چکیده:
The purpose of this paper is to present a study of knowledge management
understanding and usage in small and medium knowledge-intensive enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach — The study has taken an interpretative approach, using two
knowledge-intensive South ISFAHAN (Iran) companies as case studies, both of which are
characterized by the need to process and use knowledge on a daily basis in order to remain
competitive. The case studies were analyzed using qualitative research methodology, composed of
interviews and concept mapping, thus deriving a characterization of understandings, perceptions
and requirements of SMEs in relation to knowledge management. Findings — The study provides
evidence that, while SMEs, including knowledge intensive ones, acknowledge that adequately
capturing, storing, sharing and disseminating knowledge can lead to greater innovation and
productivity, their managers are not prepared to invest the relatively high effort on long term
knowledge management goals for which they have difficulty in establishing the added value. Thus,
knowledge management activitics within SMEs tend to happen in an informal way, rarely
supported by purposely designed [CT systems. Research limitations/implications — This paper
proposes that further studies in this field are required that focus on organizational and practical
issues in order to close the gap between theoretical propositions and the reality of practice. Practical
implications — The study suggests that in order to implement an appropriate knowledge
management strategy in SMEs cultural, behavioral, and organizational issues need to be tackled
before even considering technical issues. Originality/value - KM seems to have been successfully
applied in large companies, but it is largely disregarded by small and medium sized enterprises
(SMEs). This has been attributed primarily to a lack of a formal approach to the sharing, recording,
transferring, auditing and exploiting of organizational knowledge, together with a lack of utilization
of available information technologies. This paper debates these concepts from a research findings
point of view.
خلاصه ماشینی:
The case studies were analyzed using qualitative research methodology, composed of interviews and concept mapping, thus deriving a characterization of understandings, perceptions and requirements of SM Es in relation to knowledge management.
Findings -- TI1e study provides evidence that, while SMEs, including knowledge intensive ones, acknowledge that adequately capturing, storing, sharing and disseminating knowledge can lead to greater innovation and productivity, their managers arc not prepared to invest the relatively high effort on long term knowledge management goals for which they have difficulty in establishing the added value.
Practical implications - The study suggests that in order to implement an appropriate knowledge management strategy in SMEs cultural, behavioral, and organizational issues need to be tackled before even considering technical issues.
For example, according to Pollard (2003) the expectations arc mostly of organizational gains in terms of: growth and innovation in organizations; Productivity and efficiency (reflected in absolute cost savings); customer relationships; employee learning, satisfaction and retention; and management decision-making.
Theoretically, and as def ended by most KM authors, these knowledge acquisition, storing, retrieving and sharing processes should be seen as crucial and core by knowledge intensive companies, notably by SMEs. However, in practice, SMEs arc still very reluctant in taking KM principles in their strategic thinking and daily routines (McAdam and Reid, 112001; Sparrow, 2000).
Thus, in the case of this research such an interpretive approach was needed in order to enable the understanding of the social world of the SMEs being studied, as well as the acquisition of an understanding of the subjective experiences of individuals in the organizations, including the individuals' consciousness and subjective perceptions as proposed by Mason ( 1997, p.