Managing Industrial Knowledge illuminates the complex processes at work in the creation and successful transfer of corporate knowledge. It is now generally recognized that the competitive advantages of firms depends on their ability to build, utilize and protect knowledge assets. In this volume many of the foremost international authors and pioneers of the study of knowledge in firms present their latest work and insights into organizational knowledge and innovation. In a world where markets, products, technologies, competitors, regulations, and even societies change rapidly, continuous innovation and the knowledge that produces innovation have become key. The chapters in this keynote volume shed new light on the contextual factors in knowledge creation, the links between knowledge and innovation in all aspects of business life and the processes by which these may be fostered or lost in organizations.

The book presents state of the art practices and research in the area of Knowledge Capture and Reuse in industry. This book demonstrates some of the successful applications of industrial knowledge management at the micro level. The Micro Knowledge Management (MicroKM) is about capture and reuse of knowledge at the operational, shopfloor and designer level. The readers will benefit from different frameworks, concepts and industrial case studies on knowledge capture and reuse. The book contains a number of invited papers from leading practitioners in the field and a small number of selected papers from active researchers. The book starts by providing the foundation for micro knowledge management through knowledge systematisation, analysing the nature of knowledge and by evaluating verification and validation technology for knowledge based system of frameworks for knowledge capture, reuse and development. A number integration are also provided. Web based framework for knowledge capture and delivery is becoming increasingly popular. Evolutionary computing is also used to automate design knowledge capture. The book demonstrates frameworks and techniques to capture knowledge from people, data and process and reuse the knowledge using an appropriate tool in the business. Therefore, the book bridges the gap between the theory and practice. The 'theory to practice' chapter discusses about virtual communities of practice, Web based approaches, case based reasoning and ontology driven systems for the knowledge management. Just-in-time knowledge delivery and support is becoming a very important tool for real-life applications.

Annotation Presents a portfolio of concepts, methods, models, and tools supported by real life case studies from various corners of the globe providing insights into the management of knowledge in the construction industry.

As knowledge economies become increasingly important around the world, it is essential that organizations are able to transform their knowledge into a competitive advantage. This textbook offers an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge management written specifically for postgraduate students in business and management schools. Knowledge Management presents classic and advanced concepts, models and frameworks using a clear logical structure, which covers building knowledge competence, the knowledge lifecycle, and integration of knowledge management with business decision making. An overall framework illustrates links between chapters and ensures readers can gain a body of actionable knowledge rather than learning isolated, uncontextualized topics. Based on cutting-edge research findings and covering the most advanced IT and IS technologies, this book emphasises the need for knowledge management to span boundaries across organizations, supply chains and partnerships, rather than being limited to individual learning and sharing within businesses. Knowledge Management is international in scope and includes real world case studies and role play scenarios to show how theories are applied in practice, and "think back" and "critique discussion" questions to encourage reflective learning and critical thinking. This indispensable text provides a dynamic picture of the evolution of knowledge management and demonstrates its full potential to enable better business decisions. Accompanying online resources include PowerPoint slides for lecturers and exercise questions for students.

Enriching understanding of the current theoretical debate on project-based learning and R&D sourcing, ‘Project-based Knowledge in Organizing Open Innovation’ draws on innovation literature and knowledge-based perspectives to solve open problems in the relationship between knowledge development at project level and how firms organize product innovation combining in-house R&D activities with inbound open innovation. Through field research in different industrial settings (pharmaceutical, automotive and machine tools) and with complementary methodological approaches, this book provides empirical evidence on how project knowledge features affect sourcing decisions at firm level. Due to the emerging interest in the management literature on project-based organizations and on the relevance of project forms of organizing in a knowledge-based economy, this volume will appeal to scholars and students in business and management, in particular those in innovation management, organization theory and strategic management. Addressing the still open issue of how the firm level should be complemented by studies at the project level of analysis, this book provides theoretical and empirical arguments on the advantages of a more fine-grained level of analysis to understand how firms organize their innovation processes across boundaries.

This collection of papers represents the outcomes of the International Symposium held in Delft, The Netherlands, on June 13-15, 2007, at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. The papers discuss how to contribute to the sustainability of effective international development and water management with a digest of lessons learned on local knowledge and capacity development. Authors expose recent research, strategies and policy positions. Water for a Changing World starts with an introduction and overview of the water resources and the water supply and sanitation sectors in developing countries and worldwide. Topics of these reviews are water security, environmental integrity, the newest earth system science technologies, integrated urban water management, and the global-local nexus of water governance. The second part presents positions on catalyzing and disseminating knowledge and capacity development in response to the current challenges and opportunities. It consists of a variety of papers on theory and analysis of capacity development, methods and case studies, and policy positions. The authors represent a diverse and representative group of prominent actors, practitioners and academics within the water, sanitation and development sectors.