Knowledge Management Practices and Results in Service-Oriented versus Product-Oriented Companies

As service companies increasingly occupy a significant place as drivers of economic growth, there is a pressing need to understand their peculiarities in order to facilitate their effectivemanagement and governance. One important areawhere this kind of understanding is lacking is knowledge management (KM). Although KM has become a key value driver for all types of organizations, there has been a lack of systematic research into whether there are some fundamental differences between the nature of KM in service-oriented versus product-oriented companies. To address this gap in the existing knowledge, this paper examines the main differences between the KM practices and benefits produced by KM in service-oriented versus product-oriented companies. Empirical evidence is collected from 171 companies in Finland, China, and Russia and analyzed statistically. The results demonstrate that there are significant differences between service-oriented and product-oriented companies in time savings achieved through the application of KM and also on the impact of KM practices on KM benefits. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.