Knowledge Management in SMEs - Introduction to course and Knowledge Management

Assoc. Dr. Susanne DursT

South Ural State University - 6 December

2016

University of skövde – www.his.se/EN

understanding of SMEs, their attributes and implications for knowledge management;
an

awareness of SMEs business operations and their impact on knowledge management practices;
an awareness regarding the issues of knowledge retention and knowledge transfer with regard to succession planning in SMEs;
an awareness of the danger of knowledge loss/attrition in SMEs as a consequence of skills shortage, aging workforces, knowledge concentration, and missing/insufficient succession planning.

Learning Objectives

University Press, Oxford.
Articles
1. Durst, S. & Edvardsson, I. R. (2012). Knowledge

Management in SMEs: A Literature Review. Journal of Knowledge Management, 16(6), 879-903.
2. Durst, S. and Wilhelm, S. (2012). Knowledge management and succession planning in SMEs. Journal of Knowledge Management, 16(4), 637-49.
3. Durst, S., & Wilhelm, S. (2011). Knowledge management in practice: insights into a medium-sized enterprise’s exposure to knowledge loss. Prometheus, 29(1), 1-16.
4. Hutchinson, V. and Quintas, P. (2008). Do SMEs do Knowledge Management? Or Simply Manage What They Know? International Small Business Journal, 26(2), 131-154.
5. Sparrow, J. (2005). Classification of different knowledge management development approaches of SMEs. Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 3(3), 136-145.
6. Wong, K. Y. & Aspinwall, E. (2004) Characterizing knowledge management in the small business environment. Journal of Knowledge Management, 8(3), 44-61.
7. McAdam, R. & Reid, R. (2001). SME and large organisation perceptions of knowledge management: comparisons and contrasts. Journal of Knowledge Management, 5(3), 231-241.

Reading List and References

as the most important source of competitive advantage

IT played a

significant role too (increasing availability of technologies designed to manage information)

Some strongly into IT, some strongly into HR and some into strategy

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for organizations to manage their workforce’s knowledge
This flows from 3

assumptions
The end of the 20th century witnessed an enormous social and economic transformation which resulted in knowledge becoming the key asset for organizations to manage
Nature of work has also changed significantly
Effective management of knowledge is likely to provide a source of competitive advantage

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that, since approx. the mid-1970s, economies and society in general

have become more information and knowledge intensive, which information/knowledge-intensive industries replacing manufacturing industry as the key wealth generators.
Statistical evidence is typically mobilized to show the increasing importance of service work, and the simultaneous decline of manufacturing employment.

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work is conflated with service sector jobs.
However, not all service

sector work can be classified as knowledge work
The transition from an industrial to a post-industrial knowledge economy should produce an increase in the proportion of jobs that are knowledge-intensive.

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also been raised regarding the way knowledge is conceptualized, i.e.

focus on theoretical knowledge as codifiable and objective. Contemporary analysis views knowledge as having substantially different characteristics, being partial, tacit, subjective, and context dependent.

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do not mean that society and economies have remained unchanged.

For the advanced, industrial economies there has not only a significant change in the type of products and services produced, and the nature of work itself, but the role of information and knowledge in many aspects of social and economic life also increased substantially.
 Yet, suggesting that these changes represent a fundamental rupture is going to far

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12)
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as key differentiator and thus sustainable competitive advantage

specification of the RBV
Knowledge creation as source of competitive advantage
Types

of knowledge
explicit
tacit
To build a sustainable competitive advantage, organizations should build company specific knowledge assets by managing the relevant knowledge processes  knowledge management

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