Knowledge Management & Performance: Barcelona and Orlando

Here I am in Barcelona...and back to my blog.

I am now settled in Barcelona in Les Corts district (nearby the most famous stadium Camp Nou of the soccer team FC Barcelona). I have joined the doctoral school of ESADE under the responsability of Eduard Bonet and Alfons Sauquet. I am currently working on a paper relating best practices transfer and stories...

I really like the life in Barcelona. It gives me a lot of energy to write my PhD dissertation. I feel my dissertation is like Gaudi's Sagrada Familia...something that looks bizarre and awfully complex...I hope I am wrong.

In mid-october I came to Orlando for the 25th Conference of the Strategic Management Society where I presented a paper with colleagues from CERAM Sophia Antipolis and Amadeus SAS. Fortunately, we did not meet Wilma...unfortunately, there were less attendance as I expected. The great thing about SMS is that you can meet very high quality professors (ie Henry Mintzberg) around a dinner. Compared to the last edition, I met more French people and, above all, researchers from French univiersities (and not from Grandes Ecoles)! Great, I feel less lonely in the US...just kidding.

Books I read

Gilbert Probst: Managing Knowledge: Building Blocks for Success
This book is mainly normative and oriented towards manager (not researchers). The content is a little bit outdated now. Nevertheless some chapters are interesting (especially on measuring knowledge). So far, it is not rocket science. (**)
Alexander Styhre: Understanding Knowledge Management: Critical and Postmodern Perspectives
This book is an attempt to formulate a critique of knowledge management theory and knowledge management practice on the basis of post-modern and critical theory. I loved it. Very useful to have a critical eye on the litterature. (*****)
Silvia Gherardi: Knowing in Organizations: A Practice-Based Approach
What are the conceptual relationships between knowledge, knowing and practice? This book support a practice-based view of the organizations and a social perspective of knowledge sharing. A great collection of high quality articles ! (****)
D. Christian: A la recherche du sens dans l'entreprise... Compter, raconter ? La Stratégie du récit
L'auteur constate ici le déboussolement des managers dans les entreprises. Pour retrouver le bon sens, il nous livre les avantages et les inconvénients du récit...pour le leader, il ne s'agit plus de compter mais de conter! (***)
Gabriel Szulanski: Sticky Knowledge : Barriers to Knowing in the Firm (The Strategy Series)
A masterpiece! This book is "sticky" in your head. This research conducted with APQC explains why firms encountered difficulties for transferring practices. Brilliant dissertation... (*****)
Bertrand Moingeon: Peut-on former les dirigeants ?
Un livre très intéressant qui regroupe des articles de qualité traitant de la prise de décision, le knowledge management et l'apport de la philosophie sur les sciences de gestion. J'ai particulièrement apprécié l'article très original d'Andreu Sole (qui nous fait vivre avec humour et passion sa journée de prof à HEC Management) et celui sur le "Learning Mix" de Bertrand Moingeon (une très bonne synthèse). (****)
Arie de Geus: The Living Company
A fresh book on orgnizational learning. Check the story about the titmouse and the red robbin on my blog. (****)
Bryan Bergeron: Essentials of Knowledge Management
Nice and accessible book on Knowledge Management. (***)
Ikujiro Nonaka: The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation
A fundamental book for academic research in knowledge management. Nonaka creates a theory on knowledge creation in organizations to explain how Japanese companies are successfull. A must ! (*****)
C. J. /Roche Pomian: Connaissance capitale. management des connaissances et organisation du travail
A great book which underlines the evolution of work and the importance and value of the knowledge capital in organizations. (****)