The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of second tier UK universities in relation to the effectiveness of their knowledge management systems and involvement in open innovation. Data were acquired using a mail survey of academic staff in social science and business faculties in second tier institutions. The results indicate that certain key factors influence the effectiveness of knowledge management systems. Universities engaged in open innovation appear to have developed more effective systems. It is concluded that universities seeking to survive in the face of government spending cuts could benefit from optimising the effectiveness of their knowledge management systems and giving greater emphasis to the acquisition of new knowledge by exploiting open innovation. (Contains 1 table.)