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Our research investigates how state-sponsored social protection is associated with undertaking the initial steps to start businesses in knowledge-intensive sectors. We define social protection as policies to protect individuals against economic risk. Although research generally shows a negative link between coordinated market economies and business creation, we highlight conditions when social protection may actually have positive consequences on entrepreneurial action. Specifically, these policies can encourage individuals to develop specific skills, which can be used by those who start businesses to pursue opportunities in knowledge-intensive sectors. Findings from a cross-national sample of individuals starting businesses in 16 advanced industrialized countries are consistent with this claim. We also find that educational attainment moderates this positive direct relationship. Our study is one of the first that provides new explanations for how welfare states can actually promote certain types of entrepreneurial action in highly coordinated economies by orienting their economic activity toward a system of highly skilled and productive labor.

Knowledge‐intensive firms are growing in importance yet there are few tools to help managers to analyze and improve their performance, which this paper aims to describe.

This paper builds on Michael Porter's strategic frameworks for industrial firms. It outlines how his frameworks, in particular the five forces and value chain, need to be modified if they are to be effectively applied to knowledge‐intensive firms.

Managers of knowledge‐intensive firms need to use the old tools in new ways, if they are to improve their business models and ultimately increase their profitability.

The paper outlines ways for managers of knowledge‐intensive firms to improve their firm's performance. First, managers using a revised five forces can improve their value capture by reducing bargaining power of its experts, making outsourcing of expert services more attractive, or improving their reputational status. Second, the paper outlines a continuum of business models and suggests that the appropriate choice of business model depends on the firm's problem‐solving expertise, its target clients, desired risk level and aspirations. The paper elaborates on the business model by examining choices surrounding the scope of the firm's problem‐solving activities, suggesting that these allow the firm to find profitable niches.

This is one of the first attempts to develop strategic tools that managers of knowledge‐intensive firms can used to increase their firm's profitability.

Assists senior managers with generating new business models by mapping the competitive space occupied by knowledge intensive organizations and outlining strategic positioning options.

Provides a conceptual paper based on studies of knowledge intensive organizations.

Based on four strategic positioning characteristics, the authors identify three types of knowledge intensive organizations; diagnosis, search, and design shops. All knowledge intensive organizations are either pure types or combinations of these types.

While mapping the competitive space lets managers of knowledge intensive organizations pinpoint where they are relative to their rivals, strategy involves finding unique, profitable business models. To help managers detect potential opportunities, the paper outlines a full menu of competitive positioning options. Generating new business models in this manner should allow managers to enter existing, profitable niches or establish new, potentially profitable niches.

Few studies delineate the competitive terrain occupied by knowledge intensive organizations and then outline competitive positioning options for knowledge intensive organizations.

This paper aims to further research on leadership and knowledge management through formal knowledge strategies in knowledge-intensive organizations (KIOs), and analyse knowledge management challenges and approaches within KIOs, especially tacit knowledge.

This paper is based on conceptual and literature research.

Managing knowledge as an organizational asset involves how knowledge is obtained, stored and organized, and accessed and shared when needed. This is crucial for KIOs. Knowledge that is not captured, understood and transferred, throughout the organization, is useless. This requires the integration of systems and processes with people and leadership. Tacit knowledge generation and transfer is especially important in KIOs. In particular, the success of KIOs depends crucially on management’s ability to give leadership in a way that supports knowledge-intensive teamwork. The global nature of internal and external knowledge networks adds to the leadership challenge. This can be made more complex by cultural differences, intellectual property protection (formal and informal) and talent scarcity.

Further research is needed to identify the types of KIO and to better understand sound common knowledge management and related leadership principles across all types of KIO and those that are more context-dependent on the type of KIO and/or its business and cultural context. More research is needed on policy making organizations, in-company policy-making research and development and creative industries.

The paper takes forward research on leading knowledge management in KIOs and introduces 14 challenging new papers in this specific field of research.

The dramatic growth and international scope of knowledge‐intensive business services (KIBS) are evident in emerging markets such as China and India. Nations, like firms, seek to capitalize on their available resources and capabilities (e.g. people, technology, skills) in order to build and maintain core competencies in certain industry sectors. This paper has the following objectives: to discuss the classification of KIBS, to marshal conceptual and statistical evidence on KIBS in major emerging markets, to compare and contrast selected major emerging markets in regard to their KIBS activities, and to discuss policy implications.

In this conceptual paper, extant literature is reviewed and discussed pertaining to the KIBS sectors. Several existing data sources are used to assess the comparative performance of major emerging markets in the KIBS sectors.

The emphasis is on finding comparative longitudinal statistics that are useful for comparison and contrast among major emerging markets. The analysis indicates that while the major emerging markets are building competitive advantage by focusing on knowledge‐intensive business services, their progress differs sharply. For example, China shows the lead, followed by India, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Turkey, and Indonesia. Smaller nations lag behind these in most indicators. It is evident that leading major emerging nations have not reached parity with highly industrialized countries.

The results show ranking and contribution of various major nations in the global knowledge economy, but additional time series and analysis are needed to assess comparative rankings. However, the classification and the indicators illustrated here offer a panoramic, comparative picture over the past decade. Using international business theories, research can develop statistical models to explain foreign market entry strategies of knowledge‐intensive service firms.

The paper is of value to managers considering entry and/or expansion into major emerging markets in various sub‐sectors of knowledge‐intensive sectors. The specific industry and function pursued by a firm need to be identified and matched up with host nation characteristics (e.g. more software design and pharmaceutical research in India v. more manufacturing design and R&D facility in China). The paper also provides guidelines to policy makers to sustain their country's competitive advantage in the KIBS sectors.

The paper looks at knowledge‐intensive business services in major emerging markets. It offers both conceptual contributions and statistical evidence that key nations differ in their activities in regard to such high‐level and complex service offerings.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the knowledge transfer processes of knowledge intensive business service firms by focusing on the knowledge for customer, which is the knowledge about the service provider's products and services, specifically “before‐sale” knowledge, and the transfer of this knowledge in order to develop customers.

The authors conducted an in‐depth qualitative study of the knowledge transfer process undertaken by a sample of six global knowledge intensive service firms, to use knowledge transfer as a means of customer development.

The results of this study suggest that customer absorptive capacity influences the role that knowledge for customers has in ultimately determining whether customer development will occur. Where tacit knowledge transfer occurs, it is restricted to loyal, high share customers. With respect to methods of transfer, the findings reveal that knowledge‐intensive business service firms transferring explicit knowledge utilise both formal and informal methods.

Data collection was cross‐sectional and longitudinal research would have the benefit of examining how customer knowledge transfer changes over time during the customer development process (pre‐sale, during sale and post‐sale customer development). Future research studying other types of knowledge transfer, such as during‐sale and after‐sale knowledge transfer, are also encouraged.

Managers should be open to employing numerous types of media in transferring both explicit and tacit knowledge rather than restricting themselves to the normative “explicit‐formal‐media lean” versus “tacit‐informal‐media rich” categorisations in the literature.

Understanding the role of customer knowledge transfer in the development of existing organisational customers is particularly important in the context of knowledge intensive business service firms. The extant literature recognises that customer development efforts are critically important in increasing service adoption and firm performance but there exists a dearth of research on customer knowledge transfer in the context of professional service organisations.

This paper presents a design approach for process-based knowledge management (PKM) systems that can support knowledge-intensive processes where effective task execution is highly reliant on the knowledge and expertise of participants executing the tasks. The proposed design approach includes design methods and kernel theories governing the design of PKM systems and can also be easily integrated with existing systems analysis and design techniques.

The design science research methodology is used to design and develop the artifact which includes the overall PKM design approach. Information systems design theory is used as a high-level framework to develop and structure the design approach. Relevant design methods and behavioral theories are reviewed to identify kernel theories that guide the design and development of PKM systems. The design approach consists of meta-requirements for PKM systems and design processes to achieve the meta-requirements. A feasibility study is conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed approach.

The design approach presented in this paper can guide system analysts and system developers in the design of knowledge management systems for supporting knowledge-intensive processes. The paper also includes a comprehensive design theory for PKM systems consisting of meta-requirements and a synthesis of various kernel theories into actionable design procedures. The proposed procedures include knowledge requirements modeling, knowledge flows modeling and knowledge and process performance modeling procedures. The feasibility study indicates that the PKM approach can be more useful and effective than solely using unified modeling language (UML)-based systems analysis and design techniques for the design of PKM systems.

An implication to information systems design research is the feasibility of developing a specialized design approach that incorporates significant domain knowledge to solve complex information system design problems. An implication to practice is the significant potential to improve productivity and effectiveness of systems analysts and designers in developing PKM systems. A limitation is the small sample size of the feasibility study used to evaluate the ease of use and utility of the design approach.

The study makes a unique contribution by proposing a design approach that integrates business process and knowledge management considerations. The approach is particularly valuable because of the focus on integration with existing systems analysis and design techniques, thus allowing for easier adoption.

This paper focuses on the “how” of business analytics (BA) value creation, which remains an open research problem and a practical challenge. The main purpose of this paper is to propose a novel BA value creation mechanism that is BA-enabled improvement of Knowledge-intensive Business Processes (KIBPs), with experiential knowledge of decision makers as the key to a more sustainable BA-enabled competitive differentiation.

This research uses a qualitative research case study, conducted in a large retail distribution company. The research insights were observed through a combined lens of work systems theory and the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm, using an interpretive approach.

The proposed theoretical model identifies three stages of KIBP improvement through BA and explains how they lead to a sustainable BA-enabled competitive differentiation. Stage 1 focusses on BA support for individual knowledge-intensive tasks, Stage 2 focusses on individual decision makers and their ability to gain KIBP-related analytical insights and turn them into action; and Stage 3 on sharing of the acquired experiential knowledge amongst decision makers using BA.

In addition to proposing a novel mechanism for BA value creation, this research demonstrates the importance of leveraging experiential knowledge of decision makers as a pathway to a more sustainable competitive differentiation through BA. This, in turn, creates new opportunities for knowledge management researchers to engage in BA-related research. It also opens a new approach for BA researchers to investigate BA value creation mechanisms through the lens of KBV, rather than more common resource-based or capability-based views.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between organisational learning capabilities (OLCs) and innovation performance (IP) in organisational contexts where knowledge creation and exploitation are the business’ main source of competitive advantage.

The study hypotheses are tested on a unique sample of 74 high-performance businesses operating in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) industries and non-knowledge intensive sectors in 2016. The study employs a sequential deductive triangulation analysis (QUAN → qual) based on linear regression models and qualitative interviews.

The results indicate that OLCs positively impact IP. Additionally, the findings reveal that this relationship is stronger in organisations where knowledge creation and exploitation constitute the main source of competitive advantage, namely, KIBS firms.

This paper offers insights into how the innovation outcomes of OLCs are heterogeneous across industries. This study contributes to a better understanding of the conditions under which the effects of developing learning-enhancing strategies occur in businesses operating in different industries.

Both knowledge generation and exploitation processes are critical for business success, and OLCs play a decisive role in this process. In this sense, the results suggest that managers need to turn their attention to the characteristics of business operations when considering the development of strategies aimed at enhancing OLCs.

The paper further explores the influence of OLCs on IP by analysing how organisational learning strategies interact with relevant organisational characteristics – that are linked here to the exploitation of knowledge-based resources – to yield superior IP.

Este trabajo analiza la relación entre capacidades de aprendizaje organizativo y desempeño innovador en contextos organizacionales donde tanto la creación como la explotación de conocimiento constituyen la principal fuente de ventaja competitiva de las empresas.

Para la verificación empírica de las hipótesis planteadas en este trabajo se emplea una base de datos del 2016 que incluye información de 74 empresas ‘gacela’ que operan en sectores de servicios intensivos en conocimiento (KIBS) y en industrias no intensivas en conocimiento. El estudio utiliza un análisis de triangulación secuencial deductiva (QUAN → qual) basado en modelos de regresión lineal y entrevistas en profundidad de corte cualitativo.

Los resultados indican que las capacidades de aprendizaje organizativo impactan positivamente el desempeño innovador. Además, los resultados revelan que esta relación es más pronunciada en empresas – empresas KIBS – donde la creación y la explotación de conocimiento son la principal fuente de ventaja competitiva.

Este trabajo ofrece resultados sobre la heterogeneidad de los rendimientos de las capacidades de aprendizaje organizativo, en términos de innovación. Además, este estudio contribuye a un mejor entendimiento de las condiciones bajo las cuales la implantación de estrategias orientadas a mejorar el aprendizaje organizacional se materializa en un mayor desempeño innovador en empresas que operan en distintos sectores económicos.

Tanto la creación como la explotación de conocimiento son procesos clave para el éxito empresarial, y las capacidades de aprendizaje organizativo juegan un papel fundamental en este proceso. En este sentido, los resultados del estudio sugieren que los directores y gestores de empresas deben tener en consideración las características de los procesos operativos de sus empresas a la hora de diseñar e implementar estrategias que buscan mejorar las capacidades de aprendizaje organizativo al interior de la empresa.

Este trabajo investiga en profundidad el efecto de las capacidades de aprendizaje organizativo sobre el desempeño innovador mediante un análisis que busca explicar cómo las estrategias de aprendizaje organizativo interactúan con importantes características de la empresa – las cuales asociamos a la explotación de recursos basados en conocimiento – para generar mayores niveles de desempeño innovador dentro de la empresa.