Entrepreneurship and Innovation Education

6Scaling Up: The Challenges of Knowledge Management

This chapter discusses how a knowledge management framework can help startups continue to innovate as they grow, using examples and best practices from companies that have successfully scaled up¹. The knowledge management framework we use here is derived from McKinsey’s classic 7S approach to examine how elements of strategy, structure and systems contribute to creating a culture of innovation. Before we do so, we define the basic elements in a management system. We highlight how people and information are the two most valuable resources for innovation management, as these are two necessary components for knowledge creation. We then proceed to discuss how innovative organizations should focus on the strategic and tactical elements of knowledge management, while using information systems as a support for communication and control. We finally apply all of these elements in specific discussions of critical incidents involving several leading organizations in the last decades.

If a business student were asked to describe a complex organization, such as Apple Inc., he or she might be tempted to talk about well-known, trivial aspects of that iconic company, such as its location in California, its product line, its brand reputation and its charismatic founder and historic CEO Steve Jobs. Usually, though, students quickly run out of elements to describe Apple or any other organization, even ones they are very much familiar with, like ...