Knowledge management as enabling R&D innovation in high tech industry: the case of SAIT

Abstract

The purpose is to present a knowledge management model for R&d organizations and discuss how to employ it for their innovation. This paper first derives generic elements for effective KM implementation through literature reviews. Then, considering the elements, this paper develops an integrative KM model for enabling R&D innovation. Next, this paper analyzes the case of Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), which has performed KM‐based innovation activities on the basis of the model presented in this paper. Finally, this paper discusses the lessons and implications from SAIT’s knowledge management initiatives. To achieve KM‐based innovation successfully in an R&D organization, its generic characteristics should be considered essentially in designing KM activities. From the case analysis of SAIT KM which employs this perspective, the following critical success factors are found: KM measurements metrics to stimulate a strong relationship between KM activities and the organization’s competitiveness, knowledge templates to enable the consistent management of core knowledge, various information group activities to generate meaningful new ideas, and IT systems and rules to satisfy researchers’ individual aspiration for self development. The research limitations/implications are that to generalize the usefulness of the proposed model, more cases need to be analyzed. The practical implications are that the proposed R&D KM model and analyses on the real‐life KM case of SAIT may be employed as significant benchmarking information in other R&D organizations. This paper presents an integrative KM model considering the generic features of R&D organizations.