A taxonomy of knowledge projects to underpin organizational innovation and competitiveness

Abstract

It is well established in the literature and evidenced in practice that an organization's ability to innovate leads to competitiveness. This paper attempts to understand the contribution that knowledge management makes to an organization's ability to innovate and, ultimately to be competitive. It develops an approach that enables organizations to leverage knowledge for innovation by ensuring knowledge projects are managed appropriately. We argue first, that the unit of knowledge analysis should be the business process. Second, we suggest that classifying knowledge projects significantly aids understanding and hence assists in achieving innovation. A key feature of the approach is the knowledge-innovation diamond: this provides a classification framework for knowledge projects and thereby enables organizations to establish a clear link between these projects and their contribution to innovation. Further, it provides insights into selecting the appropriate management approaches for a particular project. The implications of this approach for practitioners and academics are identified. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Cornwallis Emmanuel Ltd.

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