Knowledge Codification and Technological Innovation Success: Empirical Evidence from Spanish Biotech Companies

This paper analyzes the influence of knowledge codification on technological innovation firm results. Based on a sample of biotechnological Spanish firms the effect of codification on incremental and radical technological innovations is tested, taking into account that in some cases codification practices may include legal protection mechanisms too. In addition, in this research we studied the effect of such knowledge management decision on barriers to imitation and substitution. Results show, on the one hand, that knowledge codification is of great interest in developing incremental innovation only. On the other hand, maintaining the exclusive character of innovations demands knowledge codification and its legal protection simultaneously.