Inter‐organizational knowledge transfer needs among small and medium enterprises

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to build upon Chen et al.'s work by investigating inter-organizational knowledge transfer needs and practices among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which have received relatively little research attention to date. Design/methodology/approach -A questionnaire survey was conducted on SMEs which have been accorded the Multimedia Super Corridor Malaysia status. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Findings -In total, nine important areas have been the focus of this study, i.e. the importance of external knowledge; the extent to which external knowledge is more important than internal knowledge to organizational success; areas in which insufficient knowledge contributes to costly errors or mistakes in the SMEs; SMEs' involvement in knowledge transfer activities; number of social networks involved; SMEs' perceptions about networks; use of tools and technologies to transfer inter-organizational knowledge; constraints of inter-organizational knowledge transfer; and SMEs' effectiveness in leveraging knowledge. The data collected from 70 owners/managers of SMEs suggest that to some extent external knowledge is believed to be an important need by the enterprises.Research limitations/implications -The small sample size raises the question of generalizability of the findings. Practical implications -Overall, the empirical findings point to the need for the SMEs to pursue inter-organizational knowledge transfer practices.

Employee perception of impact of knowledge management processes on public sector performance

“…However, this involves not only the creation of new knowledge from scratch but also the reconfiguration of existing pieces of knowledge to create new knowledge (Lynn et al, 1996). On this issue, Chong et al (2011) found that employees who work together in a team are more efficient at creating new knowledge. Similarly, brainstorming sessions are also found to be effective for generating new ideas (Hutchinson & Quintas, 2008).…”

“…Arnold et al (2000) have suggested that firms should encourage collaborative problemsolving and provide opportunities for employees to share their tacit knowledge with each other. Therefore, organizations should arrange meeting sessions where employees are free to share their knowledge, ideas, and information with others (Coyte et al, 2012), as well as promote informal faceto-face social interactions to encourage the sharing of tacit knowledge (Chong et al, 2011). The evidence in the literature so far suggests that it is harder to share knowledge within public sector organizations because most people associate knowledge with power and potential promotion opportunities (Liebowitz & Chen, 2003).…”

The Spread of Knowledge Management in SMEs: A Scenario in Evolution

“…Thus, it is not surprising that most of the practices are oriented toward the management of tacit knowledge. Some authors [16,21,[74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82] suggest a variety of people-centered practices such as: Focus groups, formal meetings, communities of sharing, virtual communities, informal networks, project teams, interactions with clients, interactions with suppliers, interactions with partners, communities of practices, job rotation, training. Moreover, even though Hutchinson and Quintas (2008) [83] underline that small firms are more likely to adopt informal processes to manage knowledge, other authors [84][85][86][87][88] also suggest the importance of more formal techniques and methods (such as: casual mapping, knowledge maps, balance scorecards, formal manuals), while others suggest establishing a chief knowledge officer [78] or a project team [80,89].…”

The Effect of Internal Marketing on Competitive Advantage as Organizational Coaching - Mediating Effect of Service Innovation

“…Meanwhile, innovation and new ideas come from factors within and outside an organization [2] [3]. This paper focused on the internal view of organization as an organization coaching.…”