Effect of Knowledge Management Practices on Product Innovations: Study with Special Reference to Hospitality Industry in Southern Province Sri Lanka
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Date
2011
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Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka
Abstract
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21' century is considered as the Knowledge era. The knowledge is the factor that drives the businesses in the 2I51 century. It can be seen as an asset raising traditional asset questions to management such as when, how much and what to invest in. Owing to the particular properties of knowledge, however, knowledge assets require special attention (Uwe et al., 2003).
Knowledge Management (KM) is defined as the internal modes of collaboration in innovation activities between different departments that involve in the exchange of knowledge. The significant determinants of KM include consumer orientation, continuous R&D activity, and number of employees, high-tech manufacturing and knowledge intensives services (Annelies and Dirk, 2009).
Innovation is doing something newly and uniquely to what the competitors are producing or practicing. Companies collect new ideas and forms new products and processes based on those ideas. Innovation is crucial to the success and survival of companies. It can be identified as the single most important building block of competitive advantage. There are two common forms of innovations, product innovation and process innovation. Product innovation generally involves in the introduction of new products or services to meet market needs (Allan, 2008).
In accordance with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), hospitality is an industry that generates three billion dollars per day globally, and one out of twelve people around the world are employed by tourism industry. Potentially, tourism will become Sri Lanka's largest industry and employer. According to Karr R, the 'Pearl of the Indian Ocean', Sri Lanka's diverse attractions have always lured tourists from all over the world. Since the war ended in May 2009, there has been a rapid growth in the numbers of tourists visiting Sri Lanka and as a sector, tourism is booming (Business Today, 2W 0).
This study aimed to identify whether there is a relationship between Knowledge Management practices (KMP) and product innovations and assessing the impact of KMPs on product innovations since these two concepts are very important to the business world. Accordingly, the sub objectives of this study were to observe current degree of KMPs in hospitality industry and the degree of KMPs in different classes of hotels, the effect of different types of KMPs on product innovation and to explore the relationship between KMPs and product innovation.
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Keywords
Business Management, Business Studies, Entrepreneurship