Knowledge Management and Sustainable Value Creation: Needs as a Strategic Focus for Organizations

Description

Organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of sustainability and responsibility. They are challenged to develop a holistic approach to value creation that reconciles economic, social, and environmental goals. This book describes how knowledge can facilitate this process and amplifies the idea of knowledge management to strategically serve multiple stakeholders in a sustainable and responsible way. In particular, the book introduces the concept of the "Need Knowledge-Driven Organization." It builds on mature research on organizational purpose, stakeholder theory, and phronesis, and advances the concept of "needs." This provides a new lens for understanding the sustainable and responsible business case: First, people are motivated by their needs, and organizations represent social structures that facilitate the satisfaction of shared needs. Second, needs reflect and combine social, environmental, and economic concerns, making sustainability and responsibility more realizable for practitioners. And third, needs provide a reference point for holistic value creation and can thus align knowledge processes and structures in organizations. About This Book Contents List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction 1.1 Knowledge-Based Economy 1.2 Corporate Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility 1.3 Research Design References 2 Calls from Practice 2.1 Call for Stakeholder Capitalism 2.2 Call for Holistic Value Creation 2.3 Call for Knowledge Enabling Ethically Sound Judgments 2.4 Summary References 3 Theoretical Framework of the NKDO 3.1 What Makes an Organization? The Case of the Firm 3.1.1 ``The Nature of the Firm'': Cost Advantage 3.1.2 Behavioral Theory of the Firm 3.1.3 Resource-Based View of the Firm 3.1.3.1 Knowledge-Based View of the Firm 3.1.3.2 Natural-Resource-Based View 3.1.3.3 Social Resource-Based View 3.1.4 Summary 3.2 Pillars of the Need Knowledge-Driven Organization 3.2.1 Method 3.2.1.1 Literature Reviews 3.2.1.2 Interview Study 3.2.2 Organizational Purpose 3.2.2.1 Literature Findings 3.2.2.2 Empirical Findings 3.2.2.3 Synthesis 3.2.3 Stakeholders 3.2.3.1 Literature Findings 3.2.3.2 Empirical Findings 3.2.3.3 Synthesis 3.2.4 Phronesis 3.2.4.1 Literature Findings 3.2.4.2 Empirical Findings 3.2.4.3 Synthesis 3.2.5 Need-Based Strategy 3.2.5.1 Strategy as a Shape of the Organization 3.2.5.2 Focus on Needs 3.2.5.3 Summary References 4 Conceptual Principles of the Need Knowledge-Driven Organization References 5 Guiding Framework of the Need Knowledge-driven Organization for Practice 5.1 Need Knowledge 5.2 Integrated Causal Framework 5.2.1 Stakeholders 5.2.2 Organizational Purpose 5.2.3 Needs 5.2.4 Need-Based Strategy 5.2.5 Need-Based Coalitions References 6 Conclusion References