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Knowledge management and innovation strategy in the Asia Pacific: Toward an institution-based view

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Abstract

The emergence of knowledge-intensive society has changed the nature of business competition. Knowledge management becomes an important managerial task and formulating a sound innovation strategy is an integral part of strategic management. Adopting an institution-based view, this article argues that the institutional environment in the Asia Pacific region plays a multi-faceted role behind firms’ knowledge management and innovation strategy. Specifically, institutions impose rules for legitimacy, serve as a source of knowledge, and allocate incentives and resources for innovation. We believe that future research drawing on the institution-based view has significant potential to advance our understanding of knowledge management and innovation strategy in Asia Pacific firms.

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Notes

  1. Of course, relative to Western European and North American countries, Japan was a latecomer in industrialization, which started after the 1860s.

  2. In 1888, Prime Minister Li Hong Zhang built a 1500 meter long railway inside the Forbidden City (the royal palace) as a pilot project to entertain Empress Dowager Cixi. To prevent the locomotive from making noise, a few eunuchs pulled the train to move. The Empress eventually approved the railway construction plan.

  3. Of the 13 papers invited to present in Xi’an, one (Zhang & Li, 2008) was accepted by a regular issue (due to its lack of fit with our Special issue theme) and another is still in the review process (as of March 2008) to be considered for a possible regular issue because the lead author was sick and unable to revise in time for our Special Issue.

  4. The Perspectives paper by Asakawa and Som (2008) had been invited by the Editor-in-Chief before the idea for our Special Issue was conceived.

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Reviewers for the Special Issue

  • David Ahlstrom (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

  • Rabi Bhagat (University of Memphis)

  • Tony Fang (Stockholm University)

  • Loizos Heracleous (University of Oxford)

  • Jack Hong (University of Macau)

  • Andrew Inkpen (Thunderbird)

  • Jay Janney (University of Dayton)

  • Dominique Jolly (CERAM Sophia Antipolis)

  • Theodore Khoury (University of Texas at Dallas)

  • Mingfang Li (California State University, Northridge)

  • Livia Markoczy (University of Texas at Dallas)

  • John Mathews (Macquarie University)

  • Klaus Meyer (University of Bath)

  • Snejina Michailova (University of Auckland)

  • William Newburry (Florida International University)

  • Thang Nguyen (University of Macau)

  • Chunyan Peng (Lingnan University)

  • Joan Penner-Hahn (Wayne State University)

  • Gongming Qian (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

  • Bing Ren (Nankai University)

  • Yizheng Shi (Hong Kong Baptist University)

  • Katsuhiko Shimizu (University of Texas at San Antonio)

  • Jennifer Spencer (George Washington University)

  • Yu-Shan Su (Chang Jung Christian University)

  • Sunny Li Sun (University of Texas at Dallas)

  • Bing-Sheng Teng (George Washington University)

  • Liqun Wei (Hong Kong Baptist University)

  • Wei Xie (Tsinghua University)

  • Xiaohua Yang (Queensland University of Technology)

  • Joseph Chwo-Ming Yu (National Chengchi University)

  • Shujun Zhang (Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou)

  • Xiande Zhao (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

  • Jessie Qi Zhou (Southern Methodist University)

  • Lianxi Zhou (Lingnan University)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong

    Yuan Lu

  2. School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas, Box 830688, SM 43, Richardson, TX, 75083, USA

    Eric W. K. Tsang & Mike W. Peng

Authors
  1. Yuan Lu
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  2. Eric W. K. Tsang
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  3. Mike W. Peng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuan Lu.

Additional information

This editorial draws on a keynote speech delivered at the APJM Special Issue Conference on “Knowledge Management and Innovation Strategy in the Asia Pacific” in Xi’an, China, July 7–9, 2007.

We thank all the authors, reviewers, and other conference participants for their insights. The conference was cosponsored by Xi’an Jiaotong University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Asia Academy of Management. We are especially grateful to Dean Yuan Li and his team of conference organizers, led by Professors Changhong Yuan and Wei Sun, for their dedicated efforts that made the conference possible. Finally, we appreciate the efforts of Yung Hua, APJM’s former Managing Editor and Rachel Pinkham, APJM’s new Managing Editor, for shaping this Special Issue into a better product.

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Lu, Y., Tsang, E.W.K. & Peng, M.W. Knowledge management and innovation strategy in the Asia Pacific: Toward an institution-based view. Asia Pac J Manage 25, 361–374 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-008-9100-9

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