Cooperation with universities as part of technological knowledge management of companies

The success of companies depends increasingly on the effective incorporation of new knowledge into products and services. This fact was pointed out in the first half of the last century by Joseph Schumpeter, whose work emphasizes the importance of innovation and technological progress in the development of companies and economy. In spite of the strategic importance of knowledge in terms of competitiveness, studies on knowledge management in Brazilian companies are still incipient. This work aims to analyze the practical behavior of companies in relation to knowledge management. A survey was done at 56 companies participating in a university/enterprise cooperation program, trying to understand how executives act when faced with the challenge of treating knowledge as the most important patrimony of the company and consequently, learning as the most important organizational process