Knowledge Governance: Processes and Perspectives

Nicolai J. Foss · Snejina Michailova

Jan 2009 · OUP Oxford

About this eBook

While there are many books on knowledge management, knowledge governance is a concept that has not been so well explored, and is much less understood. Knowledge governance refers to choosing structures and mechanisms that can influence the processes of sharing and creating knowledge. The book argues that knowledge governance is a distinct issue in management and organization because knowledge processes differ on several dimensions from routine and more traditional processes. The relationship between governance issues and knowledge processes is under-researched, theoretically as well as empirically. Thematically, knowledge governance cuts across fields such as general management, human resource management, the management of intellectual capital, innovation theory, strategic management, technology strategy, and international business. Not surprisingly, existing ideas are developed from the perspectives of different fields and from different underlying disciplinary foundations; however, it often remains unclear how these ideas relate together and how they differ in terms of unit of analysis, mode of analysis, underlying logic and assumptions, etc. This book is an important step towards overcoming the existing fragmentation in the field by providing a multi-disciplinary collection of chapters on knowledge governance. While the single chapters accentuate the pluralism in the field, they all examine issues that constitute the essence of knowledge governance.

About the author

Nicolai J Foss is Professor of Economic Organization at the Copenhagen Business School and the Director of the Center for Strategic Management and Globalization at the CBS. His main research interests are knowledge governance, strategic management, the economics of the firm, and the philosophy of the social sciences. His work has appeared in journals such as Strategic Management Journal and Organization Science. Snejina Michailova is Professor of International Business at The University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand. Originally from Bulgaria, she holds a PhD degree from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. Her main research areas are international management and knowledge governance. Her work has appeared in The Academy of Management Executive, California Management Review, Journal of Management Studies, Long Range Planning, Journal of World Business, Organizational Learning and Organizational Dynamics.