The soft side of knowledge transfer partnerships between universities and small to medium enterprises: an exploratory study to understand process improvement |
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| Authors: | Gareth R T White Svetlana Cicmil Nachiappan Subramanian Vikas Kumar Ashish Dwivedi |
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| Institution: | 1. Faculty of Business and Society, University of South Wales, Treforest, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;2. Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;3. Department of Business and Management, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;4. Faculty of Business, Law and Politics, University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
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| Abstract: | AbstractThe study explores the soft side of knowledge transfer partnerships between universities and small to medium enterprises (SMEs), a topic which is often neglected in the knowledge management literature. The aim of this paper is to uncover the issues which emerge during formation of a partnership between heterogeneous organizations and universities. In addition, the study unfolds the criticalities of typical process improvement capability that supports the knowledge transfer partnerships between universities and SMEs. Using multiple cases, this study unravels the dominant elements that influence knowledge transfer process development, governance, implications and responsibilities. The major contribution of this study is the development of a framework based on empirical evidence using three knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs) which illustrates the way in which soft factors in knowledge transfer partnership phases may have an impact on success or failure of university–industry collaborations for innovation. |
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| Keywords: | Knowledge transfer partnership SMEs university case study process improvement |
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