Managing knowledge processes for value creation

Nowadays organizations have realized that knowledge, its effective use and the fast acquisition and utilization of new knowledge represent the only source of sustainable competitive advantage. In fact, an effective exploitation and management of knowledge resources are at basis of the development of those capabilities that ground the organization’s capacity to deliver successfully targeted value propositions. During the last decades, a growing interest in the processes of management of knowledge resources has been experimented. Several theoretical models and approaches aimed to explain how organizational knowledge is created, transferred and crystallized have been produced. Currently the debate on knowledge management processes is still lively. The dynamics which link knowledge processes to value creation, the valuation of their impact on organizational performance and, the role of some organizational and technological resources as enablers or hampers of a successful knowledge management, emerge as relevant topics to be investigated more in depth. In this introduction to the special issue we develop some theoretical and managerial reasons explaining the importance of an effective management of knowledge processes to deal with the uncertainty, change, and turbulence of the current socio-economic scenario.