Inter-firm knowledge management practices for technology and new product development in discontinuous innovation

Discontinuous, or radical, innovation has been regarded as a critical facto r in renewing firms' competitive position. The results of the Rensselaer Ra dical Innovation Project (RRIP) show that the development of new businesses and product lines based on discontinuous innovations requires distinct int er-firm knowledge management practices. Knowledge management studies suggest that inter-firm collaborative networks , such as strategic alliances, enhance corporate innovative capability by f acilitating flow of knowledge across companies. Due to the increasing signi ficance of inter-firm collaborative networks, there is a need for further u nderstanding of knowledge management at the inter-firm level. By reviewing the literature on knowledge management practices, this article suggests that knowledge management practices vary from one organization to another. The variety of corporate knowledge management practices attribute to distinct organizational settings, and technology domains in the context of technology and new product development. The authors propose that the di fferent types of inter-firm collaborative networks are established to fulfi l specific knowledge management requirements for divergent technology and n ew product development in discontinuous innovation.