Creating and Exploiting Market Knowledge Assets

Purpose: Identify the components of a knowledge management system that contribute to superior new product program performance. Design/methodology/approach: We first undertook an extensive review of the academic and managerial literatures that deal with knowledge management's contribution to superior performance. After identifying gaps in the literature, we developed a comprehensive model of a knowledge management system. Where possible, we utilized existing measures of the constructs in this model. We developed a questionnaire, purchased a commercial mailing list, and conducted a two wave mailing which produced a 15.8% response rate. Findings: Customer intelligence generation, competitor intelligence generation, technological intelligence generation, and intelligence dissemination all contribute to the stock of knowledge assets (p < .05). We found that, after controlling for influences on new product performance, a knowledge-based strategy fully mediated the knowledge asset - new product program performance relationship (p < .05). Research limitations: This is a cross-sectional study so causality should not be implied. The study was conducted among companies competing in high-tech industries so there may be questions about generalizability. Practical implications: Within the limitations of the research design, this study demonstrates the components of a knowledge management system. We provide numerous examples of the techniques utilized and companies that utilize them