Knowledge networks, innovation and its application on a small bussines

Abstract

The main theme for the work are knowledge networks and innovation, both concepts are linked as we will explain below, so the work will not be focus on one of the two main themes but will try to give context and connect to both with a little research which should serve as a guide to everyone who does not know anything about this two concepts, also this guide will be used to analyze a company and provide guidelines to implement new strategies based on innovations and knowledge networks, or make a more efficient use of them for the company if they are already have implemented this concepts in the organization. As election to present for our final assignment we decided to focus on the study of a small company that works in a sector which normally on case studies, analysis and research of companies that we have studied in the university in the past years do not usually have much presence, but innovation is closely linked to this sector because it is a creative product and therefore is tied directly to innovation, we refer to the comics industry. The work will be separated into three parts, on the first part we will focus on making a small research study on knowledge networks, what they are , what are they for, from where they emerge, the networks in Spain and as a the more point, what relationship do they have with innovation. In the second part we will focus on innovation, defining it, watching how they arises, the two opposing philosophies regarding business innovation , also we will observe what types of innovation there are in the companies, and a very important part in our guide with examples of how a company can help the employees to be more creative. As a final part of the study and looking backward into the analysis set above, we will analyze the company Manhattan Company , a small Valencian retailer of comics, which thanks to small innovations and being one of the first store to establish networks of knowledge with other Spanish companies has grow from a single store in the city of Valencia to set up three more branches throughout the country; to have all the necessary information of the company will have a small interview with the shop owner Noel Martinez. And we will discover how he applied these innovations and what weight these knowledge networks had in the success of the company