Managing Know-Who Based Companies: A Multinetworked Approach to Knowledge and Innovation Management - Tapa dura

`Invest your time in reading this thought-stimulating book with very interesting cases on knowledge migration and innovation. This is a practical book inaugurating new bridges to managing a critical emerging organizational shift - the shift from know-how to know-who. It takes us from library and data based approaches to knowledge productivity and knowledge innovation through networking internally as well as externally.' -- Leif Edvinsson, Global Knowledge Nomad, CEO of UNIC-Universal Networking Intellectual Capital, the world's first director of Intellectual Capital, at Skandia in 1991, and Brain of the Year 1998 `In my daily work of managing the Innovation Process in a global multi-product organization I frequently experience the challenges of knowledge sharing. I believe that we will be able to go up a gear or even two if we are capable of unleashing the hidden potential of networking to strengthen our internal resources through more external virtual organizations. To improve this process I have found a lot of inspiration and food for thought in the new book by Sigvald Harryson. He makes a thorough analysis of the subject while also presenting plenty of practical examples from leading companies around the world. For the busy executive I particularly recommend chapter 6 for its thought-provoking "hands on" recommendations.' -- Goeran Harrysson, CTO, Tetra Pak International, Lund, Sweden `The acquisition of knowledge for global innovation and profitable growth is probably the most important capability to win the race. The new know-who based networking mechanisms proposed by Sigvald are essential ingredients to make it happen. They also provide a useful framework to successfully integrate newly acquired companies. I therefore warmly recommend this book to any CEO and CTO with strong ambitions to leverage the global sea of technologies and skills to grow their businesses. The examples from successful multinational companies make the reading very enjoyable also for executives who don't own a huge library of business books.' -- Isto Hantila, President and CEO, Ascom Energy Systems, Bern, Switzerland `In today's global economy, knowledge is the most important source of the sustainable competitive advantage for firms. Sigvald Harryson's Managing Know-Who Based Companies provides both a framework and cases of multinational firms to shed new light on the difficult issues in knowledge management. Highly inspiring and enjoyable, I would recommend this book to CEOs and managers who are trying to lead their firms to survive in this knowledge-based economy. -- Ikujiro Nonaka, Professor, Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, Hitotsubashi University, Japan

Dr Harryson develops the principle of `know-who' - first propounded and practised by Japanese companies but now increasingly championed by multinationals. Case studies are used from companies such as Kodak, Ericsson, IBM and Philips to highlight the networking patterns deployed by these companies and to ultimately confirm or deny the relevance of `know-who' management. The book explains why, in a world where knowledge and intellectual value is widely acknowledged as crucial, companies can achieve both innovativeness and productivity through `know-who'. By enhancing our understanding of `know-who' based management of knowledge and innovation, the author suggests new approaches to dealing with the knowledge economy and to solving the paradoxical organizational needs of creative invention and rapid innovation. This approach is based on new networking patterns and new ways of using the results of extra-corporate networking such as: * gathering global market intelligence in cooperation with R&D staff * internal networks promoting the diffusion of external and internal knowledge * aligning R&D staff with marketing and production by internal `know-who' mechanisms Written by a leading management consultant, the theories discussed will be essential reading for business managers, international scholars and researchers of R&D, innovation and the knowledge economy.