form this include:

• Can we actually measure intangibles? And if so, how would be do this? Do we use quantitative methods, qualitative methods or a mix of both? Do we need to differentiate between terms such as measurement, assessment and evaluation?
• What are the implications of the limited measurability on research, management, compensation and reporting?
• Are tools such as Balanced Scorecards, Strategy Maps and IC Reports appropriate for today’s information needs?

Papers addressing these important issues are invited to submit to this track. For a further discussion of these topics see also: Marr, B. (2005) Perspectives on Intellectual Capital: Multidisciplinary Insights into Management, Measurement and Reporting, Elsevier, Boston and Marr, B. (2006) Strategic Performance Management: Leveraging and Measuring your Intangible Value Drivers, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.

For details about how to submit papers to this mini track, please see the call for papers page.

Bernard Marr

Mini-Track on Knowledge Sharing in Higher Education   

Chair: John Girard
             Minot State University, North Dakota, USA..  www.johngirard.net

In many ways knowledge sharing is engrained in the fabric of higher education.  Take for example the scholarly journals in which academics eagerly and generously share their research findings.  Arguably, there is no other profession that shares knowledge, at least codified knowledge, as well as higher education.  A more recent example of knowledge sharing in action is the Open Course Ware concept in which universities from around the world are sharing the material from their courses.

Despite these excellent examples of knowledge sharing in action at the macro levels, voids remain at the micro level.  On many campuses, it is commonplace to find few examples of knowledge sharing.  In some cases it is truly the opposite, knowledge hoarding, that remains prevalent.

Building on the success on this mini- track at ICICKM 2007, we aim to provide an open and creative space within which to discuss and exchange ideas. We welcome contributions on any aspect of knowledge sharing in higher education.

For details about how to submit papers to this mini track, please see the call for papers page.

John Girard

Mini-Track on “Innovation Management” within Knowledge Management   

Chair: Rivadávia Correa Drummond de Alvarenga Neto
            Fundação Dom Cabral, Brazil  www.fdc.org.br

Knowledge creation is a process that allows an organization to create or acquire, organize and process information in order to generate new knowledge through organizational learning. The new knowledge generated, in its turn, allows the organization to develop new abilities and capabilities, create new products and new services, improve the existing ones and redesign its organizational processes.

Within that context, innovation management is sometimes considered under the aegis of knowledge management areas, departments, programs or processes. The main objective of this mini-track is to stimulate an open and creative space for discussion about the theme. It's also desirable to create opportunities for exchanging ideas and experiences.

Some examples of issues are listed below:

• Innovation management as the key issue of a knowledge management process. Organizational and strategic aspects of knowledge and innovation management
• Experiences and practices of innovation management within knowledge management in all kinds of firms and in any of the economy's sectors
• Innovation and Knowledge as the main drivers of a firm's strategy.
• Innovation management within knowledge management practices such as communities of practice, intranets, portals, softwares, networks, clusters, etc.
• Open-Innovation and Knowledge Management.

For details about how to submit papers to this mini track, please see the call for papers page.

Rivadávia Correa Drummond de Alvarenga Neto

Mini-Track on Knowledge and Information Dynamics   

Chair: Sheryl Buckley
             University of Johannesburg, South Africa. . www.uj.ac.za

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that we are living in a knowledge and information era and that on daily bases somewhere around the world new knowledge is created either by integrating different pieces of information or new information becomes available or old information is updated.  These create a challenge for an enterprise as the dynamic nature of information and knowledge demand the existence of systems to cope with such challenge.  The objective of the mini-track is to stimulate a discussion about the theme.  Do we have systems in place to manage the dynamic nature of information that increases in leaps and bounds daily which affects tacit and explicit knowledge?

Some examples of issues are listed below:

• Information Management Systems
• Knowledge Management Systems
• First, Second and Third levels of Knowledge Management
• Communities of Practice
• Information Space Theory
• Learning Organisations
• Intellectual Capital

For details about how to submit papers to this mini track, please see the call for papers page.

Sheryl Buckley

Mini track on Linking KM and IC to the economic growth of countries and regions and people’s welfare 
Chair: José M. Viedma, Technical University of Catalonia, Spain

The strength of an economy is dependent on the degree to which knowledge is created, used and shared. Countries and regions are better off when they promote shared knowledge from which many firms and other organizations can benefit and when they exploit capabilities which their competitors cannot easily match or imitate.

The knowledge economy is essentially about a bundle of intangibles embedded in a hierarchy of networks. The vision and the ability of countries and regions to manage their intellectual capital and master the long-term competencies building process is key to determine the competitiveness of firms and the socio-economic position of individuals.

The enduring competitive advantages in a global economy are often heavily local, arising from concentrations of highly specialised skills and knowledge, institutions, rivals, related businesses, sophisticated customers and abundant financial and venture capital to nurture creativity and economic growth. Regional (innovation) competence is ascribed to a system of higher-order capabilities that are region specific and distinct from the capabilities of individual firms.

Hence, to conceptualise these distinctive competencies and capabilities from a macro perspective and to better understand how a region builds and exploits them to leverage economic growth or how the institutional environment affects the flows of knowledge and innovation are but a few of the research and empirical questions in need of further investigation. Despite the efforts that have been made in the last decade to understand knowledge-driven processes and the knowledge elements underlying a country or region competitive (i.e. innovative) capacity, there is still a long way ahead in developing the appropriate frameworks and measures that allow us to effectively tackle and manage IC and KM for wealth creation and society welfare.

This mini track is an invitation to advance in the understanding of wealth creation processes from a macro perspective, bridge other fields (mainly social psychology, anthropology and geographic and institutional economics) and start filling this “intellectual” void.

José M Viedma

A selection of the best papers will have an opportunity to submit their work for publication in the prestigious Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management  (ISSN:1479-4411)

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Updated 19 February 2008