École Doctorale Informatique et Mathématiques Lyon (InfoMaths)

Transcription

1 Université Lumière Lyon 2 École Doctorale Informatique et Mathématiques Lyon (InfoMaths) Laboratoire d'informatique pour l'entreprise et les Systèmes de Production (LIESP) Université de Chiang Mai, Thaïlande College of Arts, Media and Technology Caractérisation des échanges des informations et des connaissances dans les groupements d entreprises : mise en œuvre d un système de gestion des connaissances pour le cas du cluster de l industrie artisanale Thaïlandaise Par Pradorn SUREEPHONG thèse de doctorat en Informatique Sous la direction d Abdelaziz BOURAS et Nopasit CHAKPITAK Présentée et soutenue publiquement le 15 octobre 2009 Membres du jury : Abdelaziz BOURAS, Professeur des universités, Université Lyon 2 Nopasit CHAKPITAK, Maître de conférences, université de Chiang Mai Sebti FOUFOU, Professeur des universités, Université de Bourgogne Matteo SAVINO, Professeur d université, Sannium university Yacine OUZROUT, Maître de conférences, Université Lyon 2 Gilles NEUBERT, Maître de conférences Université Lyon 2 Benoit EYNARD, Maître de conférences HDR, Université de Troyes Ahmed LBATH, Professeur des universités, Université Grenoble 1

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3 Table des matières Contrat de diffusion.. [Dédicace].. Remerciements.. Résumé.. Abstract.. Abbreviation.. Introduction.. Chapter I: Context and Problematic.. I.1. SMEs and Industry Cluster.. I.1.1. Small and Medium Enterprises.. I.1.2. SMEs in Thailand.. I.1.3. Forces behind the industry cluster.. I.2. Industry Cluster.. I.2.1. Objective of the cluster development.. I.2.2. Networking in the industry cluster.. I.2.3. Industry cluster and manufacturing network.. I.2.4. Cluster Lifecycle.. I.2.5. Key success factors of cluster development.. I.3. Related research on the cluster development.. I.3.1. Related Research.. I.3.2. Cluster Development in Global View.. I.4. Problematic.. Chapter II: Knowledge Management Context.. II.1. Introduction.. II.2. Knowledge Management.. II.2.1. What is Knowledge.. II.2.2. Taxonomy of Knowledge.. II.2.3. Community of Practice (CoP).. II.2.4. Knowledge Management Processes.. II.3. Knowledge Management System.. II.3.1. Human roles in the KMS development.. II.3.2. Knowledge Management System Architecture.. II.3.3. Technology in Knowledge Management.. II.3.4. Designing a Knowledge Management System.. II.4. Knowledge Engineering.. II.4.1. Knowledge-Based Engineering Lifecycle.. II.4.2. Knowledge engineering Methodologies.. II.4.3. Knowledge Engineering Methodology Selection.. Chapter III: Proposed Methodology.. III.1. Introduction

4 III.2. Adapting CommonKADS to the industry cluster context.. III.3. Research Framework.. III.3.1. Context Level.. III.3.2. Concept Level.. III.3.3. Design Level.. III.3.4. Implementation Level.. III.3.5. Verification and Validation.. III.4. Methodology Implementation.. Chapter IV: Analysis and Results.. IV.1. Introduction.. IV.2. Context Level.. IV.2.1. Cluster Model.. IV.2.2. Organization Model.. IV.2.3. Task Model.. IV.3. Concept Level.. IV.3.1. Knowledge Model.. IV.3.2. Collaboration Model.. IV.4. Design Level.. IV.4.1. System Architecture.. IV.4.2. System Scenario.. IV.4.3. System Specification.. IV.5. Conclusion.. Chapter V: Application and Scenarios.. V.1. Introduction.. V.2. The proposed KMS architecture.. Server Side.. Client Side.. V.3. Knowledge Management services.. V.3.1. Knowledge cards.. V.3.2. Knowledge Search.. V.3.3. Knowledge Exchange Scenario.. V.3.4. Maintaining the Knowledge Base.. V.4. Supporting Services.. V.4.1. Presentation services.. V.4.2. Collaboration services.. V.5. Mobile Knowledge Retrieval.. V.6. System Validation.. (a) First part: Mass collaboration.. (b) Second part: Knowledge representation and sharing.. (c) Third part: Group collaboration.. (d) Forth part: Individual collaboration.. (e) Fifth part: Knowledge retrieval

5 V.7. Conclusion.. Conclusion and Perspectives.. References.. A.. B.. C.. D.. E.. F.. G.. H.. I.. J.. K.. L.. M.. N.. O.. P.. R.. S.. T.. U.. V.. W.. Y.. Z.. Annex A: Ceramic Cluster Analysis by NESDB.. A.1. General Information.. A.2. Diamond Analysis.. A.3. Ceramic cluster s supply chain.. A.4. Business cycle of Lampang s ceramic cluster.. A.5. Cluster Map.. Annex B: SECI Model.. B.1. Nonaka s Sprial Model.. Annex C: Questionnaire Outline.. Annex D: Knowledge Models.. Annex E: KMS Specification.. E.1. Requirement Specification.. E.2. Functional Specification.. E.3. Design Specification.. E.4. System Specification

6 E.5. Test Specification.. E.5.1. Demonstration Test Specification.. E.5.2. Functional Test Specification.. E.5.3. Operational Test Specification.. Annex F: Technologies.. F.1. Flex-based application.. Annex G: Database and Class Models.. G.1. Database Models.. G.2. Class models

7 Contrat de diffusion Contrat de diffusion Ce document est diffusé sous le contrat Creative Commons «Paternité pas d utilisation commerciale - pas de modification» : vous êtes libre de le reproduire, de le distribuer et de le communiquer au public à condition d en mentionner le nom de l auteur et de ne pas le modifier, le transformer, l adapter ni l utiliser à des fins commerciales. 7

8 Caractérisation des échanges des informations et des connaissances dans les groupements d entreprises : mise en œuvre d un système de gestion des connaissances pour le cas du cluster de l industrie artisanale Thaïlandaise [Dédicace] A mes parents, à mon épouse, à toute ma famille et à tous ceux qui me sont chers 8

9 Remerciements Remerciements Ces travaux de thèse ont été réalisés conjointement au sein de l équipe Lyon 2, du Laboratoire d Informatique pour l Enterprise et les Système de Production (LIESP), et en cotutelle au sein du College of Arts, Media and Technology, de l Université de Chiang Mai (Thaïlande). Je remercie Abdelaziz Bouras et Nopasit Chakpitak, Professeurs à l Université Lumière Lyon2 et à l Université de Chiang Mai (Thaïlande), d avoir accepté de codiriger cette thèse. Tout deux ont su me faire partager leur enthousiasme et leurs connaissances. Ainsi que le soutien, les conseils et le temps qu ils m ont consacrés m ont permis de mener à bien ce travail. Je tiens à remercier Yacine Ouzrout et Gilles Neubert, Maître de Conférences à l Université Lumière Lyon 2 et Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Saint-Etienne d avoir co-encadré cette thèse. Leurs conseils techniques m ont permis de valider la méthodologie et l application informatique concernant ces travaux. Je remercie Madame et Messieurs les membres du jury qui ont supervisés mon travail et participés à ma soutenance. Je remercie tout particulièrement Sebti Foufou et Matteo Savino, Professeurs à l Université de Bourgogne et à l'université de Sannio, Benevento (Italie), d avoir accepté de rapporter cette thèse et du temps consacré à sa lecture. J adresse également mes remerciements à Benoît Eynard et Ahmed LBATH, Professeurs à l'université de Technologie de Compiègne et l'université Joseph Fourier, pour m avoir fait l honneur de participer au jury de thèse en cotutelle. Je tiens à remercier aussi les personnes que j ai côtoyées à l IUT Lumière, au College of Arts, Media and Technology, et dans le laboratoire LIESP, pour leur soutien, aides et conseils. Un grand merci enfin à ma famille et ma femme pour leurs encouragements, leur soutien et les sacrifices qu ils ont du faire pour moi tout le long de cette thèse. Sans eux, ce travail n aurait jamais pu voir le jour. 9

10 Caractérisation des échanges des informations et des connaissances dans les groupements d entreprises : mise en œuvre d un système de gestion des connaissances pour le cas du cluster de l industrie artisanale Thaïlandaise Résumé Certains facteurs (terrain, travail et capital) étaient considérés comme accessibles, suffisants et à la base même de la compétitivité économique. La connaissance cependant n'avait pas retenu beaucoup d'attention. Actuellement, c'est l ère de l'économie basée sur la connaissance qui est impactée par l'usage croissant des technologies de l information. Les facteurs de la production cités auparavant s avèrent ainsi insuffisants pour maintenir l'avantage compétitif de l entreprise et la connaissance est sensée jouer un rôle clé dans ce contexte. L'étude de Yoong et Molina montre que le seul moyen de survivre dans un environnement de plus en plus concurrentiel est que les PMEs forment des alliances stratégiques ou des fusions avec d autres entreprises semblables ou complémentaires. Les résultats de leur étude prônent le concept du «cluster industriel», proposé initialement par Michael Porter en Ainsi, les gouvernements essayent de soutenir ces PMEs via des moyens financiers, des stratégies politiques ou encore des promotions à l import/export. Cependant, un grand nombre de PMEs n arrive pas à survivre dans le contexte de concurrence du marché mondial. Des recherches antérieures effectuées autour de modèles semblables à celui du cluster industriel ont montré que par rapport à ces PMEs, celles qui réussissent davantage sont celles qui en sont membres. Les nouveaux facteurs clés du succès, mis en évidence par ces recherches, sont principalement le partage des connaissances et la collaboration au sein du cluster. Ces connaissances sont répertoriées en tant que connaissances tacites et explicites chez les experts et les différentes organisations/entreprises du cluster. Ainsi, l application d une approche de gestion des connaissances pour le développement du cluster devrait permettre à ces entreprises d acquérir plus d efficacité dans la réalisation de leurs objectifs. Afin d aider les PMEs à mieux collaborer et partager leurs connaissances à travers le déploiement d un système de gestion des connaissances pour le cluster industriel, nous nous focalisons sur les trois critères suivants : Quel genre des connaissances l entreprise désire t-elle partager à travers le cluster et dans quelles conditions? Sachant que les relations entre les organisations dans un cluster sont de différents types (des relations de type client-fournisseur comme dans une chaîne logistique; des relations de concurrence ). Par conséquent, la volonté de partager la connaissance ainsi que les conditions de partage représentent l un des problèmes majeurs de notre recherche. Comment aider le cluster à créer, représenter et partager ses connaissances? Sachant qu un cluster industriel est composé essentiellement de PMEs qui ne peuvent pas disposer de moyens pour investir dans la mise en place d un système d information coûteux dans l optique de faciliter le partage des informations et des connaissances (Dans le cadre de l industrie Thaïlandaise de la céramique, les moyens couramment utilisés consistent en des lettres mensuelles, téléphone, s et réunions mensuelles). Quelles infrastructures et architectures, générales et spécifiques, nécessaires pour une meilleure caractérisation des informations et des connaissances, et l aboutissement à un système de gestion des connaissances répondant aux besoins d un tel contexte? Pour répondre à la problématique générale de ce travail de thèse, nous avons organisé notre travail en cinq chapitres: 10

11 Résumé Le premier chapitre est dédié à la description du contexte dans lequel évoluent les travaux présentés ainsi qu a la problématique d origine. Dans la partie contextuelle, nous décrivons la situation économique actuelle des PMEs et la nécessité de promouvoir la collaboration sous forme de cluster. Nous présentons aussi les caractéristiques du cluster et les facteurs clé de réussite pour le développement des clusters industriels. Ensuite, nous présentons les recherches relatives au développement du cluster. Nous avons analysé différents modèles et cadres que nous avons comparés au modèle artisanal thaïlandais, qui représente notre cadre d étude. Nous présentons également des méthodes développées dans différents pays (par exemple la France, les USA, Taiwan, la Thaïlande, etc.). Enfin, nous avons défini l hypothèse et la problématique principales ; ce qui nous permet de spécifier notre recherche dans deux domaines : la collaboration et le partage des connaissances. Le deuxième chapitre est divisé en trois parties : la première partie de ce chapitre établit un état des processus de la gestion des connaissances (i.e. créer, représenter, partager, et réutiliser) qui aidera à proposer une approche pour l amélioration de la collaboration et du partage des connaissances au sein du cluster. La deuxième partie de ce chapitre a pour but d étudier l intégration du Système de Gestion de la Connaissance (KMS ou Knowledge Management System) appliqué à notre contexte. Nous avons tenu compte des différents points de vue présents dans le KMS (tels que rôles et technologie) afin de concevoir un système KMS qui convient au contexte du cluster. Cette conception représente une tâche complexe mais essentielle dans le cycle de vie du cluster et nécessite une analyse pointue. La dernière partie est dédiée à la méthodologie support de l Ingénierie de la Connaissance (KE ou Knowledge Engineering), qui permettra entre autre de concevoir le système de connaissance adapté et de capturer la connaissance des experts du cluster. Nous avons soumis à l étude différentes méthodologies (i.e. MOKA, SPEDE, AKEM et CommonKADS) afin de pouvoir en sélectionner la plus appropriée à notre contexte. Le troisième chapitre est principalement consacré à la méthodologie proposée et qui repose sur l adaptation du concept de «suite de modèles» de CommonKADS. Elle est décomposée en quatre niveaux (schéma 1). Tout d abord le niveau contextuel qui se concentre sur le modèle du cluster, son modèle organisationnel et le modèle des tâches induites. Le second niveau, dit conceptuel, est axé sur le modèle de connaissance et de collaboration. Ensuite, le niveau de conception se concentre sur la conversion des exigences en architecture, scenarios et spécifications. Enfin, le niveau relatif à la mise en œuvre a pour but de développer le système KMS en tenant compte des spécificités données dans le niveau précédant. 11

12 Caractérisation des échanges des informations et des connaissances dans les groupements d entreprises : mise en œuvre d un système de gestion des connaissances pour le cas du cluster de l industrie artisanale Thaïlandaise Figure 1 : méthodologie proposée Le quatrième chapitre présente les résultats obtenus dans les trois premiers niveaux de la suite de modèles à partir d une étude de cas. Le résultat fondamental obtenu à partir du Niveau Contextuel est la formalisation du réseau physique du cluster, de la liste des tâches et l intensité des connaissances échangées, ainsi que l analyse de l organisation du cluster. La faisabilité du projet a été étudiée à ce niveau. Le résultat obtenu à partir du Niveau Conceptuel peut être divisé en deux parties : La première partie traite l extraction des connaissances des divers experts du cluster. Ces connaissances sont représentées sous forme de «carte sémantique» (basée sur l idée de carte de connaissances développée dans la thèse de L. Buzon) et sont considérées comme le noyau, support de la connaissance dans cette tâche. La seconde partie se concentre sur le modèle de collaboration pour la communication et l échange des connaissances parmi les membres du cluster. Ce modèle permet de mieux appréhender les caractéristiques de la collaboration, du niveau de partage de la connaissance, et les activités du cluster. Nous avons opté pour le Niveau Design pour une approche Logiciel d Ingénierie (SE) afin de faciliter la création du concept du système. Les résultats, obtenus à partir de ce niveau concernent l architecture, les scenarios et la spécification du KMS qui sera prêt à être mis en œuvre au niveau suivant. Le cinquième chapitre concerne le développement du KMS. De ce fait, plusieurs types de technologies de l information ont été choisis avec un objectif essentiel : remplir les conditions énoncées par le cluster (celui de l industrie de la céramique en Thaïlande dans notre cas). L architecture KMS proposée (schéma 2) est divisée en trois niveaux de service i.e. le service de connaissance, le service de collaboration et le service de présentation. Le service de connaissance est le cœur du système puisqu il permet aux membres du cluster de représenter, partager, et réutiliser la connaissance à travers le KMS. L infrastructure de ce service est basée sur la technologie FLEX, qui permet de créer un GUI (Graphique User Interface) avec les utilisateurs et donne l accès à un service web sur un serveur. Le concept de carte de connaissance a été pris 12

13 Résumé en compte en tant que moyen permettant d échanger la connaissance dans ce niveau. Nous avons développé un service de collaboration dans l intention de renforcer les activités collaboratives du cluster industriel. Ces cartes ont aussi pour mission de faire circuler la connaissance de l expert aux utilisateurs, et ceci, au bon moment et au bon endroit. De ce fait, nous avons développé ce niveau avec les technologies PHP et Ajax. Finalement, le service de présentation s attache à visualiser et personnaliser tous les services fournis par le KMS pour les utilisateurs de manière optimale. L objectif principal de ce service est d intégrer harmonieusement le KMS dans les activités du cluster. Nous avons donc développé un outil d informatique de connaissance (Knowledge Widget) qui est en fait une application légère destinée au client pour personnaliser le KMS dans le rôle qu il doit jouer pour chaque groupe. Enfin, nous faisons une démonstration à partir de trois scenarios qui présentent l interaction entre le KMS et l activité du cluster. Le premier scenario est basé sur l activité collaborative des membres. Il montre comment le comité du cluster organise une réunion par le biais d un module de conférence virtuelle. Il montre également que les trois modes de communication (entre homologues, à l intérieur d un groupe, la communication de masse) ont été renforcés par le KMS. Figure 2 : Architecture système du KMS Le deuxième scenario se penche sur le processus de gestion de la connaissance. Il montre comment les experts, à l intérieur du cluster, peuvent représenter et partager leurs connaissances au moyen du module de carte de connaissance collaborative. Ensuite, nous avons utilisé un moteur d inférence pour extraire les connaissances du système. 13

14 Caractérisation des échanges des informations et des connaissances dans les groupements d entreprises : mise en œuvre d un système de gestion des connaissances pour le cas du cluster de l industrie artisanale Thaïlandaise Le dernier scénario présente l intégration commune du service de la connaissance et de celui de la collaboration. Le résultat de cette assimilation permet aux utilisateurs de la connaissance de l extraire du KMS n importe où et n importe quand, à partir de leur téléphone mobile. En conclusion, les résultats explicites de cette étude peuvent être divisés en deux parties. La première concerne la méthodologie d évaluation du KMS pour le cluster. Cette méthodologie peut aussi être généralisée à d autres clusters dans différents domaines. La seconde partie des résultats concerne le KMS qui a été spécifiquement conçu pour le cluster de l industrie de la céramique en Thaïlande, qui a fait l objet de notre étude de cas. Il a été prouvé que le KMS est capable de renforcer la collaboration et le partage de connaissance, et que cet état de fait à l intérieur du cluster va favorablement impacter la compétitivité de cette industrie. Mots Clés: Système de Gestion des Connaissances (KMS), Ingénierie des Connaissances, Echange d Informations, Collaboration, Cluster, Industrie de la céramique en Thaïlande. CommonKADS, FLEX. 14

15 Abstract Abstract The knowledge-based economy forces SMEs to form strategic alliances or merge with other similar or business companies in order to compete in the world markets. In the meantime, the concept of the industry cluster was widely implemented in many developing and developed countries for improving the competitiveness of their industries. Although many clusters have successful to develop their competitiveness, large numbers of them have failed. The study of Ecotec [DTI 05] which focuses on the key success factors of the cluster development stated that the two factors of the cluster development are collaboration and knowledge sharing among the cluster members. Thus, the principle of this study is to enhance the cluster by adopting the notion of the knowledge management which focuses on creation, representation, sharing, and reusing the knowledge. Therefore, Knowledge Management System (KMS) architecture for the cluster is proposed in this study in order to support these processes. We propose a Model Suite for analyzing and designing the KMS which comprises four levels: Firstly, the context level focuses on the cluster organizational analysis, which will present a global view of the actors, knowledge assets, and knowledge-intensive tasks of the specific cluster. Secondly, the concept level focuses on the knowledge itself by modeling the experts knowledge into the explicit form. Moreover, it also examines the collaboration model of the cluster. Thirdly, the design level aims at extracting cluster s requirements into the system specification in order to be transferred to the implementation level. In this level, the information system is generated from different technologies for supporting the needs of the cluster organization. The KMS which is an outcome of the Model Suite is applied to a handicraft cluster in Thailand as our case study. It allows cluster members to create, share, and reuse the knowledge via a collaborative knowledge card module which is proposed in our study. The scenarios are presented in order to demonstrate how the KMS improves the collaboration and knowledge sharing among the members. Moreover, we also present the integration of the knowledge and collaboration services of the system in order to facilitate the knowledge users to retrieve the knowledge from the system via mobile device anywhere and anytime. Keywords: knowledge management system (KMS), knowledge engineering (KE), knowledge exchanging, collaboration, industry cluster, ceramic cluster in Thailand, CommonKADS, FLEX 15

16 Caractérisation des échanges des informations et des connaissances dans les groupements d entreprises : mise en œuvre d un système de gestion des connaissances pour le cas du cluster de l industrie artisanale Thaïlandaise Abbreviation AFCS Adobe Flash Collaboration Service AJAX Asynchronous JavaScript and XML AKEM Application Knowledge Engineering Methodology CDA Cluster Development Agent CK-Card Collaborative Knowledge Card CoP Community of Practice EDI Electronic Data Interchange GUI Graphic User Interface HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol ICT Information and Communication Technology KADS Knowledge Acquisition and Design System KBE Knowledge-Based Engineering KE Knowledge Engineering KM Knowledge Management KMAP Knowledge Map KMS Knowledge Management System MOKA Methods and tools Oriented Knowledge Acquisition OM Organization Model PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network RSS Really Simple Syndication RTMP Real Time Messaging Protocol SIP Session Initiation Protocol SMEs Small and Medium Enterprises SPEDE Structured Process Elicitation Demonstrations Environment TM Task Model TTS Text-To-Speech UML Unified Modeling Language VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol VXML Voice extensible Markup Language XML extensible Markup Language 16

17 Introduction Introduction In the past, the three production factors (Land, Labor and Capital) were abundant, accessible and were considered as the reason for economic advantage, knowledge did not get much attention. Nowadays, the knowledge-based economy era shows that a small country which has less resources and higher labor cost, is still able to compete in the world market. Thus, previous production factors are currently no longer enough to sustain a firm s competitive advantage; knowledge is being called on to play a key role. The study of Yoong and Molina shows that one way of surviving in today s turbulent business environment for SMEs is to form strategic alliances or merge with other similar or complementary business companies. The conclusion of their study supports the idea of «industry cluster», which was proposed by Prof. Michael E. Porter in Thus, governments try to support these clusters of SMEs in various ways such as financial support, government policy, import/export promotion, etc. However, large number of SMEs still cannot survive in the strong competition in the world market. The previous research on cluster revealed that the successful companies gain benefits from being a member of the cluster. And, the major key success factors are knowledge sharing and collaboration within the cluster. This knowledge was collected in form of tacit and explicit knowledge in expert and institutions within the cluster. Thus, this work aims at applying the knowledge management practice through the cluster development which will create competitiveness to the industry cluster. In order to help SMEs cluster to have better collaboration and knowledge sharing by implementing knowledge management system for the industry cluster, we focus on three problematic as follow. Firstly, what kind of knowledge are firms willing to share among the cluster and in what sharing condition? Since the relationships of organization in the cluster are not necessarily of the same type. We can either find in the same cluster collaborator-like relationships as in the supply chain or competitor-like relationships. Maintaining both relationships at the same time makes the cluster members feel uneasy to share their knowledge. Hence, these criteria are one of the major problems in our research. Secondly, how to help the cluster members to create, represent, share and reuse their knowledge? These activities are the fundamental of the knowledge management practice. This research will focus on the methodology to support these activities in the industry cluster context. Lastly, what are the general and specific infrastructures and architectures which are needed to achieve a specific collaborative knowledge management system for this specific field? We propose a specific architecture for especially improving the collaboration and knowledge exchange of the industry cluster. In order to response to the general problematic of this thesis work, we have organized our work into five chapters: The first chapter is dedicated to the description of the context in which the research work has been conducted presented. In the relative context part, we describe the present economical situation of SMEs and the need for developing collaboration as an industry cluster. We also introduce the characteristic of the cluster and the key success factors of its 17

18 Caractérisation des échanges des informations et des connaissances dans les groupements d entreprises : mise en œuvre d un système de gestion des connaissances pour le cas du cluster de l industrie artisanale Thaïlandaise development. Then, we present the related researches. Different models and frameworks are analyzed and compared with the handicraft cluster in Thailand which is our case study. We also introduce the cluster development methods from various countries (e.g. France, USA, Taiwan, Thailand, etc.) in order to understand the specific characteristics of the cluster. Finally, the principal hypothesis and problematic are defined. These specify our research work in two domains: collaboration and knowledge sharing between the cluster members. The second chapter focuses on the knowledge management context and is divided into three parts. The first part describes the state of the art of the knowledge management and its processes (i.e. create, represent, share, and reuse). The intention of this part is to propose an approach to improve the collaboration and knowledge sharing of the cluster. Then, the second part of this chapter aims at studying the integration of Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) concept to our context. Different point of views of the KMS such as roles, technology, and architecture are taken into account. However, designing the KMS to suit the industry cluster context is a sophisticated work which requires a deep analysis. Therefore, the final part will concentrate on the Knowledge Engineering (KE) methodology which helps us to design the knowledge system and also to capture the knowledge from experts. In this study, several KE methodologies (i.e. MOKA, SPEDE, AKEM, and CommonKADS) are investigated in order to select an appropriate one to be applied in our study. The third chapter mainly focuses on the proposed methodology for designing a KMS for the industry cluster. We adapt the notion of CommonKADS methodology to match with our context. The proposed methodology is separated into four levels, called the model suite. Firstly, the context level focuses on the global view of the industry cluster which is composed of the cluster model, the organization model, and the task model. The second level is called concept level which focuses on the knowledge and collaboration model of the cluster members. Then, the design level focuses on converting the requirements into architecture, scenarios, and specifications. Finally, the implementation level aims at developing KMS architecture with respect to the specifications of the previous level. The fourth chapter presents the results of the first three levels of the proposed model suite applied to the ceramic industry cluster in Thailand. The fundamental result from the context level shows the physical network of the cluster, the list of knowledge-intensive tasks, the knowledge assets, and the analysis of the cluster organization. The feasibility of the project was also examined in this level. The result from the concept level can be divided into two parts. The first part is the knowledge models which are captured from the experts by using provided knowledge templates in the methodology. The modeled knowledge is represented using semantic map and stored in the knowledge base of the KMS. This knowledge is considered as the task s body of knowledge. The second part focuses on the collaboration model for communication and exchanging the knowledge among the cluster members. This model gives better understanding about the characteristics of collaboration, the level of knowledge sharing, and the activities of the cluster. This information helps in defining the requirement for our collaborative system. Finally, the design level adopts the Software Engineering (SE) approach to facilitate the system s design generation. The outcomes from these levels are an architecture, scenarios, and specification of the KMS which is ready to be implemented in the next level. 18

19 Introduction The fifth chapter concentrates on the development of the KMS itself. Thus, various types of information technologies are adopted to fulfill the requirements of the cluster. The proposed KMS architecture is separated into three level of service: knowledge service, collaboration service, and presentation service. Knowledge service is comparable to the heart of the system since it makes possible for cluster members to represent, share, and reuse their knowledge via the KMS. The infrastructure of this service is based on FLEX technology which allows us to create attractive GUI for the users and also to enable web services on the server side. Moreover, the concept of the Collaborative Knowledge Card is taken into account as a medium of knowledge exchange in this service. Then, the collaboration service is developed with the intention of supporting collaborative activities of the industry cluster. Besides, it aims at conveying the knowledge from the expert to the knowledge user on the right place and at the right time. This level is developed on the concept of collaborative tools which is based on PHP and AJAX technologies. Finally, the presentation service concentrates on visualizing and personalizing all provided services on the KMS to the cluster members in the appropriate way. The main objective is to harmonically integrate the KMS into the cluster activities. Thus, we propose a knowledge widget which is a small application on the client-side in order to personalize the KMS to suit the role of each group. Lastly, we demonstrate three scenarios which present the interaction between KMS and the activity of the cluster. The first scenario is based on the collaborative activity of the members. It demonstrates how the cluster committee organizes meetings via virtual conference module. It also proves that three modes of communication (i.e. peer-to-peer, group, and mass communication) are supported in the KMS. The second scenario focuses on the knowledge management process. It shows how the experts in the cluster are able to represent and share their knowledge via the Collaborative Knowledge Card module. Then, the application of the inference engine is presented to demonstrate the knowledge retrieval from the KMS. The last scenario presents the value-added service of the KMS by integrating the collaboration and knowledge service together. The result of the assimilation allows knowledge users to retrieve knowledge from KMS anywhere and anytime via their mobile device. The explicit results from this study can be divided into two parts. The first part is the methodology for assessing the cluster, modeling the knowledge, and designing the KMS for the industry cluster. This methodology can also be generalized to industry clusters in different domains. The second part of the results is related to the KMS which is specifically designed for the ceramic cluster in our case study. These results prove that the KMS is able to support collaboration and knowledge sharing of the cluster which will enhance of competitiveness of the industry. 19

20 Caractérisation des échanges des informations et des connaissances dans les groupements d entreprises : mise en œuvre d un système de gestion des connaissances pour le cas du cluster de l industrie artisanale Thaïlandaise Chapter I: Context and Problematic I.1. SMEs and Industry Cluster Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been pillar of the economies of developing and developed countries for a long time. However, in the last decade, change of rivalry in the global market and also knowledge-based economy drive SMEs to adapt themselves to the new economic paradigm. For this reason, knowledge becomes one of the new production factors from traditional production factors. Young and Molina give the motive of altering that, in the past, three production factors (i.e. land, labor and capital) were abundant, accessible and were considered as the reason of economic advantage, knowledge did not get much attention [Young 03]. Thus, the enterprises that are capable to utilize their knowledge and shift their business into new economy will survive in the global market competition. Not only the large enterprises require the alteration but also SMEs are trying to use available information and knowledge to gain more competitive advantages in their market. The study also assumed that one way of surviving in today s turbulent business environment for business organizations is to form strategic alliances or mergers with other similar or complementary business companies. The assumption of Young and Molina s study supports the idea of industry cluster which is proposed by Prof. Michael E. Porter [Porter 90]. The concept of the industry cluster was implemented in many continents over the world. The main objective of the industry cluster is to improve the competitive advantages of their industry and country. Even if many clusters have a great success and became the major industry of the country such as Silicon Valley in USA, electronic industry in Taiwan and leather industry in Italy, number of established clusters could not develop themselves as the competitive cluster. In this chapter, we will describe about the global view of SMEs, problem of the industry, the support from their governments and the force that group them together as industry cluster. The second part of this chapter focuses on the behavior of the industry cluster, the development of the cluster, the best practices and the key success factors of the cluster development. In the last part, related researches and methodologies that are used in the industry cluster development are reviewed and compared with cluster development in Thailand which is our case study. The objective of this study is positioned to improve the three key success factors of cluster development i.e. knowledge sharing, collaboration and the CDA (cluster development agent). The details of these factors will be described later. I.1.1. Small and Medium Enterprises SMEs are recognized as playing an essential role in regional economic growth and sustainability for the country. UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) endorsed that their contribution to employment generation, poverty reduction, and wider distribution of wealth and opportunities represents a major window of opportunity for most developing countries [Dowson 03]. For these reasons, governments tried to support the SMEs by both fiscal policy and monetary policies. An in-depth view is that the SME is the business in the small to medium size that was driven from a unique skill product using a local 20

21 Chapter I: Context and Problematic raw material that is flexible and feasible to the local people way of life and the world market demand [Lertwongsatien 05]. The mentioned business includes manufacturing, agriculture and service industry which are embedded in the skill of local people that live near by the business establishment. Thus, SMEs generate income to its natives and bring the advantages to the region which will be a shock absorber to the fluctuation of the national economy. The definition of the SME may be differed by the policy of the government and the size of economy in each country. The criteria that are commonly used to classify small, medium and large enterprise are number of employees (headcount) and amount of investment (turnover). The examples of definition of SME in various countries are compared in table I.1. Table I.1: Definition of SMEs in each region Category Large Headcount USA UK >500 >250 EU >250 Medium <500 <250 <250 Small <100 <50 <50 Micro - - <10 Turnover Thailand USA UK >200 >50M. $ >22.8M. <200 50M. $ 22.8M. <50 <6.5 M. 5.6 M. $ - EU Thailand >50M. >100M.B 50M. 100M.B 10M. 20M. B 2M. - The European Union (EU) seems to put more focus on the SMEs than other continents. From the statistic of 2008, EU comprises 23 million of SMEs, providing around 75 million jobs and representing 99% of all enterprises [EC 03]. These SMEs are the major source of entrepreneurial skills, innovation and employment in this region. In 2005, EU has adopted new recommendations regarding the SME definition to promote the micro enterprises. This helps the new investors to access to capital, start-up their business and improve to the SMEs level. These criteria are also used to classify the range of enterprises which are able to obtain the support from the government. The objective of government support is to improve the capability of SMEs in their country through fiscal and monetary policies. Thus, many policies are custom issued for the SMEs. For example, in USA, there is a Tax Credit for the investment in the venture capital or Local Seed Capital in states level, and offering on Capital Gain Tax Cut is indexed by inflation of SMEs. In UK, there are many supporting policies such as encouraging an investment in venture capital and unlisted stocks SME, tax exemption for the dividend from venture capital, exemption on capital gain tax and allow to deduct loss from income, and allow a tax relief as a percent of the investment [Lertwongsatien 05]. In term of financial support, many specific financial institutes were established to support SMEs business activities such as SME banks and regional funds, etc. These implied the effort of government to increase the competitiveness of the SMEs in the country or region. However, only fiscal and monetary policies from the government itself are no longer sufficient to maintain the economical competitiveness of the nation in the present competition. SMEs also required developing their competitiveness through the product and service innovation. The innovation is the driving force behind the long-term competitive advantage of the country [Bornemann 03] which requires the knowledge and collaboration between the members of SMEs in the industry. The following section will describe the development of SMEs in Thailand and their competitiveness improvement model. 21

22 Caractérisation des échanges des informations et des connaissances dans les groupements d entreprises : mise en œuvre d un système de gestion des connaissances pour le cas du cluster de l industrie artisanale Thaïlandaise I.1.2. SMEs in Thailand SMEs have long been a leader of Thai economy. They create a large portion of national economy in terms of output, employment and effective utilization of regional resources. From national statistics, more than 90% of the total numbers of establishments in the manufacturing sector in Thailand are SMEs, which are scattered around Bangkok metropolitan and regional areas. In the past, Thailand aimed at being an industrialized country by developing its schemes based on the large foreign investment, labor-intensive production and advanced technology while neglecting the skills and know-how of local people. Since the severe economic crisis happened in Thailand in 1997 (known as Tom Yum Kung crisis), numbers of large enterprises closed down or relocated to other regions. Foreign capital and technology were transferred to new production bases. Meanwhile, SMEs also suffered from the impact of the crisis. Although many of them are closed, many of them were adaptable to the change and grew during the crisis. Hence, SMEs were the main mechanism for Thailand to pass through the crisis. Moreover, this phenomenon brought the Thai government to realize that SMEs are an important function of the country to survive and compete in the globalize world [Intrapairot 03]. Since then, Thailand s government has attempted to support the SMEs in various ways such as establishing a SME development bank, the office of SME promotion, the SME training center, etc. With the support from the government and capability of the SMEs, the economy of Thailand has grown up step by step. In 2006, there were 2,274,525 SMEs, 99.5 % of the total enterprises in Thailand and engaged 76.7% of the work force. The structure of enterprises in Thailand is classified into four sectors: manufacturing, commerce and maintenance and service sector, as shows in table I.2 [OSMEP 08]. Table I.2: Statistics of established SMEs in Thailand in 2006 [OSMEP 08] From the table, we see that 40% of SMEs are in the commerce and maintenance sector and the most employment (39.4%) is in the manufacturing sector. These SMEs have grown up by domestic demand and cost-focused products in the world market. They bring wealth and sustainability to the villages and regions in where they are located. In recent years, the emergence of two new factors has severely affected the SMEs markets. The first factor is the alteration of world s economic paradigm. This influenced three elements (i.e. knowledge, innovation and competitiveness) which became the significant factors in SMEs business. The second factor is the entrance of new, lower cost, competitors in the global market. These factors impelled SMEs to realize that they could no longer rely on cost-focus strategy alone. The competitive development model concerned both public and private sectors. Thus, 22

23 Chapter I: Context and Problematic the concept of industry cluster was seriously implemented in Thai SMEs. The details of this concept will be discussed in the next part. With the support of many organizations, neighboring SMEs in the same industry have been regrouped to form industry clusters. One interesting example is the ceramic industry. This industry was established in Thailand more than a hundred years ago, and became a competitive industry for Thailand since then due to the fine quality of clay in the country and the high skill of craftsmanship. It had proved its performance by being one of few industries that grew during the economic crisis. The largest ceramic manufacturing network is situated in Lampang province. Lampang province is located in the middle of northern Thailand which has the highest density of ceramic industry (43.46% of Thailand s total ceramic industry) [MIT 08]. It is the source of several positive factors for ceramic business such as fine quality of white clay, a raw material for ceramic production, low labor cost but good quality, skilled, craftsmanship. Moreover, supportive factors such as logistic convenience, availability of a ceramic exposition center, etc. have been key success factors for rapid growth of ceramic SMEs in Lampang in the last two decades. The ceramic industry in Thailand can be classified into 2 categories by using type of product i.e. traditional ceramic and new ceramic [MTEC 08]. 1. Traditional ceramics: tile, mosaic, sanitary-ware, tableware, souvenirs & decorative items, and electric insulators. 2. New ceramic: structural ceramics (for high temperature resistance) and functional ceramics (for electronic application). Most numbers of the ceramic industries in northern Thailand are traditional ceramic producers. The total export value of traditional ceramics in 2007 was 30, million baht [TCD 08] which had grown from 2003 (21,833.7 million baht) by about 37%. I.1.3. Forces behind the industry cluster Since the Thai economic crisis in 1997, numbers of ceramic SMEs became bankrupt and closed down, but many still survive by maintaining their comparative advantages such as a focus on lower cost of production, and the quality of the products slowly moved from C to B class (low to medium range product). However, the price and quality of products meant that these latter were able to compete in domestic and international markets. Nowadays, the comparative advantage itself is not enough to help them survive in the new economy. The SMEs are facing a new crisis from lower-cost product from neighboring countries such as China and Vietnam, the former having greater comparative advantage since it entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 [Untong 05]. Part of the domestic market segment was taken by lower priced products from neighboring countries. The report of the Department of Industrial Promotion of Thailand [DIP 08] confirmed that ceramic enterprises in Lampang province tended to close their business down rather than set up new factories in recent years. The rest are focusing on the accessing to the new international market. Another problem for this industry is a lack of Research and Development (R&D) on their products. From the results of questionnaires in this research, we found that 55% of these companies are Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). About 33.67% of manufacturers are Original Design Manufacturers (ODM) and only 11.33% are Original Brand Manufacturers (OBM). The designing process has mostly been done by customers from foreign countries such as the United States, Japan, France, etc. Due to this, SMEs focused on keeping the cost of production as low as possible, to maintain their advantage 23

24 Caractérisation des échanges des informations et des connaissances dans les groupements d entreprises : mise en œuvre d un système de gestion des connaissances pour le cas du cluster de l industrie artisanale Thaïlandaise for a long time, without focusing on any product development. This is the cause of deficiency in developing product and process innovation, and enables easy copying by other manufacturers. Accordingly, branding and marketing processes were also done by overseas customers, resulting in a lacking of experience in competition in foreign markets. This also created considerable problems for SMEs in the present situation, due to the demand for ceramic products in the country being less than the supply in the last few years [DIP 08]. This circumstance pushed SMEs to search for market opportunities in the global market by themselves. The lack of knowledge in the international markets made them lose out in the strong competition. These three problems are driving forces that lead to alterations in the ceramic industry in Thailand. The ceramic producers are aware that they are losing their comparative advantages in the domestic and global markets. This aroused national and local government to pay more attention to the competitiveness of ceramic SMEs, which used to be a good potential industry of the nation. Hence, the competitiveness creating model was considered by the government and academic institutes in order to build the competitiveness of the industry in Thailand. The concept of the model is illustrated in figure I.1. Figure I.1: Knowledge as a basis of competitive advantage From the model above, it is clear that improving the competitiveness of the industry requires developing of innovation and the knowledge of the industry. Actually, innovation could mean renewal and change, but in today s business, it has come in particular to mean the development of new corporate services, products, processes and structures. To cope with innovation, organizations must become more flexible, and one certain way for them to do so is to strengthen their potential to learn as organizations [Bornemann 03]. Thus, the term knowledge becomes an essential driver and a key factor in value creation in each organization. Creating the knowledge-based organization can be done either by learning from others (such as colleagues, partners, third party content, etc.) or creating new knowledge through innovation. Both processes help secure sustainable competitive advantage. In brief, the competitiveness of the SMEs can be improved by combining the expertise of cooperative partners to generate new knowledge and innovation which are sources of competitiveness. From this perception, the Thai government adopted the concept of industry cluster proposed by Porter [Porter 90] and officially applied it to the ceramic industry in 2002, in order to improve their competitive advantage. Moreover, the local government in Lampang also put the ceramic cluster development agenda into the provincial strategy. The goal of this strategy is to promote Lampang province as the Asian Ceramic center in