Knowledge as a competitive entrepreneurial asset: concepts and practices by early-stage entrepreneurs in creative industries

Abstract

Industries linked to and built on creativity and design have been described as backbones of a modern economy by the likes of Florida (2002; 2005). Simultaneously, net job creation in advanced economies has been dependent on small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and micro-sized companies. These resource-constrained enterprises operate in the context of a knowledge economy that underlines the key role of knowledge as a source of advantage. As Moore (2000) claims, knowledge intensity creates entrepreneurial opportunities and results to offer an advantage. However, the modern volatile era is rendering companies knowledge obsolescence. Despite the key role of a unique knowledge base in micro-sized companies’ and SMEs’ reason for existence and growth, actions on knowledge in this cohort are often implicit and lack processes (Saukkonen and Kreus, 2018). Furthermore, the current view of knowledge management (KM) stretches the realm of KM beyond the ability to create. Action on knowledge contains sub-processes of knowledge creation, maintenance, renewal, organisation, and transference, for example (Wiig, 1997). The paper studies the way entrepreneurs express the nature of knowledge in the enterprise and in relation to their personal entrepreneur role. Light is shed on the principles and practices of KM in entrepreneurial firms. The research is an exploratory and interpretative case study, revealing patterns of thoughts and behaviour in the companies studied. A sample of seven companies whose business activity is based on design and creativity were interviewed in-depth. The collected qualitative case data is thematically content-analysed to constitute a model of companies’ development trajectory in relation to knowledge. The study contributes to academic knowledge both in the areas of entrepreneurial studies as well as in KM. The practical contributions serve creativity-connected industries and early-stage entrepreneurs who can use the results to plan and foresee their KM.