Knowledge management in incubated companies: proposal of a model to enhance managerial skills

The main objective of this research is to analyse the literature and 156 companies located in 10 business incubators to determine their major management knowledge gaps and propose a model to enhance managerial skills. The research methodology initially adopted was literature review and survey, and afterwards we used descriptive analysis for the proposed model developed. The results showed that despite the companies going through a triage process to join the incubation process, there are still many gaps related to managerial capacity among the 156 enterprises analysed. In order of priority, the gaps are related to strategies, marketing, finance and accounting, quality, human resources, innovation and complementary capacities. The proposed model included these areas, besides practical trainings, assessment mechanisms and analysis of entrepreneurial skills. Managers of business incubators and other researchers can make use of its results for the development of other models, since this paper represents a contribution to management of knowledge applied in business incubators and micro and small companies.