A Study on Knowledge Management and Innovation In Multinational Industry Fast-food: the case of Subway

Abstract

This paper examines the practices of knowledge management and innovation in a franchise of a major multinational company in the fast-food industry of Minas Gerais: Subway. As a research strategy, we used a descriptive case study and data were collected through a semi-structured interview conducted with the owner of four stores in that franchise located in strategic areas of the city of Belo Horizonte. The results showed that the processes of creation, development and sharing of knowledge between the administrative and operational staff are encouraged and have achieved significant results, the franchise stores, as the theory claims. However, perhaps because of this business model (franchise), this knowledge produced and shared among such employees are not applied in its entirety on product innovation and operational processes on the sales, because most of the innovations developed in the environment and the franchisor, which restricts the space for innovation in franchised stores, in spite of satisfactory results in some innovation management processes.