A systematic review of knowledge management and new product development projects: Trends, issues, and challenges

This research aims to show that knowledge management is integral to business strategy and can lead to more efficient new product development in high-tech companies. Organizations have been increasingly focused on knowledge management methods as they have realized how important it is to manage knowledge to stay com-petitive in their marketplaces. Knowledge Management (KM) is responsible for a company's efficiency, effective-ness, and innovation. Project outcomes, individual outcomes, and organizational outcomes are linked to knowledge in New Product Development (NPD). More than 28,548 KM papers published in the previous 22 years were examined in this research using Scopus and Web of Science; the original sample was narrowed down to items that contributed to KM literature. The R Studio and VOS Viewer software executed the descriptive statistics and scientific mapping approaches using co-citation analysis. The descriptive analysis involved studying publish-ing patterns over time, the geographical localization of the contributing institutions, journals, the most prolific authors, the top-performing institutions, and the most-cited papers. Scholars and practitioners have been paying close attention to knowledge management and organizational performance in recent years. Once implemented, the integrated approach may significantly influence organizational processes and performance. This study exam-ines both KM ideas in NDP initiatives. Several intriguing discoveries are presented, with extensive explanations of their future direction, a conceptual framework for the study, and practice based on the literature.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. on behalf of Journal of Innovation & Knowledge. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Automated summary

This research demonstrates the importance of knowledge management in business strategy and its potential for enhancing new product development efficiency in high-tech companies. The study analyzed over 28,548 knowledge management papers published in the past 22 years and identified key contributions to the literature. Using descriptive statistics and co-citation analysis, the study examined publishing patterns, institutional affiliations, prolific authors, and highly cited papers. The findings highlight the significant impact of knowledge management on organizational processes and performance in the context of new product development.