This paper develops an integrated approach, combining quality function deployment (QFD), fuzzy set theory, and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach, to evaluate and select the optimal third-party logistics service providers (3PLs). In the approach, multiple evaluating criteria are derived from the requirements of company stakeholders using a series of house of quality (HOQ). The importance of evaluating criteria is prioritized with respect to the degree of achieving the stakeholder requirements using fuzzy AHP. Based on the ranked criteria, alternative 3PLs are evaluated and compared with each other using fuzzy AHP again to make an optimal selection. The effectiveness of proposed approach is demonstrated by applying it to a Hong Kong based enterprise that supplies hard disk components. The proposed integrated approach outperforms the existing approaches because the outsourcing strategy and 3PLs selection are derived from the corporate/business strategy.

Purpose -The idea that knowledge needs to be codified is central to many claims that knowledge can be managed. However, there appear to be no empirical studies in the knowledge management context that examine the process of knowledge codification. This paper therefore seeks to explore codification as a knowledge management process.Design/methodology/approach -The paper draws on findings from research conducted around a knowledge management project in a section of the UK Post Office, using a methodology of participant-observation. Data were collected through observations of project meetings, correspondence between project participants, and individual interviews.Findings -The principal findings about the nature of knowledge codification are first, that the process of knowledge codification also involves the process of defining the codes needed to codify knowledge, and second, that people who participate in the construction of these codes are able to interpret and use the codes more similarly. From this it can be seen that the ability of people to decodify codes similarly places restrictions on the transferability of knowledge between them.Research limitations/implications -The paper therefore argues that a new conceptual approach is needed for the role of knowledge codification in knowledge management that emphasizes the importance of knowledge decodification. Such an approach would start with one's ability to decodify rather than codify knowledge as a prerequisite for knowledge management.Originality/value -The paper provides a conceptual basis for explaining limitations to the management and transferability of knowledge.

Many managers would like to take a strategic approach to preparing the organisation to avoid impending crisis but instead find themselves fire-fighting to avoid its impact. In this paper we examine an organisation which made major strategic changes to respond to the full effect of a crisis which would be realised over a 2 to 3 year period. At the root of these changes was a strategic approach to managing knowledge. We reflect on the managers' views of the impact this strategy had on preparing for the crisis and we explore what happened in the organisation during and after the crisis. Methodology/ approach: The paper examines a case-study of a financial services organisation which faced the crisis of its impending dissolution. The paper draws upon observations of change management workshops, as well as interviews with organisational members of a change management task force. Findings: The response to the crisis was to recognise the importance of the people and their knowledge to the organisation, and to build a strategy which improved business processes and communication flow across the divisions, as well as managing the departure of knowledge workers from a dissolving organisation. Practical implications: The paper demonstrates the importance of building a knowledge management strategy during times of crisis, and draws out important lessons for organisations facing organisational change. Originality/ value of the paper: The paper represents a unique opportunity to learn from an organisation adopting a strategic approach to managing its knowledge during a time of crisis.

This paper makes a case for taking a systems view of knowledge management within health care provision, concentrating on the emergency care process in the UK National Health Service. It draws upon research in two case-study organisations (a hospital and an ambulance service). The case-study organisations appear to be approaching knowledge (and information) management in a somewhat fragmented way. They are trying to think more holistically but (perhaps) because of the ways their organisations and their work are structured, they cannot "see" the whole of the care process. The paper explores the complexity of knowledge management in emergency health care and draws the distinction for knowledge management between managing local and operational knowledge, and global and clinical knowledge.

This paper examines the field of Knowledge Management (KM) and identifies the role of Operational Research (OR) in key milestones and in KM's future. With the presence of the OR Society journal Knowledge Management Research and Practice and with the INFORMS journal Organization Science, OR may be assumed to have an explicit and a leading role in KM. Unfortunately, the origins and the evidence of recent research efforts do not fully support this assumption. We argue that whilst OR has been inside many of the milestones there is no explicit recognition of its role and while OR research on KM has considerably increased in the last 5 years it still forms a rather modest explicit contribution to KM research. Nevertheless, the depth of OR's experience in decision-making models and decision support systems, soft systems with hard systems, and in risk management suggest that OR is uniquely placed to lead future KM developments. We suggest that a limiting aspect of whether OR will be seen to have a significant profile will be the extent to which developments are recognized as being informed by OR.