Managing the knowledge paradox in product development

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to obtain from paradox a novel lens to elucidate the connections between knowledge management (KM) and product development as a knowledge intensive process. By focusing on the “social side” of KM, it is proposed that different KM orientations can emerge as a result of higher or lower emphasis on both cultural and structural enablers. These KM orientations generate specific potential to manage the tension and paradox of managing both knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation knowledge during product development. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical evidence is provided by performing survey research with data collected from 80 product development projects developed in Spain. Findings – Results show that product development efforts can show three different KM orientations that significantly differ in their results in terms of knowledge exploration and, specially, knowledge exploitation. Moreover, product development requires a symbiosis between both cultural and structural enablers to best manage the paradox of exploration and exploitation. Originality/value – The measurement items used can realistically be thought of as only proxies for an underlying and latent phenomenon that is neither fully nor easily measurable. Together with it, replies from multiple respondents would have ruled out potential drawbacks.