Knowledge+leadership+to+Drive+Digital+Innovation


 * **Table of Contents** ||
 * **Introduction** ||
 * **The Emerging Competitive Environment of the Digital Economy** ||
 * **Digital Innovation Calls for Knowledge leadership** ||
 * **Conclusion** ||
 * **[|Work Cite]** ||
 * Introduction**

As we know a new model of leadership needs to be identified, which would guide innovation in any organisation competing in the [|Digital Economy], including both firms and regions. Indeed, our vision is based on the metaphor of "a region as an enterprise". Recent studies have identified a new "leadership paradigm", as the capability to enhance the [|Intellectual Capital] of an organisation (Senge, 2000). This aim is achieved through a continuous and dynamic development, enhancement, and use of the three components of Intellectual Capital: Human, Structural, and Social Capital. But this aim is also achieved through an organisation - wide integration of the three components. This dynamic framework, in which Intellectual Capital plays a fundamental role, suggests a rethink of the knowledge management concept in term of "[|Knowledge leadership]". Indeed "leadership" is about constant development and innovation, so it is better term than "management".


 * The Emerging Competitive Environment of the Digital Economy**

A wide body of literature has analysed the Internet - driven competitive environment in the Digital Economy (Hagel and Rayport, 1997). These studies have highlighted some stylised facts that emerge from the analysis of this new competitive environment: Today's market leaders demand tightly integrated relationships with their suppliers, customers and partners in order to speed innovation, build lasting relationships, and increase productivity and speed profitability. The primary driver of growth and value of these organisations is their ability collaborate across these relationships.
 * **The flourishing of " sense and respond organisations"**

A key role is played by customers. Indeed, in the Digital Economy, the gap between producers and consumers is blurring. As highly customised products and services replace mass production, producers must create specific products that are imbued with the knowledge requirements, and tastes of individual customers. In the Digital economy become involved in the actual design process (Reicheld and schefter, 2000). Customers, not just suppliers, increasingly create value by drenching products with their knowledge; customers can disaggregate value and reaggregate it from multiple suppliers enhancing their power.

In the Digital Economy, Instead of value chains, value networks are emerging (Amitt and Zott, 2001). These value networks are multi-organisation networks of relationships focusing on the integration of information flow (Tapscott,Ticoll, and Lowy, 2000). The purpose of the value chain is to exploit information and knowledge within the organisation.The value creation opportunities may result from new combinations of information, physical products and services, innovative configurations of transactions, and the reconfiguration and integration of resources, capabilities, roles and relationships among suppliers, partners and customers, that the value chain analysis fails to capture.
 * **The development of value networks**


 * Digital Innovation Calls for Knowledge leadership**

Given these characteristics of innovation, the key strategic challenge is managing that innovation. The dilemma is how to do it. At one level, managing innovation means reacting to change, coming up with better products, creating services that exploit innovation, repackaging existing products. Finally, at the highest level, managing innovation is about leading innovation, creating new technologies and products, launching new markets, raising industry standards, redefining customer expectations, increasing the pace of industry product cycles.
 * In the Digital economy some specific characteristics of the innovation process are emerging, both in enterprises and in regional innovation processes. These new characteristics may be identified mainly in:
 * Very high - velocity interactions;
 * Very rich potential connectivity, involving many different players;
 * Global orientation, where distance has become less relevant;
 * pervasiveness of innovation. Innovation is ubiquitous in every industry, in every place, in every firm. "after efficiency, quality and flexibility, we live in the age of innovation" (Janszen, 2000).
 * pervasiveness of innovation. Innovation is ubiquitous in every industry, in every place, in every firm. "after efficiency, quality and flexibility, we live in the age of innovation" (Janszen, 2000).

In the digital innovation environment, characterised as a high - velocity market, a dynamic capability is a simple, experiential, unstable process, that relies on quickly created new knowledge (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000). Skyrme has identified seven strategic type of knowledge:
 * Customer knowledge. this is the organisation's most vital knowledge;
 * Knowledge in people. Knowledge in people's heads;
 * Knowledge in products and services. Knowledge embedded in products and enhanced knowledge - intensive service;
 * Knowledge in processes. Knowledge embedded in organisation processes and in management decisions;
 * Organisational memory. It helps to identify "knowing what we know';
 * Knowledge in relationship. Improving knowledge flow between suppliers, employees, shareholders, community, ect.;
 * Knowledge assets. Identifying intellectual and knowledge assets.

These different type of knowledge are generally grouped into what is called the 'Intellectual Capital". In the digital innovation context, leaders thus need to regard Intellectual Capital as a strategic asset. according to Skyrme's concept of Leadership in terms of constant. development and innovation, a better definition is "Intellectual capital Leadership" or more directly "knowledge Leadership" Knowledge leadership embraces both the sharing of what is known, and innovation.


 * Conclusion


 * Digital innovation is boosting the shift from hierarchical capitalism, with large and integrated corporate hierarchies, to flexible capitalism, with more inter-firm alliances, single firm heterarchies and corporate networks (Dunning, 1997). Since these networked organisations exchange a large amount of information and knowledge, managing networks in the Digital Economy requires a new type of leadership. As consequence, the need for Knowledge Leadership is emerging, and this has become the main challenge for people. To face this challenge, it become necessary to introduce radical innovations in the knowledge bases and in the learning strategies of people, to support the creation of Knowledge Leadership.
 * Digital innovation is boosting the shift from hierarchical capitalism, with large and integrated corporate hierarchies, to flexible capitalism, with more inter-firm alliances, single firm heterarchies and corporate networks (Dunning, 1997). Since these networked organisations exchange a large amount of information and knowledge, managing networks in the Digital Economy requires a new type of leadership. As consequence, the need for Knowledge Leadership is emerging, and this has become the main challenge for people. To face this challenge, it become necessary to introduce radical innovations in the knowledge bases and in the learning strategies of people, to support the creation of Knowledge Leadership.


 * Also see**

https://ccit205.wikispaces.com/Advanatges+of+Digital+Technology https://ccit205.wikispaces.com/dmc https://ccit205.wikispaces.com/Knowledge+Capitalism http://www.oecd.org/topic/0,2686,en_2649_37441_1_1_1_1_37441,00.html http://www.dmreview.com/article_sub.cfm?articleId=20

Hagel J. and Rayport J.F. 1997, The coming battle for customer information. Harvard business Review, January - February, 53-65. Amitt R. and Zott C. 2001, Value creation in e-buiness. Strategic Management Journal 22, 493-520. Reicheld F.F. and schefter P. 2000, E-loyalty. Harvard business Review, July - Auguast. Tapscott D,Ticoll D, and Lowy A, 2000, Digital Capital. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, London. Janszen F.H.A. 2000, Innovation and the material revolution. Technovation 17, 549-556,594. Eisenhardt K. M. and Martin J. A. 2000 Steategic Management Journal 21, 1105-1121. Dunning J.H. 1997, A business analytic approach to goverments and globalisation. Oxford University press, London, 114-131.
 * Reference**
 * Senge P. 2000, Reflection on a leaders new work : Building learning organisations. The MIT Press, Cambridge, 53-60.
 * Senge P. 2000, Reflection on a leaders new work : Building learning organisations. The MIT Press, Cambridge, 53-60.