Knowledge management with focus on the innovation process in collaborative networking companies
Publication type
Journal articlePublication Year
2006Journal
International Journal of Networking and Virtual OrganisationsPublication Volume
3Publication Issue
3Publication Begin page
283Publication End page
298
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Knowledge lies at the very heart of innovation. A company's ability to create, store and transfer knowledge about technologies, customer needs and the innovation process itself may well determine success in bringing new products or services to the market. Yet, little is known as to how companies treat these issues in practice. This paper presents the results of a research project assessing practices and challenges for innovation-oriented knowledge management within four global technology-based companies in Switzerland. Results are discussed from both company-internal and external network perspectives. For company-internal knowledge management, broad differences in terms of both practices and challenges were found between the companies mainly because of different ways of implementing the innovation process and very different company cultures. Common issues included poor implementation of post-project reviews as well as a need for better integrating market and customer knowledge into all stages of the innovation process. For the external perspective, a more homogenous picture emerged where companies network with different partners throughout the innovation process and where knowledge creation and transfer were substantially greater for long-term partnerships.Keyword
Knowledge Management, Collaborative Innovation, Disruptive Innovation, Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Transfer, Collaborative Networks, Networking, Technology Based Companies, Switzerland, Organisational Culture, Innovation Process, Virtual OrganisationsKnowledge Domain/Industry
Entrepreneurshipae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1504/IJNVO.2006.010952