Towards a knowledge management and learning taxonomy for research joint ventures

Research joint ventures (RJVs) are project environments that typically focus on the development of innovations and ideas. The development and management of knowledge is the primary objective for these RJVs. To help understand the practices and characteristics of RJV knowledge management and learning processes we introduce a taxonomy for these types of project environments. Using existing literature and supporting case study examples, a four-cell grid is developed to categorize RJVs. The grid is based on two dimensions, namely, the locus of the RJV research, which is concerned with the ‘newness’ of the knowledge, and the knowledge management approach, which is concerned with the learning and knowledge integration processes.