Managing Knowledge through Video‐Based Communities

• Published date: 01 October 2013
• Date: 01 October 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/kpm.1422
• Author: Mitsuru Kodama

■Case Study

Managing Knowledge through Video-

Based Communities

Mitsuru Kodama*

College of Commerce, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan

This article proposes that video-based information network (VIN) tools as a type of social software are a form of

infrastructure that promotes the creation of new knowledge that transcends space and time in business activities.

The first of two new insights discussed in the article concerns the effects of diverse communication and collaboration

provided by VIN tools. Real-time communication and collaboration enabled by VIN tools, which combine and

process images, sound, and data, result in creating particular modes of use of VIN tools specific to the company using

them. The second insight is the formation of new business networks and the facilitation of knowledge creation activ-

ities through the use of VIN tools.

The article considers four elements of information and communications technology (ICT) organizational capability

that promote knowledge creation activities through these particular modes of use of VIN tools: ICT application

capability, creative dialogue capability, context architect capability, and boundary consolidation capability. It also

illustrates that the dynamic relationship of these four elements promotes the formation of business networks and

the formation, maintenance, and development of knowledge communities and leads to new knowledge creation.

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

INTRODUCTION

Video communication through such means as PCs,

smartphones such as iPhone, tablet PCs such as

iPad, mobile videophones, and social networking

service (e.g., Facebook and Google+) underlies the

possibilities of creating new cultures with new work

styles, lifestyles, and daily habits that together make

up the “image culture.”Thanks to the expansion of

broadband and ubiquity, means of communication

ranging from voice to data and still images to video

are currently developing rapidly alongside the

diversification of person-to-person communications

and collaboration. This article systematically

surveys the changes in the video communications

market and the relationship between technological

innovation and organizational reform over the past

two decades and proposes new insights from the

viewpoints of corporate information and communi-

cations technology (ICT) and knowledge creation

strategies regarding the impact of “video-based

information network (VIN) tools”(see Appendix 1:

The VIN concept) as social software activating ICT

in a broadband and ubiquitous era.

A great number of corporations are currently

incorporating all kinds of groupware, enterprise

resource planning tools, Weblogs, and Web-based

tools to encourage communication and information

sharing among organizations and promote best

practice and knowledge management. But among

companies that are already using these tools to

reform and innovate corporate culture, the inade-

quacy of text information in email and groupware

to adequately strengthen communication inside

and outside the organization and accelerate the

decision-making process has already been brought

to the fore. In this area,“VIN tools”can be considered

the ultimate practical ICT tool to lead a company on

the road to reform and resolve the “blocked”feeling

that email and groupware cannot sufficiently convey

individualwill and sentiment. These tools enablefull-

featured discussions and prompt decision-making

(Kodama, 1999).

Previously, in the world of information communi-

cations, the “video”communications medium was

generally acknowledged to be high priced, poor

quality, difficult to use, and focused on special-use

corporate applications. Recently, however, the re-

markable development of broadband and mobile

*Correspondence to: Mitsuru Kodama, College of Commerce,

Nihon University,5-2-1 Kinuta, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 157-8570, Japan.

E-mail: kodama.mitsuru@nihon-u.ac.jp

Knowledge and Process Management

Volume 20 Number 4 pp 256–276 (2013)

Published online in Wiley Online Library

(www.wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/kpm.1422

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

multimedia communications infrastructure

1

and

(digital) video and voice encoding technology has

led to the rapid development of high functionality,

lower cost, compactness, and friendly interfacing of

“VIN tools”including video and Web conferencing,

mobile videophone, videochat, and IP multimedia

phones, and the unified communications that inte-

grate these functions. The result is that the potential

for the use of VIN tools has become more diverse

and suited to both businessand consumer use. In ad-

dition to the technological drivers, themarket drivers

that comprise applications as collaboration tools for

promoting corporate global management, strategic

outsourcing and off-shoring, and distributed models

of product development project teams also become

key factors in accelerating penetrationand market ex-

pansion. Multimedia communication needs are soar-

ing not only among business users but also in such

areas as Small Office and Home Office (SOHO),

education, medical treatment, and welfare.

Video-based information network tools allow

both flexible connectivity for different means of

communication (communications media of voice,

text, and video and real and non-real-time

communications structures) and seamless commu-

nication among different terminals, including IP

phones, PCs, dedicated video terminals, and mobile

phones. Connecting these multiple means of com-

munication benefits companies by boosting business

efficiency and production while developing creativ-

ity (including creating new ideas). Thus, VIN tools

are becoming recognized as strategic ICT solutions

that hone the competitive edge.

2

The world’smost

advanced companies today are p roactively applying

these tools in B2B and B2C settings (Figure 1).

This article indicates how VIN tools become

enablers that transcend space and time to promote

the creation of new business “knowledge”and

delivers new research and managerial implications

vis-à-vis practitioners and academics specializing in

business and management, on the basis of survey

analysis of usage structures in business fields (such

as manufacturing, information technology (IT),

finance, retail, education, medical treatment, and

1

A large volume of published IT-related content that currently fo-

cuses on Web 2.0 and cloud computing emphasizes that these

prevalent technologies contribute to reducing corporate IT invest-

ment and boosting business efficiency (in practical terms, they are

generally moving in the right direction). As for ICT tools that

support practitioners’real-time decision-making and practical ac-

tion in their daily business activities, little attention was paid to

this area in the previous world of narrowband (phone, integrated

services digital network, asymmetric digital subscriber line, and

2G mobile phones). Because of the rapid development of broad-

band in recent years, however, including the expansion of fiber

optics and high-speed mobile communications (such as 3/3.5G

mobile phones and wireless LANs), a large number of companies

have come to pay attention to the significance and effect of image

collaboration tools. Japan is especially advancedin terms of fiber-

optic infrastructure, commercialization of next-generation net-

works, whereit is a global leader,and mobile phone business.

2

John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of global IT pioneer Cisco

Systems, comments as follows:

Consider just one application: high-definition videoconferencing. With

this, people as far away from each other as Singapore and Cincinnati

can sit across the virtual table from one another. You hear the faraway

voice as if it were in the same room. You see the other person’s pupils

dilate, forehead sweat, and fingers tap from thousands of miles away.

This kind of instant, virtually in-person technology changes customer

service models, family relationships, and even our environment. A sales

rep meets via TelePresence (our brand of hi-def conferencing)with one

customer in Japan at 9 a.m., another in Frankfurt at 10 a.m., and a third

in New York at 1 p.m…. Multiplied over the thousands of Cisco em-

ployees who fly each year, this can lead to significant carbon reduction.

We aim to cut our carbon emissions by 10 percent this year by using

TelePresence. See Chambers (2007): Moreover, Toshiyuki Shiga,

COO of Nissan Motor Company, Ltd., also noted the following

regarding video conferencing:

Now the system is evolving, and you can talk with the feeling that you

are in the same room. Since it conveys expressions and subtle body

language as well as speech, rich communication becomes possible. It

feels quite natural to undertake nuanced negotiation through

videoconferencing. See Shiga (2006).

Details of how this technology is used in Cisco Systems and

other areas, including filmmaking and restaurants, can be

viewed on CBS News at http://www.youtube.com/watch?

gl=JP&hl=ja&v=YT56p263hOk

Figure 1 Application domains for video-based information network tools

Managing Knowledge through Video Communities 257

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Know. Process Mgmt. 20, 256–276 (2013)

DOI: 10.1002/kpm