Exploring knowledge acquisition technique for new start-up community food enterprises

Abstract

Keywords: Knowledge need; Knowledge acquisition; Community enterprises; Food

Objectives: For the knowledge-based economy, new community food enterprises should acquire valuable knowledge for survival and successful business. This qualitative study is conducted to explore the knowledge acquisition techniques from five successful food enterprises at the new entry of community business.

Methods: Five successful community food producers were purposively selected for exploring their past knowledge acquisition strategies. Additionally, two groups of successful communities were also investigated for the knowledge acquiring techniques. Data were collected using the in-depth interview, observation and informal focus-group discussion. All qualitative data were transcribed and analyzed using a thematic analysis.

Results: The findings indicated that each community that starts with a basic production technology and imitative products could identify the required knowledge related to food safety compliance and food formulation, and made assumptions about possible solutions before accessing the knowledge sources. The key techniques of tacit knowledge acquisition comprised purposeful observation, active dialogue and discussion, and interpretation of lessons learned. These approaches were highly recommended for survival of new business start-ups and helped build up many nationwide young producers through public sectors. In addition, the interpretation of lessons learned should be promoted to increase awareness and comprehensive foundation of hygienic and qualified production.

Conclusion: Some key techniques are used for the knowledge acquisition and should be advanced for further knowledge-based community food enterprises.