Knowledge Management, Knowledge Creation, and Open Innovation in Icelandic SMEs

Elsa Grimsdottir and Ingi Runar Edvardsson

SAGE Open, 2018, vol. 8, issue 4, 2158244018807320

Abstract: The aim of this article is to present findings on knowledge management (KM) and knowledge creation, as well as open innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Iceland. Two SME company case studies are presented in the form of a case study involving semistructured interviews with managers and selected employees and in-field observation. Company Alpha is a software company, whereas Company Beta is a family company which produces drinks and snacks. Knowledge creation and innovation is a learning process in both companies. The two companies show very different open-innovation models in practice. The findings regarding the two companies are in accordance with the arguments of Chiaroni et al., where they state that high-tech companies tend to prefer inside-out strategies of open innovation, whereas low-tech companies prefer outside-in strategies. Company Alpha relates to customers late in the process, whereas Company Beta relies on knowledge from customers and suppliers and for new knowledge early on in the process.

Keywords: knowledge; knowledge creation; open innovation; SMEs; case studies; Iceland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244018807320 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:8:y:2018:i:4:p:2158244018807320

DOI: 10.1177/2158244018807320

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in SAGE Open
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().