The Role of Attitude to Knowledge and Innovation in Creating Competitive Advantage of Manufacturing Companies Operating Internationally

Knowledge management and innovation processes in contemporary enterprises are very broad issues. That is why this article concentrates on their very narrow aspect – perception of their importance in specific type of businesses – manufacturing companies. The goal of this work is examining the attitude to knowledge and innovation among manufacturing companies operating locally and in internationalization process as well as checking the role of managers and employees view on mentioned issues in creating competitive advantage of such companies. The results of empirical, quantitative research conducted among 331 companies (1) show that importance of knowledge and innovation is the most appreciated in manufacturing companies in internationalization process, especially those heavily involved in foreign activities. The analyses also show that appreciation of knowledge and innovation is important for creating competitive advantage of every kind of enterprise but to a greater extent for firms in internationalization process, in particular those heavily involved in operations in the foreign markets. The results of the empirical study shows that competitiveness level of firms operating internationally with high and low appreciation of knowledge and innovation processes varies greatly. (1) The research has been part of the project financed by Polish National Science Center, Preludium 2 grant, awarded under the decision no. DEC-2011/03/N/HS4/00429.