Scholars regard customer knowledge management (CKM) as a strategic resource for businesses to improve innovation, facilitate the detection of new market opportunities, and support long-term customer relationship management. However, literature suffers from a lack of understanding of customer collaboration's role in the innovation process and innovation orientation in CKM. Accordingly, this paper tests a model examining how both variables act as antecedents of CKM. The model also explores CKM and customer collaboration's effect on marketing results. Findings have important academic and managerial implications, and show that collaboration with customers and openness to innovation are key inputs because of their effects on CKM and marketing results.
Managing customer knowledge is a key of source for SMEs. The principal aim of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the direct effects of two specific strategic resources: customer orientation and customer knowledge management (CKM), on innovation capacity and marketing results in SMEs. The study also examines the role of innovation orientation as a mediator between customer orientation and CKM. For this purpose, a structural model was proposed and tested through an empirical investigation with variance-based structural equation modeling (PLS) using a sample made up of 210 Spanish SMEs. The findings highlight the relevance of CKM and customer orientation as important strategic resources for developing innovation capacity and marketing results, and they confirm the mediation effect of innovation orientation. Empirical evidence supports the importance of customer orientation and CKM in boosting innovation and performance. These findings have important implications for performance in SMEs.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to improve the current knowledge of the effects of a higher education program for entrepreneurs, integrated in an entrepreneurial ecosystem, in the entrepreneurial intention of the students.
Design/methodology/approach
For this, group dynamics have been carried out with the students to know the process of entrepreneurial learning, the acquisition of competences, the mentoring received and the influence of the program in its entrepreneurial intention in the short and medium term.
Findings
The results suggest that the program positively influences students’ entrepreneurial intention, especially in the medium term. In particular, they point out that working personal skills in the program contribute to the development of their entrepreneurial project. On the other hand, mentoring requires a more methodical accompaniment and a greater degree of specialization of the mentors.
Research limitations/implications
This research represents an excellent first step toward a better understanding of the factors that influence entrepreneurial intention. In addition, they lead to improve existing knowledge about the impact of entrepreneurial higher education. The only limitation of the paper is given by its nature as a case study.
Practical implications
The case study aims to provide the results of the practical experience of a higher education program in entrepreneurship and serve as a basis for future lines of research that address the research gap based on the need of identification of best practices in entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial behavior.
Social implications
This work brings practical experience that inspires diverse social actors as managers of higher education programs, managers of ecosystems entrepreneurs and public institutions.
Originality/value
Our findings respond to previous concerns on the results of programs aimed at training future entrepreneurs. Besides, this work describes an interesting case study based on a postgraduate program, while most of the previous studies have been limited to undergraduate programs.
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