Question

DEFINE/DESCRIBE in detail the FIVE (5) of the following:

Knowledge Management                                                   Learning Organization                                        Synergy

Blue Ocean Strategy                                                           Corporate Culture                                Ambidexterity

Matrix Structure                                                                    Corporate Governance                                       Absorptive Capacity

Institutional Voids

Answer 1

1. Knowledge Management:

Knowledge management (KM) is a multidisciplinary approach to achieve organizational objectives by gathering, sharing, assessing, managing, and using the knowledge and information of an organization to make the best use of knowledge. The best four components of knowledge management are:

• People
• Process
• Content
• Strategy

Knowledge management implies a strong tie to organizational goals and creates value for the organization.

2. Learning organization

A learning organization is an organization that facilitates the learning of its members in order to expand its capacity and continuously transforms itself. In today’s competitive environment, organizations need to support learning so that the organization does not lose its market share. Organizations learn continuously and use the results of that learning to adapt to a competitive environment. Five characteristics of a learning organization are:

• Systems thinking
• Personal mastery
• Mental models
• Shared vision
• Team learning

3. Corporate culture:

Corporate culture refers to the shared values and behaviors that determine how a company's employees and employers interact and handle the social and psychological environment of a business. It exhibits the unique personality of a company by expressing their core values, and ethics of an organization. The four types of corporate culture are:

• Clan culture
• Adhocracy culture
• Hierarchy culture
• Market culture

Maintaining a positive corporate culture increases the employee’s happiness and lowers the turnover resulting in better company performance.

4. Corporate governance:

Corporate governance is the combination of rules and regulations by which an organization is operated or controlled. It ensures transparency in the internal and external factors that can affect the interests of a company’s stakeholders like customers, suppliers, etc., A good corporate governance has a well-defined structure that is committed by the corresponding boards of directors which works for the benefit of everyone concerned and by adhering to accepted ethical standards, best practices, and formal laws.

5. Institutional voids:

Institutional voids refer to the absence of intermediaries like market research firms, database vendors, regulatory corporations,etc., that efficiently connects the buyers and sellers. In other words, institutional voids are the absence of institutional infrastructure like legal system capital providers and employment agencies in a region. If a company plans to set up a production unit in a particular market, it needs employees to work in their plants. However, if the region is not having appropriate employment agencies, the company has to spend more time and money to get the right workers. Hence institutional voids act as a prime source of the transaction costs and operating challenges in the markets.