Suppliers / Intentional KL
Leaking knowledge only about standardized or repetitive components
(outflow) / Protects core competences and keeping in-house / maintaining barriers to entry / Could be detrimental in long term as an inhibitor of innovation becoming ‘core rigidities’ / Lit showing benefits of collaboration etc
Off the shelf versus bespoke – diff KL impacts
Not leaking anything that bears critical knowledge (outflow) / Protects core competences and keeping in-house / maintaining barriers to entry / Requires further empirical investigation – possibly through second round of scoping interviews / Could be negative but did not emerge strongly from interviews
Knowledge leakage through market intelligence gathering by all suppliers in chain (inflow and outflow) / Exploiting suppliers as a source of market intelligence/to improve competiveness through their role in supply/value chain actors (inflow) / Suppliers exploiting market intelligence which is fed through the actors in the supply/value chain[AG1]. In particular, risk of suppliers imitating business model(outflow)[AG2] / How do you tell if this inflow is intentional or not?[AG3]Particularly with respect to the link with competitors as supply chain members.
Leaking knowledge for subcontracting / Cost benefits, access to expertise, risk transfer,[AG4] etc / Suppliers can imitate business model (outflow) Needs validation/further investigation / Product time scales etc
Leaking knowledge through outsourcing to other countries (inflow and outflow) / Learn about opportunities in emerging markets (inflow) / Suppliers can imitate business model and/or copy products (outflow) / See also unintentional inflow
How do you tell when the inflow is intentional or not?[AG5]
Leaking only ‘need to know knowledge’ (outflow) / Protection of critical knowledge,
Not overloading recipient with knowledge / Suppliers ‘in the dark’ and unable to contribute to product and process innovation.
Leaking knowledge during tendering/ bidding process
(inflow and outflow) / Supplier driven-innovation (inflow)
Winning of bids, etc / Loss of knowledge and investment if supplier goes elsewhere with product ideas presented, etc (outflow) / Supplier-driven innovation includes new juicier blueberries being presented to cake maker.
Knowledge leakage through the creation of a strategic alliance / partnership with the supply chain. Collaboration with suppliers. (inflow and outflow) / Complementary skills / competences. Development. Ensure high value-added
Empowering the suppliers to own the problem (inflow and outflow) / Premature alliances can break with an attendant loss of knowledge. / Changing culture from arms length to collaboration. Collaborate with complimentary but not competitive disciplines
Leaking knowledge into the public domain (e.g.via supplier networks) (outflow) / Generates new markets/product ideas that company has some competence in supplying to.[AG6] / Premature release might prevent firms from entering the market at a later date. / Greater good – k sharing / diffusion etc?
See also unintentional; not clear if companies are responsible for defining what should be released into the public domain, or some other arbiter? Another example from Dewjoc with respect to clean rooms and university collaboration
Knowledge leakage via outsourcing primarily driven by a resource need (as opposed to strategic decision) (outflow) / Accrue short-term gains from outsourcing [not from empirical data] / May give away critical knowledge through needto have work done (outflow) / Could this be unintentional? This might be an unintended consequence whilst being intentional.
Sharing product/ process knowledge from suppliers (outflow or inflow?) / Traceability – consequently a knowledge management system is generated. / Requires empirical investigation
Suppliers / Unintentional
Knowledge leakage through market intelligence gathering by all members of the supply chain (inflow and outflow) / Exploitation of suppliers for the provision of market intelligence through their links within and between the supply/value chain actors (inflow) / Suppliers exploiting market intelligence which is fed through theactors in the supply/value chain. In particular, risk of suppliers imitating business model (outflow)
Supplier partnering / communication / within the supply chain - ‘horizontal’ leaking of source company knowledge (horizontal outflow / diffusion?) / Knowledge sharing for development of value-added products in supply chain etc (horizontals outflow / diffusion?) / Further investigation needed / Could have negative impacts too?
Leaking of knowledge during bidding / tendering process (outflow) / The transfer of knowledge can be the factor that wins the contract / Loss of knowledge if supplier goes to other clients, etc. (outflow)
Leaking knowledge through outsourcing to other countries (inflow) / Enhanced knowledge about business processes and opportunities in new countries with emerging markets. Enables new safeguards to be constructed to limit damage over longer term- needs investigating(inflow) / Product and process is copied by suppliers in other countries and rebranded.This needs validating] / Again – how do you tell if the inflow is intentional or not?
Knowledge leaked through transfer due to cultural differences / Investigate this cell – knowledge inflow from cultural differences may be significant. / Loss of important knowledge
Impedance of effective knowledge transfer (inflow and outflow) / Rhodes to refer to literature. From BAe
Leaking knowledge into the public domain (e.g. via supplier networks) (inflow and outflow) / Generates new markets/product ideas that company has some competence in supplying to. / Premature release may impact by preventing company in entering a product market even if resources become available. / Sometimes comes from things that should not have been said in conferences or other polite company.
Leaking of knowledge through suppliers leaving through supplier viability and bankruptcy, etc (outflow) / Needs investigating. Could be a blessing in disguise before too much is lost?! / Loss of knowledge – loss of accrued knowledge by supplier, etc (outflow). Will affect the production process and hence productivity. / Time line of projects etc effects criticality of this happening
Knowledge leakage through change of ownership of supplier (inflow and outflow) / Needs investigation – but more investment by new owner may produce better services? / Change of communication process (inflow and outflow),
Could become owned by a competitor, etc (outflow)
Vectors / Unintentional / Intentional KL / Positive / Negative / Comments
Customers / Intentional KL
Leaking knowledge in order to craft business propositions with customers (inflow and outflow) / Educate client and manage expectations (inflow and outflow).Shaping briefs to mutual satisfaction (inflow and outflow) / Can be used by clients – if trust is not in place – as a bargaining chip with other suppliers. / Trust here is critical
Customers leaking knowledge back to company (inflow) / Learning from customers – intensive info sharing (technical, product and scientific, procedural knowledge) (inflow) / How to tell if this was intentional?[AG7]
Occurs more at the beginning and less as time goes on.
Knowledge leakage through market intelligence from customers (inflow?) / ?Customers have valuable knowledge about their own markets, supplier relations and competition. / Could this one be linked to above?[AG8]
Leaking knowledge only via sample contracts and non-disclosure agreements (inflow and outflow?) / Positive because….Process knowledge that saves time and resources – not re-inventing the wheel / Sample contracts need to be taken as guidance rather than as useable documents that are eminently transferable. / Is this not a preventative measure?[AG9]
Leaking knowledge via a customer relationship management system (inflow and outflow) / Positive because…..
Inquiry process to translate clients requirements (built up forms to make sure necc knowledge is not leaked)(inflow)[AG10]
Repetitive use of leaked knowledge via repeat business (inflow and outflow) / No need to leak knowledge to another customer (outflow) / receivegain leaked knowledge from a customer, etc (inflow) / Repeat business can lead to complancency in terms of the innovation imperative and over-reliance on single customers. / Link to bidding and tendering (reduces risk from it etc)
Knowledge leakage to competitors via customers (bidding processes, communication, development work etc) (inflow and outflow) / Gain competitor’s leaked knowledge via customer (inflow) / The transfer of knowledge can be used as a negotiating chip by clients in their selection of preferred suppliers. In nogitations, client can say ‘company B can offer this, if you can match it, the contract is yours’Knowledge leaked to competitor (outflow)
Customer move to competitor (outflow) / Customer as conduit of knowledge
Theft / Have knowledge transferred either through recruitment or by moles inside competitor businesses / No evidence in our study. Unethical but probably prevalent.
Customers / Unintentional
knowledge leaked from customer (inflow) / Learning from customer (inflow) / May be difficult to verify/ validate. May not have full context and therefore be unreliable or difficult to operationalise. / How to tell when its unintentional?
Knowledge leaked through transfer via middle men / too many stages between customer and service provider (inflow and outflow) / Chinese whispers effect where knowledge is non-verifiable or simply inaccurate (inflow and outflow)
Knowledge leaked through transfer due to cultural differences (inflow and outflow) / Impedance of effective knowledge transfer (inflow and outflow)
Loss of knowledge (inflow and outflow) / Very difficult to know what is lost or gained in these circumstances.
Vectors / Unintentional / Intentional KL / Positive / Negative / Comments
Competitors / Intentional KL
Knowledge leakage through sensitive information / Poor waste management processes particularly at the end of a project / phase Dealing with waste at the end of a project / phase / Poor waste management processes particularly at the end of a project / phase / This is true of both
Leakage of the wrong knowledge (inflow and outflow) / Misinformation to competitors (outflow) / Misinformation from competitors (inflow) / I’m not sure if we have any empirical evidence to support this.
Knowledge leakage via competitor clustering (inflow and outflow) / Collaboration leading to utilisation of shared knowledge resources. (strategic info etc) / Collaboration leading to utilisation of own knowledge resources to the benefit of competitor rather than mutual benefit..? / Requires high levels of trust, and trust building mechanisms for it to work effectively.
Knowledge leakage via market intelligence (inflow and outflow) / Learning from competitors (inflow) / Intelligence used by competitors to increase own market share. / How can you tell its intentional leakage from competitors
Competitors / Unintentional
General knowledge leakage (inflow and outflow) / Give and take attitude – always assume there is more to learn than to lose (inflow) / Give and take attitude requires a risk assessment, but efficient and innovative firms have little to fear (outflow)
Knowledge leakage to competitors / Outright theft / Outright theft
Unintentional leakage via market intelligence (outflow) / Competitors learning from you (outflow)
Knowledge leakage to competitors via customers and suppliers (outflow) / Through the bidding process (outflow); personnel exchanges and nefarious means.
Vectors / Unintentional / Intentional KL / Positive / Negative / Comments
People / Intentional KL
Knowledge leakage through training courses (inflow) / Attending external courses – bringing back training ideas (inflow)Where students are involved, this creates future capacity. / Hosting training courses giving access to facilities to competitors. / No evidence in scoping study
Knowledge leakage through involving people in business strategies (bottom up) (outflow) / Make people feel they have a stake in business – own direction of company (outflow) / Too much involvement may lead to confusion – not empirically evidenced
Knowledge leakage through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships or other collaborations with universities (outflow) / Involvement in courses to build up future competences and capacity (inflow and outflow) / If content influences teaching and course design, it may be negative for the source company. No evidence from scoping studies – needs further investigation / Could this also be inflow – via students?) also two types of outflow ,outflow to uni’s and outflow forever to students who don’t work for them
Knowledge leakage from people who come from other companies (inflow) / Gaining other people’s knowledge/exploit other perspectives (inflow) / The opposite negative outflow
Assuming recruiting good people; but could be leaving competitors because they are not competent.
Knowledge leakage via multi-disciplinary teams (inflow and outflow) / Learning between disciplines (inflow and outflow) / Teams may be beyond the boundaries of the firm, or between subsidiaries – a systems integration model – where leakage is inevitable and cannot be guaranteed to be positive. / Miscommunication[AG11] / culture (outflow)
Knowledge leakage via temporary workers (inflow and outflow) / Depending on the knowledge intensity of the business, knowledge benefits accrue from inflow of new people (inflow) / Temporary workers can leave with knowledge of firm, processes, strategy. Depends on knowledge intensity of firm and where temporary workers are located. (outflow)
Knowledge leakage via temporary and anticipated loss of staff (outflow) / For example, holidays and maternity/paternity leave.
See temporary workers above
The consequence is disruption to work processes. / Inflow from replacements? Can be ameliorated by efficient ‘succession planning’. Particularly negative if replacements cannot access knowledge held by incumbents
People / Unintentional
Knowledge leakage via temporary and unanticipated loss of staff (outflow) / For example, sicknessand maternity/paternity leave(outflow)
The consequence is disruption to work processes. / I’m inclined to think that maternity leave comes in here as although it is anticipated, at the point of recruitment it is rarely a factor and therefore the announcement of pregnancy can be unanticipated.
Knowledge leakage via people leaving – new jobs for particular people(outflow)| / Expertise leaving (outflow) / Critical knowledge = effects impact
Vectors / Unintentional / Intentional KL / Positive / Negative / Comments
Internal / External / Intentional KL
Knowledge leakage during the diffusion of knowledge to different parts of the organisation (inflow and outflow) / Adequateacydiffusion of diffusing external info (inflow and outflow)
Top down communication of organisational strategy (inflow and outflow)
K / info manager (inflow and outflow) / Poor communication transfers the wrong or partial knowledge. Unclear what level of understanding is needed to fruitfully receive knowledge and apply it. / The info manager in the telecoms case was poor in identifying the critical knowledge and knowing who should be the recipient.
Knowledge leakage through electronic systems / Intelligent systems can filter into out to suitable recipients. For example, RSS or other database systems. / Failure of systems (outflow – and also inability of inflow) / Pos – easier k – transfer (inflow and outflow)?
Internal / external / Unintentional
Knowledge leakage via electronic systems (outflow) / Inadequate use (outflow)
Knowledge leakage through lack ofpoor KM (outflow) / Lack of managing employees k (outflow)
Inadequacy of k/info manager (outflow)
See ‘intentional’ above.
Vectors / Unintentional / Intentional KL / Positive / Negative / Comments
IPRs / Trust / Intentional KL
Knowledge leakage through lack of legal protection (outflow) / Choice to protect knowledge based on gut feeling of criticality of knowledge (protects against outflow)
Published papers and specialist materials (?) / Choice to protect knowledge based on gut feeling of criticality of knowledge (outflow) / Don’t understand one
Knowledge leakage through trust of individuals / Place more trust on certain individuals (control of outflow)
IPRs / Trust / Unintentional
Knowledge leakage through lack of legal protection (outflow)? / Published papers and specialist materials (?) / ???
[AG1]Hopefully I have captured this accurately.
[AG2]Rework his one in line with the posiive cell
[AG3]I think we can demonstrate this empirically – maybe a factor for the case studies if deemed sufficiently important – which I think it is.
[AG4]Can someone expand this?
[AG5]Again, can be empirically tested – this is something to be considered in the case study – find a company that does outsource to China or India. I have a contact who could be of interest (probably not willing to be a case study, but we can rehearse the hypotheses with him).
[AG6]I like to think here that the best example is Bluetooth
[AG7]Again, can be empirically tested and should be. I’m sure there is some literature on this.
[AG8]probably
[AG9]no
[AG10]over to you, Paul
[AG11]intentional miscommunication? Not sure!