THE IMPORTANCE OF INNOVATION PROCESS IN THE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE AND ROLE OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE INNOVATION PROCESS

Knowledge Management and Innovation Management are very often used as a separated terms and disciplines. Successful companies know that the connection between Knowledge Management and Innovation Process lead to the competitive advantage. First steps of these connections we can find in some monographs. We can find new categorisation of knowledge to: core knowledge as a basic level of knowledge required just to play the game, this type of knowledge creates a barrier for entry of new companies; advanced knowledge is what makes the company competitively viable and allows company to differentiate theirs products from that of competitor; and innovative knowledge which allows a company to lead its entire industry to an extent that clearly differentiates it from competition. According to innovative knowledge identification the company can analyse its strengths and weaknesses on various facets of knowledge. The main aim of this article is to find new connection between the role of Innovation Process and Knowledge Management and its interconnection which can be used in the business companies as a main factor for the competitive advantage. The results of this article will be supported by the qualitative researches which were made in the Czech business companies.