This article is seeking to explore the practical implications of an epistemological approach to strategy formulation. In doing so it tries to expand the field of knowledge management and intellectual capital beyond its operational and often inwardly technological focus to a new theory of the firm. A resource-based perspective is suggested, using autopoietic epistemology to guide strategy formulation. People use their capacity-to-act in order to create value in mainly two directions; by transferring and converting knowledge externally and internally to the organisation. The value grows each time a knowledge transfer or conversion takes place. The strategy formulation issues are concerned with how to utilise the leverage and how to avoid the blockages that prevent sharing and conversion. Activities that form the backbone of a knowledge-based strategy are to be aimed at improving the capacity-to-act both inside and outside the organisation.

Suggests that collaborative climate is one of the major factors influencing effectiveness of knowledge work. Discusses the concept of collaborative climate and develops a survey instrument to measure it. Presents results based on data from 8,277 respondents in a wide variety of public and private sector organisations. Collaborative climate tends to improve with age, education level and managerial role. It is generally better in private firms, and seems to peak with mid‐size firm level. Employees tend to experience a U‐formed appreciation of the collaborative climate. Theories proposing that people reach a “professional plateau” (an S‐formed curve) have been supported to some degree. Finally, collaborative climate in the private sector is generally better than in the public sector. Uses the data to identify gaps and potentials for improving effectiveness. Further investigates two cases of good and bad practice and identifies strengths and weaknesses.

The impact of knowledge management on the financial success of companies has not yet been properly researched. This paper makes a contribution by examining the relationship between sustainable sales growth and knowledge management activities in 108 Finnish small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Design Data were generated from a questionnaire survey of 108 SMEs from different fields and thematic interviews with 10 companies. Findings Higher levels of KM-Maturity were found to correlate positively with long-term sustainable growth. Although Finnish SMEs display a surprisingly high awareness about KM, only a minor proportion of the sample firms has been able to benefit in terms of growth from their KMrelated activities. The results have implications for policy formulation in the field of SMEs, since half the Finnish SMEs in the sample do not grow. We found that the fast-growing companies with high KM-Maturity are applying KM-related activities in a comprehensive and balanced way, thereby raising question marks around the effectiveness of eclectic "KM implementations". Research limitations and implications This research was carried out only in one country and the results cannot be generalised. Furthermore, this study doesn't provide any information concerning the causal relationship of knowledge management and SME performance. Therefore, further studies in the field are needed. Practical implications The results from this study also suggest that SMEs might be able to shift into higher growth by applying a comprehensive KM-approach incorporating all intangible assets equally. Value This study provides new information concerning the relationship between knowledge management and small business performance.

This article draws upon Australian Aboriginal knowledge in traditional law stories and anthropological studies of contemporary African bands. It applies the DAC ontology (Drath et al., 2008) to analyse two collective leadership models developed by forager peoples: one egalitarian 'upsidedown hierarchy' and one power-symmetric model. Their existence has several implications for leadership research. Firstly, it encourages shared/distributed leadership scholars to shift their current reactive stage toward building theory of collective leadership on its own terms. This may require exploration of alternatives outside the mainstream both in terms of ontology and cases, and this article attempts to show the value in doing so. Secondly, it highlights the importance of power; the concept needs to be considered more explicitly in collective leadership theory. Finally, it shows that collective leadership is not a recent phenomenon confined to modern organizations -but rather a form for achieving conjoint action in human groups, developed by the first peoples on Earth, and still practised.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse issues that prevent knowledge sharing in organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper contains content analysis of 691 free text comments about the climate for knowledge sharing provided by 848 employees, primarily knowledge workers, in 92 business units and departments.FindingsThe paper finds that two main issues that prevent knowledge sharing are the attitudes of the nearest supervisor and a lack of context‐building information. Apathetic managers, who do not actively encourage business/organisational information, and hypocritical managers, who do not “walk the talk”, are the main management behaviours that prevent knowledge sharing according to their subordinates in the sample. The study also suggests that a lack of organisational context‐building information and knowledge impacts the context negatively and makes knowledge workers less prone to share knowledge also in their work groups.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample is too small to draw conclusions valid beyond the sample organisations. Respondents in the sample are primarily non‐managers in Europe and Australia. Context‐building knowledge and information have been largely ignored in the knowledge sharing literature. Also, non‐managers tend not to be targeted as respondents in studies on knowledge sharing. The study suggests that managers' apathy should be considered a disabling behaviour with regard to context.Practical implicationsThe silo walls in organisations are built of apathy. Few managers actively prevent or resist sharing of knowledge. However, knowledge sharing requires enabling management behaviours. Sharing business/organisational information not related to tasks communicates priority and provides context necessary also for sharing in the work groups.Originality/valueThe paper provides useful information on issues that prevent knowledge sharing in organisations.