The adoption of knowledge management systems in small firms

Knowledge Management (KM) is a critical area for small business managers in today's competitive environment. However, there is a general consensus in relation to the fact that the benefits of KM have not been fully exploited by small firms. In fact, ther is a vast literature on KM describing how large companies are successfully practising KM, but little research have been carried out on critical success factors enabling KM adoption in SMEs. Indeed, empirical studies have been rarely conducted on this topic. The main aim of this paper is to shed light on the KM practices in small firms. To this purpose, the paper presents the preliminary results of an empirical investigation carried out in a cluster of high-technology SMEs located in the eastern area of Naples City (Italy). The methodology adopted is based on the following two main stages: a) a literature review on knowledge management and its usage in small business has been carried out; b) a semi-structured questionnaire has been set up and validated in a number of focus group discussions. The questionnaire survey has been conducted through interviews with managers of small firms belonging to the cluster investigated. Survey findings highlight the following points: - the surveyed companies show significant KM needs, but they adopt mainly internal KM systems involving relatively simple tools; - knowledge exchanged is mainly tacit and it requires KM tools based on personal relationships and interactions such as teams; - the firms investigated show the need for both internal and external KM systems enabling collaborative relationships with other firms for developing common projects; - there are some relevant factors motivating the adoption of internal and external KM systems (such as innovation, operational management and market intelligence) but also significant barriers (e.g. the need to secure intellectual capital and cultural barriers).