Innovation Networks as Business Strategy

The world nowadays is ruled by complex and complicated requirements. Enterprises have to compliance with the requirements to get a sustainable market position. This endeavor leads to various cooperations between different enterprises. One way to co-operate is to establish a network. An enterprise is determined by its operation (processes) and organization (including methods) structure. Both components are characterized by a certain knowledge management; the management of knowledge is the most important and characteristic parameter of an enterprise nowadays. This leads to the hypothesis that the network potential as well as the innovation potential of an enterprise is directly corresponding with the way of knowledge management of the enterprise. The knowledge management has to be evaluated having the focus on the potential of network and innovation. Establishing an innovation network implies a bringing together of the knowledge and potentials of quite different enterprises aiming on new mutual knowledge and new mutual potentials. Related to Bredtmann a network is a union, an affiliation of enterprises on the principle basis of the equal righted co-operation to protect the market position of the involved enterprises, and to have mutual advantage with the aim to improve the situation /Bredtmann 2009/. Very often these improvements have to go along with innovation processes. The Oslo manual, developed by EUROSTAT and the OECD and at present in its 3rd edition, defines innovation as "the implementation of a new or substantially improved product (good or service) or process, a new marketing method or a new organizational method in the business practices, in which job organization relations." or in the external; it differentiates between 4 kinds of innovations, i.e. "Product Innovation", " "Process-innovation", " Marketing Innovation" and " Organizational Innovation" (OECD, 2005). The endeavour to participate in a network and to be innovative needs an application which has to be done step by step. As a first step each enterprise has to check its potential of participating in a network on the one hand, and on the other hand the enterprise's potential of being innovative. Enterprises need to check whether they are able, get the permission and the volition to participate in a network and these enterprises have to evaluate their ability, permission and volition concerning innovation at the same time. This paper will show a possibility to gather the status of an enterprise concerning network and innovation by having a focus on the knowledge management. A new methodology was originated to point out this status separately concerning network and concerning innovation, and to show the gap of uncared because of unknown uncertainties. This methodology can be used as a tool for enterprises to define their status (ability, permission, volition) concerning networks, and concerning innovation by taking knowledge management into account.