The Design and Implementation of Effective
Knowledge Management Systems

Ford Motor Company MBA Fellowship

By Steve Morrissey
January 10, 2005

Supervised by:
Professor Paul J.H. Schoemaker

 The Development of Key Performance Indicators for E-Commerce in Hotel Businesses Using Balanced Scorecard

 In the modern business world, the IT advances accelerate the world's commercial development with the help of Internet technology in supporting variety of activities. As a result, e-commerce plays a significant role in almost every industry. Hotel industry is one of those which are fully beneficial from the e-commerce, which fulfills the customer's needs. This research is conducted to study the character of the hotel e-commerce and the measurement of performance of the hotel e-commerce in Thailand in all perspectives of Balanced Scorecard. The researcher uses the reasoning approach to describe the relationship between the variables of causes and effects whose directions are precisely specified. The samples of the research are the hotels in the Bangkok metropolitans and vicinity areas. The researcher uses questionnaires to measure the customer satisfaction of business operations according to the Balanced Scorecard. Then, the initial collective information is analyzed to categorize those samples in percentage. Next, the result of the satisfaction based on  Balanced Scorecard measurement is tested for the relationship of all variables by using the statistic of interrelation and chi-square values.
The result of the research provides us the character of operating of the hotel industries and the sufficiency of operating e-commerce of hotel industries in Thailand. In addition, it can be used as guidelines in hotel business development which enhances the capabilities of performance and competition.

Knowledge, innovation and firm performance in high- and low-technology regimes

Industries with greater aggregate levels of research and development (R&D) intensity are home to higher rates of firm-level innovation, according to survey data from 845 Canadian manufacturing firms. And, though innovation is more common when industry dynamism is high, innovative firms are likely to enjoy revenue growth, irrespective of the industry in which they operate. The research also shows that firm knowledge, industry dynamism and innovation interact in the way they influence firm performance. A highly skilled workforce is most beneficial to firm performance in dynamic environments, while firms in stable manufacturing industries benefit more from investments in training.

Keywords: Dynamism; Innovation; Knowledge

Knowledge Creation through Networked Strategic Communities Case Studies on New Product Development in Japanese Companies

This article provides a new point of view regarding the knowledge management of new product development, a high-tech field requiring the merging and integration of different technologies. Case studies examine the dynamism of the knowledge creation process at Fujitsu Ltd. as it merges and integrates the different elements of broadband network technology, computer and software technology, and multimedia processing technology, and these observations are analysed and compared with the NPD processes at other manufacturers. To achieve the desired product development, a strategic team at Fujitsu, consisting mainly of undisclosed cross-functional middle managers, swiftly transcended Fujitsu's business divisions to form strategic communities inside and outside the company, including customers, and then networked the communities together. The synthesizing capability of the network Leader Group enabled Fujitsu to build new business models aimed at customers and achieve a successful outcome ahead of Japanese competitors.

Based on action research with product development teams from Roche and DaimlerChrysler, and project teams from Pixelpark and Versicherungskammer Bayern, the following article proposes a model of how team leaders can improve the knowledge management within their teams. The model consists of five layers. The first layer describes the necessary communication platforms for a team. The second level, the normative layer, consists of team rules, goals, and standards. The third layer represents the core team knowledge processes. The fourth layer assembles the relevant tools. The last layer describes the necessary leadership functions to foster effective team knowledge management.

Keywords: High-performance teams, Knowledge management, Leadership, Team processes

The impact of product life cycle on supply chain strategy

In order to compete in today's highly competitive marketplace supply chains must be engineered to match product characteristics and customer requirements. As products proceed through their life cycles these requirements dramatically change. Consequently supply chain strategies must be dynamically matched so as to maximize competitiveness. This paper demonstrates how an innovative UK lighting company re-engineered its supply chain to accommodate the impact of product life cycles. The key to their success is the ability to classify products and develop appropriate supply chain strategies. Careful matching ofproducts to pipelines thereby enables maximisation of the appropriate order winner and market qualifier characteristics. The classification system used enables generic modeling ofthe methodology and hence potential for use in other market sectors.

Keywords: Case study; Product life cycles; Product classification; Supply chain management

Studying the operational efficiencies of a multi-product supply chain using excel spreadsheet model

This paper presents a simple Excel spreadsheets-based model with @Risk add-in software that incorporates the effects of variability in demand, forecast and lead time. The model replicates a four-stage supply chain with multiple-retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, and suppliers to demonstrate how a multi-product supply chain will react to certain changes. The model was created so that it could be used in either a teaching setting or in industry for making supply chain design decisions. From the teaching aspect, students can look at a supply chain and see the effects of changes without having to experience it firsthand. Professionals in industry can modify the model to make it more like their own supply chain and see what the affects are when they want to make changes in one or more attributes. Other key characteristics of a supply chain such as, bullwhip effect, total supply chain cost analysis and information sharing can also be studied using this model.