The Role of a Knowledge-Centric Capability in Innovation: A Case Study

Abstract

The ability to provide an organisational context for the creation, sharing, and integration of knowledge, called the knowledge-centric capability, is a key strategic resource of an organisation and an enabler of innovation. This view is informed by dynamic capabilities, which focus on the ability of an organisation to modify and renew its resource base by creating, integrating, recombining, and releasing its resources in order to adapt to current changes or to affect change in its environment. A knowledge-centric capability comprises three core elements that enable innovation. Organisational intent is the resolve of an organisation to provide the context in which knowledge can serve as a strategic resource in the organisation. Knowledge orientation is the way in which an organisation orientates itself towards its knowledge environment in terms of knowledge types and the role of knowledge in the organisation. Enactment includes elements of knowledge coordination, creation, use, and integration. The authors review how the extent to which the three core elements that are present in an organisation could give an indication of the organisation’s ability to innovate by comparing these insights with the practices of Fundamo, one of the world’s leading specialist mobile financial services companies.