Knowledge management (KM) has emerged in recent times as a phenomenon with wide‐ranging implications for organizational innovation and competitiveness. Supporters argue that as organizations understand the value of KM, they have the opportunity to establish long‐term internal strengths, which will lead to external competitive advantage. Further, we find the current literature advocates that KM can be implemented in every organizational discipline. KM is approached from several different perspectives, and a number of these are used to structure our paper and identify emerging factors in: strategy, human resources management (HRM), information technology (IT), total quality management (TQM), and marketing. This paper presents a summary of key responses to a recent survey of FTSE 100 companies conducted by the authors, which shows that KM is an extremely popular management topic, yet relatively few organizations have serious implementation programs in place. Also presented are findings from longitudinal studies of six case organizations, which have been approaching and deploying KM over the last three years. The academic arguments for organizations to be proactive in KM are strong and compelling. Our research identifies the critical factors that respondents feel are vital for successful KM implementation, and these provide a basis for a further stage of the study which considers how best to develop appropriate performance measurements.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to increase awareness of the critical role of “managerial leadership” in total quality management (TQM) implementation in UK higher education institutions (HEIs), and to encourage further research on how to sustain management and leadership best practices for total quality improvement in higher education.Design/methodology/approachA critical review of the literature on managerial leadership provides the theoretical scope which led to the setting of research objectives. The objectives were achieved through a survey of academics and non‐academics responsible for teaching and research quality improvement in a sample of 42 UK HEIs between the period 2000 and 2005. A mix of questionnaires, interviews, inductive analysis and hypothesis testing, was used to explore, describe and to explain the nature of the relationship between the degrees of efficiency and effectiveness of quality management practices in the participating UK HEIs.FindingsThe analysis of the survey results revealed “weak” associations between the degrees of efficiency and effectiveness in the quality management practices adopted by participating UK HEIs. It provides examples of weak quality management practices as empirical evidence of “weak” association between “management efficiency” and “leadership effectiveness” in UK HEIs.Research limitations/implicationsInternational generalization of findings requires the sample size to be increased to include more HEIs from the UK and other countries with similar educational systems. Further quantitative research is needed to provide in depth explanation of the nature of the functional relationship between the degrees of effectiveness and efficiency of quality management practices in higher educational settings.Practical implicationsUnderstanding the nature of the association between the degrees of effectiveness and efficiency of quality management practices would provide a conceptual framework which would enable academics and practitioners to reflect critically on the “efficiency” and “effectiveness” of teaching and research quality improvement decisions and actions to ensure successful implementation of TQM best practices.Originality/valueUses the degrees of efficiency and effectiveness as criteria for evaluating managerial leadership in UK higher education, and recommends strengthening of the association between the criteria through continuous improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of teaching and research quality improvement practices.

Abstract:The idiomorphic character of islands makes them important destinations worldwide. However, in an effort for islands to be competitive in the global economic sphere, their resources are often overutilised for the sake of tourism and the unregulated pressures of human development. Cyprus is an example of an island that, despite its long past in regard to tourism, faces problems of saturation, decreased competitiveness, and unbalanced development. As such, sustainability concerns regarding islands' future are raised and more emphasis towards their sustainable development is needed.

This paper investigates the effects of knowledge assets on firm’s value. Developing knowledge assets has been gaining momentum in recent years under the lens and scope of knowledge management. However, there is an ongoing debate regarding the optimum level and combination of knowledge assets that would lead to firm’s value maximization. The aim of this paper is to provide a resolution to this debate by investigating how knowledge assets affect firm’s value and competitiveness in a real market context. By means of accounting indicators data, an examination is carried out on the identifiable knowledge assets derived from company annual reports. Consequently, the impact on firm’s value over time is explored via multiple regression analysis using panel data. As a result, the optimal structure/balance between internal and external knowledge assets that lead to maximum market value is explored. The main findings show that knowledge assets generate greater firm value when they are coupled with complimentary assets. Additionally, externally acquired knowledge is equally important as knowledge which has been developed from internal research and development efforts. As a result, it is shown that an optimal balance between internal and external knowledge assets leads to greater firm value. Note that while similar studies tend to explore the impact of knowledge assets on various aspects, such as international and innovation performance, little has been done to investigate the impact of knowledge on the overall value of the firm. The presented study is not limited to product development, but it takes into consideration the capitalization of those products in the real market context. Thereby, managerial implications are explored, and suggestions are given on specific structures of knowledge assets that maximize organizational value.