Knowledge in a firm has been broadly classified as firm-specific or general If the knowledge is close to the existing firm knowledge base and with specific applications, this can be firm-specific. The other view of general knowledge is that this form of knowledge exists in the marketplace and is less specialized.distinguished between entrepreneurial knowledge and the knowledge expert, suggesting that it is the entrepreneur of the firm that hires the latter. The knowledge expert does not fully recognize the value of their knowledge or how to turn that
knowledge into profit or else the expert would be acting as an entrepreneur. In turn,
the entrepreneur may not have the depth of knowledge that the specialist possesses (for
example, in technology), but it is the entrepreneur who recognizes the value of the opportunity
through the application of the specialist's knowledge. Therefore, as small family firms expand and acquire more knowledge experts, they have the potential to lose their ‘familiness’ as the advantages of knowledge may be changed in its application
or reduced.