The Impact of Knowledge Management in Innovation Performance in the Leiria Region

The main propose of this study was to understand the extent of the influence of Knowledge Management on Innovation Performance and on general organizational performance (measured by financial turnover), in companies in the Leiria Region in Portugal. We discuss the possible links between Innovation and Knowledge Management (KM) and present a simple model to test our assumptions. The results show that companies recognize the importance of KM particularly the improving of the efficiency of tasks through the sharing of information and knowledge. It was also possible to confirm the influence of KM on Innovation, verifying that the Creation of Knowledge is the most important KM factor contributing to innovation. This result confirms a positive relationship between the existence of processes of knowledge generation within enterprises and Innovation. However, there was no evidence of influence of KM or Innovation on organizational performance, measured by the financial turnover.