Knowledge management (KM) is the process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. In this paper, we investigate KM practices and needs in Open Source Hardware (OSH) communities. The aim is to provide insights into the KM issues and challenges facing these communities. Our analysis is based on interviews carried out with the participants of 22 projects. Interview transcriptions were coded and tagged with concepts extracted from the literature. Text mining was used to uncover the main concepts embedded in the corpus. From this analysis, knowledge sharing emerged as one of the top-rated concepts. Codification and personalization also proved to be important KM approaches, both requiring support in the OSH design process. Using a dendrogram, we highlighted the benefits and challenges of codification together with some interesting concept associations. High contributor turnover, little or no standardization and weak project structuring are still key challenges for OSH communities when it comes to ensuring awareness, making decisions and sharing knowledge.

This study examines how firms use organizational controls in the knowledge exploitation process to enhance endogenous innovation. Some past studies have shown that controls restrict the flexibility needed in innovation, whereas others have shown that controls enhanced innovation by directing the efforts of research and development professionals. Thus, we extend the theoretical development of organizational control theory to examine how different types of organizational controls (clan, behaviour, and output controls) play different roles at different points in the innovation process. First, we propose that codifying knowledge enhances its level of exploitation, with clan control serving as a moderator. Next, we propose that knowledge exploitation enhances endogenous innovation with behaviour and output controls serving as moderators. Our results from a sample of 607 Chinese manufacturing firms show that clan control moderated the knowledge codification–exploitation relationship positively. Behaviour control moderated the knowledge exploitation–innovation relationship positively, but output control had an inverse U-shaped moderating influence in this relationship. The results indicate that examining different types of organizational controls at different points in the knowledge management process provides a more comprehensive understanding for the role of controls in innovation.

This article uses a competence-based approach to the firm in order to analyse the recent destabilisation of internal labour markets. We argue that increasing knowledge codification made possible by the diffusion of information and communication technologies has made competences less dependent upon individuals. Knowledge has been increasingly embodied in firms themselves, which has played an important role in lowering the relative cost of human resource management strategies based on external labour flexibility. As a consequence, recourse to external labour markets has developed, which may harm firms' innovative capabilities in the long run.