Knowledge Networks for Business Growth
Companies are constantly searching for new ways of creating higher profit and a larger market share. Growth seems to be the most appropriate tactic for surviving economically in difficult times. New instruments and methods as a support to a company’s growth strategy can be essential in gaining a competitive advantage. Knowledge management is one of the answers to this challenge. It can support strategic goals such as the improvement of efficiency, the minimization of risk and an increase in innovation, but also has inherent potentials which have not been leveraged yet.
A Risk-Benefit Perspective on Early Customer Integration
Customer integration in the early innovation phase has been considered the method of choice in theory and practice. Growing experience with the concept has shown unexpected side effects that may even outweigh its recognized advantages. Therefore, management needs to be able to assess in advance whether the involvement of customers will add overall value to each particular innovation project. To support but not to replace the final managerial decision, a mathematical formula is developed. It can be applied to all kinds of process structures, takes into account the risks and benefits contingent on a company's situation as well as risk-reducing and benefit-increasing measures and translates them into numerical values. The resulting figure indicates the prospective value of customer integration in a specific project.

