Núcleo de Gestão para Sustentabilidade

Organizations are a set of processes, some of which can be knowledge intensive (KIBPs). Nowadays, knowledge is a critical factor of success for competitiveness in organizations and needs to be managed, even more in KIBPs. CommonKADS is a knowledge engineering methodology that aims to build industry-quality-knowledge systems, for improving organizational processes. However there is a lack of theoretical-empirical studies about innovation in KIBPs using CommonKADS in the insurance industry. Consequently, this study aims to explore how KIBP improvement can be supported by CommonKADS in practice, showing the case of a Peruvian insurance company. A literature review has been made to explore these concepts and their relationships, and then, a case of KIBP improvement was analyzed in a core process within a large-sized Peruvian insurance company. According to literature, some findings were identified: 1) when well applied; CommonKADS can trigger innovation in KIBPs, producing improvements in many organizational dimensions, such as efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. 2) There are knowledge management processes within KIBPs that need to be identified, managed and, if possible, automated. 3) Information Technology, together with CommonKADS methodology, plays and strategic role in KIBPs
innovation, by supporting automation of knowledge processes and also providing other results such as flexibility, scalability, efficiency and valuable information.

Referência: CALLE, G.; DOROW, P.; VARVAKIS, G.; VALLEJOS, R.  Knowledge engineering in the insurance industry: a process improvement-oriented approach. KM Brasil 2014 – Congresso Brasileiro de Gestão do Conhecimento

Artigo Completo

There is an increasing concern on the part of corporate sector of the importance to harness knowledge as their most valuable resource. The purpose of this work is to identify the effects of knowledge reuse in service systems. In order to achieve this, a system dynamics model of a Brazilian software-house’s technical support service is presented, emphasizing on the use of knowledge bases and its effects over the service system. It concludes that i) the model aids the designer in evaluating several aspects of the system as well as its performance, including the effects of knowledge reuse and ii) based on the simulation results, knowledge management enhances service system performance.

Referência: MALDONADO, M.; VARVAKIS, G.; COSER, A. Modeling knowledge reuse in technical support operations. Proceedings – System Dynamics Society, 2009

Artigo Completo

The service industry is gaining more space on regional and global markets. The main characteristics that differentiate services and manufacturing industries which are intangibility, simultaneity and non-stockability require Operations Strategy and Knowledge Management Strategies to fit. This paper proposes to identify the non-linear relationships between “Training Programs” strategies and long-term Financial results, through dynamic simulation. The main issues regarding Service Operations Strategies, and Knowledge Management Strategies are introduced, linking training programs with organizational knowledge creation. The selected output indicators are: Income, Expenses, Balance, Explicit and Tacit Knowledge. As a result, a System Dynamics model of a Software-development company’s service production system is constructed, including a KM sub-model, a Workforce sub-model, a Customer Management sub-model, a Financial Management sub-model, afterwards it is tested in three different investment scenarios. The model suggests that investments in personnel training are important for service production systems. The use of System Dynamics methodology, techniques and tools improves decision-making for Operations Management, facilitating the understanding of the system’s behavior and structure, especially the effects of KM strategies on service production systems.

Referência: MALDONADO, VIEIRA, R.; VARVAKIS, G. M.; SELIG, P. Knowledge Management strategies on service production. A System Dynamics approach. Proceedings – System Dynamics Society, 2007

Artigo Completo

This paper aims to verify the relationships that may exist between knowledge absorptive capacity (ACAP), innovation performance, and organisational performance in Brazilian firms. A sample of 111 firms from Southern Brazil was surveyed and PLSSEM was used to test the theoretical hypotheses. The relevance of ACAP for innovation and organisational performance is supported. The research also shows that realised ACAP has more influence on innovation performance compared with potential ACAP. Some guidelines for furthering ACAP models suitable for developing countries are provided as well. The findings are a good reference for practitioners as they identify possible actions which can enhance ACAP and thereby contribute to improving innovativeness and performance. This research complements earlier studies which called for the exploration of the role of ACAP on innovation performance and firm’s competitiveness in developing countries, and it opens new avenues for multidisciplinary research.

Referência: DÁVILA, G.; DURST, S.; VARVAKIS, G. International Journal of Innovation Management. Vol. 22, No. 2, 2018.

Artigo Completo

No contexto de uma nova revisão da ISO 9001, efetivada em 2015, procurou-se correlacionar os conceitos de Gestão do Conhecimento e Gestão da Qualidade, mediados pela norma padronizadora ISO 9001. O objetivo do presente trabalho é investigar as relações entre Gestão do Conhecimento e Gestão da Qualidade no âmbito da nova revisão da ISO 9001:2015, a partir de uma análise teórica de publicações científicas internacionais datadas de 2003 até agosto de 2018, nas bases de dados da Scopus e da DOAJ – Directory of Open Access Journals. Após a análise, foram encontradas três categorias principais: 1) Melhoria da Gestão do Conhecimento a partir da Gestão de Qualidade; 2) Melhoria da Gestão de Qualidade a partir da Gestão do Conhecimento; 3) Relação de complementaridade entre Gestão do Conhecimento e Gestão de Qualidade. Buscou-se ainda explicitar quais as categorias específicas que foram investigadas nos estudos sobre Gestão de Conhecimento e Gestão da Qualidade, suas metodologias e resultados obtidos. Os estudos selecionados podem ser considerados heterogêneos. Seus resultados complementam-se, mas não são idênticos. Uma das razões para isso parece ser o uso de diferentes metodologias e categorias de análise. Além da Gestão de Qualidade e Gestão de Conhecimento, os autores selecionados pesquisaram diversas padronizações ISO, e construtos diversos como Capital Intelectual, Balanced Scorecard, CMM e transferência de conhecimento. Como sugestões para futuras pesquisas, as relações entre estes construtos e a Gestão de Conhecimento e a Gestão de Qualidade necessita ser melhor explorada e especificada. Tanto estudos de caso, quanto investigações experimentais são indicados.

Referência: FIGUEIREDO, L.; SCHIMDT, L.; VARVAKIS, G. Relações entre a gestão do conhecimento e a gestão da qualidade no âmbito da nova revisão da iso 9001:2015. Revista Pespectivas em Gestão & Conhecimento, v.8, p. 55-69, 2018.

Artigo Completo

The need to innovate is relevant to many firms around the globe and is particularly pressing for those in emerging markets. They face global competition, are under-resourced, and suffer from weaker institutional support. It is suggested that to innovate successfully in this context, indigenous firms would benefit from focusing on managing their current knowledge base more efficiently. We know little about how
knowledge management works outside developed economies and which knowledge
governance mechanisms have more influence than others in the context of emerging
economies. To address this gap, we explore how context may matter for the use of
knowledge governance mechanisms and their effect on innovation performance in
Brazilian firms. Using the survey data of 109 firms, structural equation modelling, and
cluster analysis, our findings suggest that the joint application of knowledge-focused
rewards, organizational design, and information and communication technologies that
support knowledge processes is critical for boosting innovation performance. We discuss how the peculiarities of the Brazilian context may shape these findings. Our article contributes to the knowledge management and innovation literature by demonstrating that the joint effects of bundles of knowledge governance mechanisms and contextual variables should be explored in order to understand their impact on organizational outcomes.

Referência: DÁVILA, G.; ANDREEVA, T.; VARVAKIS, G. Knowledge Management in Brazil: What Governance Mechanisms are Needed to Boost Innovation? Management and Organization Review, v.FV, p.1-30, 2019.

Artigo Completo

Las Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES) implementan estrategias de Gestión de Conocimiento (GC) para mejorar los servicios educativos. Las prácticas de GC, apoyadas por tecnologías web 2.0,permiten la identificación, creación, almacenamiento, intercambio y uso del conocimiento. El objetivo del artículo es realizar un diagnóstico del uso de dichas prácticas y tecnologías web 2.0en las IES a partir de datos de un caso específico.Los resultados demuestran que las prácticas de GC y las tecnologías web 2.0 son conocidas pero no utilizadas en su totalidad. En este sentido la implementación de acciones de cara a la institucionalización de las prácticas debe ir acompañado de una estrategia de GC que involucre a toda la organización.

Referência: BENITEZ, S. R.; URIONA MALDONADO, M.; VARVAKIS, G.; NORTH, K. Prácticas y tecnologías de Gestión del Conocimiento en Instituciones de Educación Superior. Espacios (Caracas), v. 35, p. 4, 2014.

Artigo completo

The acquisition process of knowledge by organizations is not easy and its spread among individuals, organizations and networks is even more complex. The understanding of the mechanisms involved in the knowledge flow between organizations can help to minimize the problems associated with processes in supply chains. In this paper, we present a systematic search of literature, which aimed to identify the relevance of this issue and how it has been studied on the academic literature. We performed an identification and mapping of knowledge flows between two types of organizations (inter-firm level) of Brazilian chain pig farming: industries and producers (farmers). Among the agricultural activities, this activity is one of the most aggressive to the environment. Some factors associated with environmental sustainability and current market barriers in this chain were identified, where it is necessary to consider the dynamics of knowledge flows. For knowledge flows and practices being effectively implemented across organizations, it was noted that issues such as the motivation of the members are key factors which in order to apply valuable knowledge. Considering this, it is necessary that the reasons and benefits for sharing being clearly established. This study contributes to the perception of the importance of identify and map knowledge flows. It also contributes to the realization of further empirical research in order to examine knowledge flows among organizations.

Referência: KURTZ, D. J.; SANTOS, J. L. S.; VARVAKIS, G. Uncovering the knowledge flows in supply chain relationships. iBusiness (Print), v. 4, p. 326-334, 2012.

Artigo Completo

The Brazilian government has been promoting innovation initiatives for small, medium and bigsized companies for the past years. Among its initiatives, a benchmarking program – developed by the Euvaldo Lodi Institute in Santa Catarina State, Brazil – was started, aiming that assessing the current performance and practice levels, regarding innovation in Brazilian SME and at comparing them against an international database containing data from more than a thousand firms from 32 countries. In this paper, we report how a small firm faced the challenges imposed by this benchmarking initiative. The firm in study was selected for the pilot project in the State of Santa Catarina, along with four other firms, due to their technology and product development-oriented strategies and for being awarded several times, state and nation-wide, for their R&D and innovation practices. We report the challenges imposed by the benchmarking program the firm needed to overcome and how the company achieved this objective, through bibliographical surveys and on-site visits to the company during the period 2006-2010 and we outline how the firm evolved since then and their current challenges for the forthcoming years. We conclude by assessing the gains of the firm in relation to their innovation management programme

Referência: URIONA, M.; DIAS, N.; VARVAKIS, G.  Initiatives in benchmarking Innovation Management in small high-technology firms: A case study in the Brazilian digital communications manufacturing sector. 3rd International Symposium on Innovative Management Practices – European Research on Innovation and Management – ERIMA, 2010, Wiesbaden, Germany.

Artigo Completo

There is an increasing concern on the part of corporate sector of the importance to harness knowledge as their most valuable resource. The purpose of this work is to identify the effects of knowledge reuse in service systems. In order to achieve this, a system dynamics model of a Brazilian software-house’s technical support service is presented, emphasizing on the use of knowledge bases and its effects over the service system. It concludes that i) the model aids the designer in evaluating several aspects of the system as well as its performance, including the effects of knowledge reuse and ii) based on the simulation results, knowledge management enhances service system performance.

Referência: MALDONADO, M.; COSER, A.; VARVAKIS, G. 27th International System Dynamics Conference, 2009. Albuquerque, United States

Artigo Completo