Turning knowledge management into innovation in the high‐tech industry

Abstract

Purpose

Organizations are facing a rapidly changing environment and there is a greater need to understand customers' demands and competitors' strategies for the development of product innovation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of market orientation, market knowledge and customer knowledge management on product innovation performance from the perspective of dynamic capability.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from high‐tech firms in Taiwan. This study employs the structural equation model (SEM) to examine the relationships between market orientation, market knowledge, customer knowledge management and product innovation performance.

Findings

The findings of this study suggest market orientation has no significant impact on product innovation performance, and market knowledge and customer knowledge management mediate the relationship between market orientation and product innovation performance.

Research limitations/implications

This paper suggests the consideration of various types of mediators or moderators in order to acquire more information for future study; the framework can be expanded to other industries due to this study's limited focus on the high‐tech industry.

Practical implications

This paper implies that besides utilizing market orientation for innovative practices, the high‐tech industry should focus more on market knowledge and customer knowledge management. In high‐tech industries, the process of knowledge management, which transfers customer knowledge to product innovation, can effectively seize market information.

Originality/value

This study examines the mediating effects of market knowledge and customer knowledge management and clarifies the relational inconsistencies between market orientation and product innovation performance from knowledge management viewpoints.

Citation

Lin, R., Che, R. and Ting, C. (2012), "Turning knowledge management into innovation in the high‐tech industry", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 112 No. 1, pp. 42-63. https://doi.org/10.1108/02635571211193635