Transfer of know-how based on learning outcomes for development of open innovation

The Paper focuses on the inbound know-how transfer for the development of open innovation as an approach to business management. It can be a challenging task for useful and meaningful transfer of external know-how to create value, thus the addressed research questions are: What constitutes a successful know-how transfer? How to measure performance of know-how transfer? How transfer of know-how should be done? Qualitative research methods – participatory action research within a specific case and application of existing theories as well as focus groups’ discussions were applied to create the study and obtain triangulation. The paper applied both inductive and deductive reasoning. The research shows that learning outcomes based approach can be used for successful know-how transfer. Performance of know-how transfer is affected by accuracy of the stated aim (learning outcomes), applied teaching, learning and assessment methods and both internal and external environment characteristics of the stakeholders involved in the process. Both the know-how transfer performance measurements and the developed six step process model are presented in the paper. Implications and recommendations for future research are given.