Online Journal of Applied Knowledge Management
A Publication of the International Institute for Applied Knowledge Management
Volume 5, Issue 2, 2017
94
knowledge management is the key to the efficient and effective implementation of the innovation
processes. Knowledge management includes two aspects, ‘managing’ the knowledge that already
exists in an organization, as well as enhancing the ability to create ‘new knowledge’ (Albers &
Brewer, 2003). Traditionally, knowledge is defined as information put into a certain context.
Nonaka, Toyama, and Konno (2000) noted that knowledge creation is necessarily context-
dependent in terms of who participates and how they participate. They introduced the concept of
‘ba’ as a space for knowledge creation in organizations. Ba can be considered as a shared space
for emerging relationships. According to Nonaka et al. (2000), this space can be either physical
(e.g. office, dispersed business space, etc.), virtual (e.g. e-mail, teleconference, etc.), mental (e.g.
shared experiences, ideas, ideals, etc.), or any combination of these. The most important roles that
knowledge management plays in improving innovation capability of an enterprise are (Krstić &
Petrović, 2012):
• codifying and sharing tacit knowledge
• acquiring and sharing explicit knowledge
• enabling cooperation within and outside the enterprise
• integrating knowledge
• providing availability of knowledge
• creating organizational culture based on knowledge and innovation
The essence of innovation processes is the creation and implementation of new knowledge.
Therefore, they have very strong relationship with knowledge management. Knowledge is not only
a collection of data stored in computer databases and information retrieved from such sources. It
is also composed of the tacit values, emotions, and intuitions (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). In fact,
those elusive elements control innovation processes implemented in enterprises. And although for
all stakeholders the most important goal is to increase in competitiveness, they see different ways
to achieve this. Therefore, from the very beginning of the innovation process, its key element is
learning which is the exchange of knowledge between stakeholders. New technologies play a vital
role in this process, supporting the sharing and distribution of knowledge among employees.
However, IT-supported forms of formal communication are not sufficient in case of innovation
processes, which are poorly structured, extremely dynamic, and often chaotic due to the high level
of risk and uncertainty. In this respect, the function of knowledge management is to reduce
uncertainty of the final outcome of an innovation process (Tidd, 2009).
The second main characteristic feature of the innovation processes is their multidisciplinary nature.
It is connected with the involvement in innovation processes of people with different skills and
professional interests, who see specific information in different contexts. The transfer of
knowledge is ineffective, and the agreement difficult to reach, if the parties give different meanings
to the same information. This problem becomes even more complex, if they do not use the same
terminology, and assign different meanings to the same term. This justifies the need for the
development of specialized tools for innovation process management, which support acquiring,
processing, codifying, transferring, and the application of knowledge. Eventually, such system can
lead to leveling knowledge between the members of a team involved in the innovation process.
Such actions are reasonable with respect to every stage of the innovation process planning.
However, they appear to be the most desirable in relation to the determination of the purpose of
innovation, because it defines the direction for tasks and decisions performed within the whole