This book focuses on knowledge management and learning organizations, showing how they realise entrepreneurship and innovation. Understanding knowledge management as the process of creating, sharing and managing an organization’s information and knowledge, and focusing learning organizations in their collaborations to promote continuous learning are two issues that are critical to the organizational success. As such, this book offers insights into the topic and the appropriate use of the tools and strategies that drive competitive organizations operating on an international or transnational scale.

Innovation, in economic activity, in managerial concepts and in engineering design, results from creative activities, entrepreneurial strategies and the business climate. Innovation leads to technological, organizational and commercial changes, due to the relationships between enterprises, public institutions and civil society organizations. These innovation networks create new knowledge and contribute to the dissemination of new socio-economic and technological models, through new production and marketing methods. Innovation Economics, Engineering and Management Handbook 1 is the first of the two volumes that comprise this book. The main objectives across both volumes are to study the innovation processes in todays information and knowledge society; to analyze how links between research and business have intensified; and to discuss the methods by which innovation emerges and is managed by firms, not only from a local perspective but also a global one. The studies presented in these two volumes contribute toward an understanding of the systemic nature of innovations and enable reflection on their potential applications, in order to think about the meaning of growth and prosperity.

Learning Organizations delves into why learning is an essential business operation; how modern learning is different from industrial-era training; how to discover learning sources and opportunities; how to design a learning environment and learning strategies that optimize the potential of every employee.

Knowledge management (KM) is a set of relatively-new organizational activities that are aimed at improving knowledge, knowledge-related practices, organizational behaviors and decisions and organizational performance. KM focuses on knowledge processes—knowledge creation, acquisition, refinement, storage, transfer, sharing and utilization. These processes support organizational processes involving innovation, individual learning, collective learning and collaborative decision-making. The “intermediate outcomes” of KM are improved organizational behaviors, decisions, products, services, processes and relationships that enable the organization to improve its overall performance. Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning presents some 20 papers organized into five sections covering basic concepts of knowledge management; knowledge management issues; knowledge management applications; measurement and evaluation of knowledge management and organizational learning; and organizational learning.

Creating Knowledge Based Organizations brings together high quality concepts and techniques closely related to organizational learning, knowledge workers, intellectual capital, and knowledge management. It includes the methodologies, systems and approaches that are needed to create and manage knowledge based organizations.

Knowledge management has been growing in importance and popularity as a research topic and business initiative. This book documents the key issues of knowledge management and serves as an useful resource for academicians, practitioners, researchers, and students.

The fully revised and updated version of this successful Handbook is welcomed by management scholars world-wide. By bringing together the latest approaches from the leading experts in organizational learning & knowledge management the volume provides a unique and valuable overview of current thinking about how organizations accumulate 'knowledge' and learn from experience. Key areas of update in the new edition are: Resource based view of the firm Capability management Global management Organizational culture Mergers & acquisitions Strategic management Leadership