The implementation of km management essay

In this field few studies were conducted in India. We reviewed many researches conducted in India and abroad to find out the correct area to carry out the research work, which will fruitful for the professionals and country.

Evangelista P, Esposito E, Lauro V and Raffa M.(2010), ” The Adoption of Knowledge Management Systems in Small Firms”,

This paper attempts to explore KM practices in small firms through an empirical investigation carried out in a set of eighteen SMEs located in the eastern area of Naples. The main preliminary findings of the survey indicate significant KM needs of the surveyed companies. In addition, it has been found that ENS firms adopt predominantly internal KMSs using simple ICT tools. The surveyed firms also show the need for wider (external) KMSs enabling inter-firm collaboration in developing collaborative projects.

R. P. uit Beijerse(2000), ” Knowledge management in small and medium-sized companies: knowledge management for entrepreneurs”,

This paper deals with a field which gets little or no attention in the research done into knowledge management: small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). First a conceptual model for SMEs has been given; next this model has been used to analyze various companies. It is found that knowledge management appears in SMEs to get its form especially at an operational level.

S. Manivannan(2009), ” Knowledge Management in Software Organization”,

Software organizations’ main assets are not plants, buildings or expensive machines. A software organization main asset is its intellectual capital, as it is in sectors such as consulting, law, investment banking and advertising. The major problem with intellectual capital is that it has legs and walks home every day. At the same rate experience walks out the door, inexperience walks in the door. Whether or not many software organizations admit it, they face the challenge of sustaining the level of competence needed to win contracts and fulfill undertakings.

Manish Kumar, Souren Paul and Suresh Tadisina(2005), ” Knowledge management practices in Indian software development companies: findings from an exploratory study”,

In this preliminary study authors focused on eight leading Indian software companies and gather insight into their KM practices. They found that Indian software companies are aware of the capabilities of KMS and are using it to improve productivity, reduce defects, facilitate reuse of software components and share lessons learnt in execution of projects. The primary focus of KM in these companies is on distribution of knowledge through Intranet websites. There is considerable room for enhancements in the current KMS and consequent tangible benefits from the advanced KMS. They have suggested a technical and social infrastructure that will help enhance KM capability of software development companies in India.

R Senthilkumar(2008), ” knowledge management for small sized and medium enterprises”,

The implementation of KM with this pyramid and actual practice will be served best with the finding of the right methodology for implementation and redesignation of the departments involved. It should also be borne in mind that it is a two way communication channel in each of the layers in effecting the real acquisition of knowledge.

Cynthia ChinTian Lee, Charles Egbu, David Boyd, Hong Xiao, Ezekiel Chinyo (2005), ” Knowledge Management for Small Medium Enterprise: Capturing and Communicating Learning and Experiences”,

When both tacit and explicit knowledge interact, new knowledge and innovation can often emerge (Ingirige et al., 2002). Knowledge is rapidly becoming the most important asset of virtually all organisations and organisations in the construction industry are no exception. The ability to manage and exploit knowledge will be the main source of competitive advantage for the construction industry of the future. Knowledge management may help SMEs to develop for the future and have more sustainable business practices, making them less vulnerable to the economic cycles of the industry.

Ali A. Alawneh(2009), ” The Role of Knowledge Management in Enhancing the Competitiveness of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)”,

The focus of this paper is on how SMEs can get benefit from developments in KM. Knowledge is the most powerful and ubiquitous resource of any enterprise in general and SMEs in particular. Therefore, implementing the lifecycle of KM in SMEs is useful and necessary. This paper introduced a new approach to such implementation. The proposed framework is based on the five C’s KM model, which defines and relates five major KM processes. We believe that the new framework can have a positive impact on the SMEs in terms of the success rate of their projects.

David J. Skyrme(2002), ” Knowledge Management: Approaches and Policies”,

In this paper, author has considered several complementary facets of knowledge management. He has outlined the general approaches and techniques used in large organizations. However, research indicates that many of these are unsuitable or need adoptation for small to medium-sized enterprises. Their understanding of KM within SMEs is still embryonic and further research and collation of knowledge is required to develop this understanding and to derive generally applicable good practice guidelines.

Kuan Yew Wong and Elaine Aspinwall(2005), ” An empirical study of the important factors for knowledge-management adoption in the SME sector”,

Benefits such as better decision making, faster response time, increased profit and improved productivity have been reported for firms that have adopted KM (KPMG, 1998). Recognising its merits as a foundation for improved performance and competitiveness, many large organisations have thus formally implemented it. However, very little previously published research has either developed or empirically investigated a comprehensive list of CSFs for implementing KM in the SME sector. This paper has presented the results of a postal survey to determine the CSFs for KM adoption in UK SMEs.

Khong Sin Tan(2008), ” An Empirical Study of Internet-Based ICT Adoption Among Malaysian SMEs”,

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are key economic sector in Malaysia and the Malaysian government have over the past decades promoted development and growth initiatives such as ICT implementation to advance their overall economic agenda. This paper, therefore, examines the factors and adoption patterns of Internet-based Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) among SMEs in Malaysia. The Diffusion of Innovation underpins the conceptual framework in this paper.

Torgeir Dingsyr(2002), ” Knowledge Management in Medium-Sized Software Consulting Companies”,

Software engineering as a particularly interesting domain to study the use of knowledge management systems, as the employees in software companies are skilled in using computer tools, usually are motivated to use computer tools and also spend most of their workday in front of computers. In addition, the need for learning about new technology and about new markets is large in the software domain. Authors think that more and more companies will work in a computer-intensive way and that the conclusions they draw on such tools here might be usable for such companies in the future.

O. K. Harsh(2008), ” Reusable Data, Information, Knowledge and Management Techniques”,

A proposal to analyze the data, knowledge and information in three dimensions is suggested and it is concluded that they play a major role in managing knowledge. An extension of this work to analyze the role of knowledge reuse management in the technological environment has also been presented. Useful discussion on several issues such as reusable knowledge creation, reusable knowledge validation and reusable knowledge application, reusable knowledge distribution and reuse knowledge presentation have been explored. Analysis of the knowledge component composition, reuse, tacit and explicit knowledge and metadata has also been presented. The present work has value for knowledge management and quality enhancement.

Haris Papoutsakis(2009), ” Entrepreneurial businesses in the past- and post-millennial Knowledge Management eras”,

The paper is a comparative study of the entrepreneurial phenomenon in the eighties versus entrepreneurialism in the post-millennial knowledge management era. For this reason, it first concentrates on the historic evolution of the entrepreneurial phenomenon of the eighties and then, by shifting away to more practical issues on small business studies, the paper examines a number of personal, sociological and environmental factors that have influenced small businesses. Ending the retrospective analysis of the eighties, the paper examines a number of questions that were then considered as the reference points in small business studies and juxtapose the influence they have had in the post-millennium era.

Julian Birkinshaw(2001), ” Why is Knowledge Management So Difficult?”,

Knowledge management promises much, but often delivers very little. There are no simple solutions to this challenge. This article starts by trying to define what knowledge management is. It then identifies where the problems lie and suggests five steps to resolve those problems. The article is based on research in a dozen leading companies, including HP, Ericsson, ABB, Skandia and Xerox.

Rajesh K. Pillania(2007), ” Organisational issues for knowledge management in SMEs”,

Globally knowledge and knowledge workers are being increasingly recognized as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Knowledge Management (KM) initiatives in the beginning had a big company orientation with a focus on hard issues like information technology. Later, importance of soft issues like organizational culture, knowledge workers, Communities of Practice (CoPs) etc was recognized. Now there is more balanced view, consisting of both soft and hard sides of KM. There are major challenges in KM from soft issues as compared to hard issues. This research work studies some of the organizational issues in KM among Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) among automobile components manufacturers in India.

Ciara Heavin, Frederic Adam(2012), ” Characterising the Knowledge Approach of a Firm: An Investigation of Knowledge Activities in Five Software SMEs”,

The output from this study includes a classification of KAs which provides rich insight into how SMEs are motivated to deal with knowledge as a means of achieving their organizational objectives. From a practitioner viewpoint, this study seeks to offer an improved understanding of a software SMEs’ approach to KM.

Nazar Rasheed(2005), ” The Impact of Knowledge Management On Sme’s”,

The objective of this paper is to gain an understanding of knowledge management and the way in which knowledge management impacts upon current organisations. After an introduction on the background of knowledge, a brief comparison has been given of data, information and knowledge. What follows is an analysis of the impact of knowledge management on the three main corporate building blocks, which are corporate strategy, corporate culture and systems. The impact of knowledge management on the three corporate building blocks is important in that it paves the way to formulate an understanding of knowledge management and its role within organisations.

IngiRunar Edvardsson(2009), ” Is knowledge management losing ground? Developments among Icelandic SMEs”,

This paper presents findings from a survey on knowledge management (KM) in small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) in Iceland conducted in 2007 and was a follow-up of a similar survey from 2004. The paper analyses whether the extent, strategy and effects of KM in SMEs in Iceland has changed in the period. The main conclusion is that KM is not losing ground among SMEs in Iceland. Identical numbers of firms used KM in 2004 and 2007 and slightly more firms were examining the need in 2007 than 3 years earlier. The surveys indicate that benefits of KM programmes are quite positive even in SMEs. Accordingly, the research findings indicate that KM could improve organisational and managerial as well as financial aspects of SMEs. This research was carried out in only one country and is based on a questionnaire. Its results should therefore be interpreted with care.

Rodney McAdam(2001), ” SME and large organisation perceptions of knowledge management: comparisons and contrasts”,

Compares the perceptions of both large organisations and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at a meta level in regard to knowledge management (KM) to improve overall understanding and synthesis of the philosophy and to develop sector-specific learning in the SME sector. First, identifies and describes the key dimensions of KM using a socially constructed KM model. Second, uses a survey of large (> 250 employees) and SME (< 250 employees) organisations to investigate the perceptions of the KM dimensions. Third, reviews a series of qualitative social constructionist workshops, involving both large and SME organisations which were run to gain a deeper insight into the sectorial comparisons. The results indicate that KM is understandable and implementation is developing in the large organisation sector and knowledge is recognized as having both scientific and social elements. However, the SME sector was less advanced with a mechanistic approach to knowledge and a lack of investment in KM approaches and systems.

Mostafa Jafari, Mohammad Fathian, Peyman Akhavan, Reza Hosnavi(2007), ” Exploring KM features and learning in Iranian SMEs”,

The main purpose of this study is to explore knowledge management and learning features in some Iranian small and medium-sized enterprises. This study is probably the first to provide an integrated perspective of exploring knowledge management through Iranian SMEs. It gives valuable information and guidelines that hopefully will help SME leaders in decision making in the KM area. Most SMEs in Iran are still traditional. Their school of thought belongs to the industrial age and their efforts are not aligned to the knowledge era’s requirements. Today’s changes dictate a new model of thinking as a basic requirement. SMEs in Iran have to restructure their way of thinking towards a knowledge-based paradigm for competitiveness and survival.

Emmanouil Ergazakis, Kostas Ergazakis, Alexandros Flamos, Yannis Charalabidis (2009), ” KM in SMEs: a research agenda”,

KM is an emerging area, which has gained interest by both enterprises and academics. The effective implementation of a KM strategy is considered as a ‘must’ and as a precondition of success for contemporary enterprises, as they enter the era of knowledge economy. Big enterprises seem to have fully realized the importance of KM for their operations and the advantages that can offer and in this way, the majority of proposed methodologies, systems and tools (from the part of the research community) are addressed/concerned with big enterprises. This is not the case however for SMEs, the majority of which seem to consider KM as a non-affordable luxury and consequently, the research regarding KM and SMEs has been slow in formulating respective frameworks, methodologies and tools and there are still many pending issues that have to be addressed. However, KM has a lot to offer to SMEs. In this way, this paper attempts to propose a research agenda for the relation of KM and SMEs. The discussion presented in this paper should be of value to researchers and practitioners.

Davood Gharakhani, Morteza Mousakhani(2012), ” Knowledge management capabilities and SMEs’ organizational performance”,

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of knowledge management (KM) capabilities on small to medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) organizational performance. The results indicate that all three factors of KM capabilities (knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing and knowledge application) have positive and significant effects on SMEs’ organizational performance. The main contribution of the paper is to provide empirical evidence about the impact of KM capabilities on SMEs’ organizational performance. Also the findings of the study are important for both practitioners and academics.

Weifeng Chen, Tally Hatzakis(2008), ” Knowledge management, absorptive capacity and organisational culture: a case study from Chinese SMEs”,

Based on the analysis of an innovative medium sized enterprise from mainland China, this paper investigated the Knowledge Management (KM) issues by focusing on its KM enablers and process. This paper attempts to investigate how Chinese enterprises absorb knowledge from external sources; how they developed culture to facilitate Knowledge Management Processes (KMPs) and what major challenges they raise for the future by looking at the case study of a Chinese Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The case study indicates that Chinese enterprises emphasized knowledge acquisition and the capacities of knowledge absorption, application, creation, sharing and integration as vital to sustain competitive advantage for these firms. Corporative organizational culture also has significant impact on the KM in those enterprises.

Sari Salojarvi, Patrick Furu, Karl-Erik Sveiby(2005), ” Knowledge management and growth in Finnish SMEs”,

This paper aims to make a contribution by examining the relationship between sustainable sales growth and knowledge management activities in 108 Finnish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The results from this study also suggest that SMEs might be able to shift into higher growth by applying a comprehensive KM-approach incorporating all intangible assets equally. This study provides new information concerning the relationship between knowledge management and small business performance.

Kevin C. Desouza and Yukika Awazu(2006), ” Knowledge management at SMEs: five peculiarities”,

In this paper researchers have elaborated on five key peculiarities in knowledge management practices found at SMEs. While researchers have painted a rosy picture of how SMEs manage knowledge, researchers must acknowledge that SMEs have their fair share of problems. Compared to research on larger organizations, investigations into the intricacies of managing knowledge at smaller enterprises remain largely unexplored. It would be wrong to assume that SMEs practice knowledge management in similar ways as larger organizations with the only difference being in magnitude or scale.

Rajesh K Pillania(2008), ” Strategic issues in knowledge management in small and medium enterprises”,

A well-developed and aligned knowledge management (KM) strategy and active top management participation are two of the key strategic issues in KM. The studies on KM strategy and the role of top management have mainly focused on big firms. The basic requirements and resources of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are different from big firms. Consequently, KM practices are different in SMEs as compared to big firms and thorough studies of various aspects of KM for SMEs are needed. This research work is an attempt to study strategic issues in KM in SMEs in India, with particular reference to the automotive component sector. Customer-focused knowledge is the most common KM strategy among Indian automotive component manufacturers. Top management is more active and supportive in KM initiatives in international auto component manufacturers. Indian SMEs need to focus more on the strategic issues in KM for reaping the benefits of KM for sustainable competitiveness.

Varintorn Supyuenyong, Nazrul Islam, Uday Kulkarni(2009), ” Influence of SME characteristics on knowledge management processes: The case study of enterprise resource planning service providers”,

Much of the literature on knowledge management (KM) has focused on KM practices in large organisations where KM seems to encompass every KM process from capture of knowledge to its eventual reuse. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) practise KM processes to a lesser degree or differently owing to their special characteristics and limitations. The purpose of this study is to understand how the special characteristics of SMEs influence their KM processes. The analysis demonstrates that, in general, ownership and management structure as well as culture and behavior characteristics of SMEs seem to have a more positive effect than other SME characteristics on KM processes. System, process, procedure, customer and market characteristics have a more moderate effect. Human capital management seems to hinder somewhat rather than facilitate KM processes.

Meliha Handzic(2006), ” Knowledge Management in SMEs Practical guidelines”,

Knowledge management is a practical tool in any organization. This paper addresses two issues – why managers of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to know about knowledge management (KM) in their organizations and how they can conduct it. Critical steps, key factors and possible alternative paths are also discussed, so that knowledge management does not remain just theory but can be put into practical use in their organizations.

David P. Stevens(2012), ” Managing Tacit Knowledge for a Software Development Process: A Case Study”,

The acquisition and management of knowledge is increasingly more important in today’s economy because of the large proportion of the workforce eligible for retirement in the next 10 years. Companies have long understood that reusing explicit knowledge in the form of policies, documentation and procedures to produce tremendous savings, reduce variability, decreases costs and improve overall quality. Unfortunately, a considerable portion of corporate knowledge is tacit or known at a non-verbal level and does not lend itself to reuse. This research examines ” how” and ” why” questions regarding a specific process used for managing and sharing tacit knowledge related to the software development life cycle. The issues related to acquiring, preserving and disseminating the tacit knowledge are discussed in detail and the advantages and managerial implications of the results of the method are described, together with implications for knowledge workers and managers in other industries.

Ying-Hsun, Seng-ChoT. Chou, Gwo-Hshiung(2011), ” Knowledge management adoption and assessment for SMEs by a novel MCDM approach”,

This paper aims to clarify the misunderstanding of high expenditure on knowledge management systems adoption and provides a novel approach for the most emergent knowledge management components to catch up to the pace of their rivals for the late adopters of knowledge management systems. This paper adopts MCDM (Multiple Criteria Decision Making) approaches to solve this KM adoption problem and ranks the gaps of the KM aspects in control items to achieve the aspired level of performance. The findings demonstrate that the knowledge management gaps within the service industry are higher than the gaps within the IC (Integrated Circuit) and banking industries.

Priyantha Kumarawadu(2008), ” Achieving Competitive Advantage through Knowledge Management Initiatives in Small and Medium Software Industry”,

Increasing number of small and medium-scale software companies (SMSCs) have remarkably pressurized them to deliver good quality software products on time at minimum cost. This study attempted to prove that knowledge management initiatives can bestow business opportunities of small and medium-scale software companies to improve productivity, product quality, flexibility, inter-employee relationships, effective knowledge creation and knowledge utilization while achieving their cost, quality and time targets. Thus, SMSCs can gain competitive advantage to sustain their business. We first identified some significant facets which are benefited to knowledge management initiatives in SMSCs and based on the results of a survey of SMSCs; we proved that knowledge management initiatives have a significant influence on gaining competitive advantage of SMSCs. Therefore, we confirmed that organisation preparedness towards knowledge management initiatives; knowledge management tools and processes, knowledge management education and training and knowledge creation and transformation contribute SMSCs to gain competitive advantage.

Basri Shuib and O’Connor Rory (2012), ” A study of knowledge management process practices in very small software companies”,

Software development is distinct from other types of engineering because the product is intangible, progress is not explicit and team members rely on the documentation of others to review progress. In addition, there are no standard processes, which make it difficult to predict which process will cause development problems. The discourse of knowledge management is becoming more evident in the software engineering literature, as the software development activity is essentially a human knowledge intensive activity. This study explores the role of software development knowledge management within software development companies. How software knowledge is managed; identify critical factors in software development teams and software development knowledge management; understand how should software teams are organized in order to support software process improvement and the role of knowledge management in this. This study presents the results of a study of knowledge management process practices in very small software companies and discusses these under the major identified issues of: Communication; Learning and sharing; Documentation and Knowledge management process and commitment. The findings in this study give an insight towards knowledge management practices as they relate to software development process practices in very small companies and the important factors that must be considered to preserve knowledge and quality software.

Mohammad Nazir Ahmad Sharif, Nor Hidayati Zakaria, Nazmona, Mohd Zaidi(2005), ” Preliminary Study: Knowledge Management (KM) practices in the Small Medium Software Companies”,

Generally, knowledge management solutions provided by software developers and vendors do not target smaller-sized companies for their tools. This is because of purely market driven; small medium companies are apparently not a ready market. The large companies market is far from saturated; therefore there is no need to penetrate more difficult market such as small medium companies. However, we believe that Small Medium Companies (SMCs) also need KM. For example, in the context of Small Medium Software Companies (SMSCs), KM concept is not new. In fact, there have been KM related concepts such as knowledge assets, knowledge processes that involve in their business process. Whereas, the SMSCs itself are knowledge intensive organizations wherein the knowledge is very crucial resources and has numerous of knowledge intensive tasks. Despite that, what authors want to highlight here is about how far KM practices in SMSCs are systematically emphasized, managed or being concerned among members. This paper concludes a review study of understanding KM practices in Small Medium Software Companies. Although this is a review study, it has significantly sparked a new idea by giving a simple guideline as a basis for understanding KM practices in SMSCs.

Ajayraj M. Vyas, Ankur Amin and Rina Dave(2011), ” state of knowledge management in indian it companies”,

Knowledge management is the need of corporate for excellence. Increasingly, ability of an organization to compete in the global village is defined by its ability to manage its knowledge and knowledge workers. It is most apparent in knowledge-intensive industries such as software, biotechnology, consultancy and pharmaceuticals. However, knowledge management has become an important issue in all type of organizations and industries. It is being said that only those organizations that are able to create a culture for knowledge management will survive and grow. An effort has been done by the authors in this paper to analyze various facets of knowledge management as well as to highlight the role played by the knowledge management system for the continuous growth of businesses in India with the help of exemplifying knowledge management practices conducted in selected IT corporate houses of India.

Bridget Meehan, Ita Richardson(2002), ” Identification of Software Process Knowledge Management”,

The effective and explicit management of knowledge has been presented as a key factor in the survival of companies in current business environments. The software development business is no different. The authors of this paper investigated two software processes in three small software development companies to identify the explicit and tacit knowledge management in these processes. They examine their findings under the four knowledge management categories of creation, storing, sharing and leverage. In many cases, while the knowledge exists, it is not made explicit within the organization. Making the knowledge explicit should make the software processes more effective. Therefore, the authors make recommendations for the small software development companies as how to do this. Whether this approach can ultimately help the small software development companies to move to higher levels of maturity is a research question which needs to be further explored.

K. Karthikeyan & R. Rengaraj(2010), ” Impact of Knowledge Management Practices in Indian Automobile Industry – An Empirical Investigation”,

The new world of knowledge-based organizations is distinguished from the organizations of the last millennium by its emphasis on monitoring and controlling the organization by shared knowledge derived from internal and external data sources. It believes in continual transformation of the knowledge-base according to changing business strategy. The objective of this paper is to understand the KM practices in an automobile industry in India, which are going through a major transition in this area. This paper presents knowledge management as a coordinating mechanism. Empirical evidence supports the view that a firm with a knowledge management capability will use resources more efficiently and so will be more innovative and perform better. The importance of training based on competency gap and R& D for enhancing the Knowledge of employee’s is clearly pointed out in this research work.

Chong Siong Choy, Wong Kuan Yew, Binshan Lin(2006), ” Criteria for measuring KM performance outcomes in organisations”,

This research attempts to comprehensively examine the criteria for measuring knowledge management (KM) performance outcomes in organisations. To the academics, this paper provides insights into the relationship between KM efforts and organizational performance. This study is probably one of the first to comprehensively explain the criteria for measuring KM efforts in organisations. It is hoped that the findings of this study will encourage organisations to practise KM from the right perspective in order to reap the outcomes from KM initiatives.

Sangeeta Shah Bharadwaj and KulBhushan C Saxena(2005), ” Knowledge Management in Global Software Teams”,

The study identified five critical knowledge areas of global software teams that should be managed — user requirements knowledge, functional domain knowledge, technical knowledge, project status knowledge and experiential knowledge. Out of these, the study reveals that project status knowledge was well managed. There were well-defined processes in place which were also adhered to by the team members. These processes had also matured over time, one of the reasons being that two of the organizations were CMM level 5 certified and one was ISO 9000 certified which depicts the higher level of maturity in the software development processes. The team members have shown excitement towards the need to manage the experiential knowledge but have not addressed the same in a systematic manner. Thus, the issue of managing the critical project knowledge has to be addressed in a systematic way and processes and tools to implement the same have to be formalized and institutionalized.

Valentina Janev, Sanja Vrane(2005), ” The Role of Knowledge Management Solutions in Enterprise Business Processes”,

Knowledge technologies, the software products that support all aspects of knowledge processing and exchange, are the subject of permanent interest for software engineers at research organizations, as well as, for market analysts in commercial organizations. In order to clarify the role of knowledge management solutions in an enterprise business process, in this paper author surveyed the market of knowledge management solutions and analyze their functionalities from operational and strategic business perspective. Although knowledge flows are identified on an operational level, discussion show that knowledge management solutions here serve to utilize the enterprise knowledge in an efficient performance of daily work. Author argue that data and information collected on the operational level are processed by knowledge management solutions on a strategic level thus creating new knowledge that is used for strategic management of customers, suppliers and partners. This paper gives an insight into knowledge management market that can help the strategic planners to easily begin a knowledge management initiative.

Rituraj Jain (2011), ” Improvement in Software Development Process and Software Product through Knowledge Management”,

Knowledge management is seen as a process of converting information into value for thecorporation to reduce cost, increase employee productivity and improve quality of product and services. Knowledge management tools have the objective to reduce the problems of complexity in global software development. Software development is a knowledge and people-intensive activity. It was argued that small and stable organizations can probably survive without knowledge management but for organizations that are large and distributed, whose environment is continuously changing, managing their knowledge assets, is critical for survival. With proper management of the knowledge, it is also required that people as part of an organization feel that they are getting some meaningful information from it and they have made contribution to KM. Ultimately, the attempt to advance knowledge by focusing on individual knowledge competencies requires the active involvement of everyone in the organization.

Apurva Anand (2011), ” Knowledge management implementation steps for Indian small & medium sized enterprises”,

This paper presents review of literature on Knowledge management (KM) in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). It focuses on the strategy, implementation, technological & performance measurement and benchmarking issues regarding KM in Indian SMEs. KM is a practical tool for any organization. So KM does not remain just a theory now but it paves the way to formulating an understanding of KM and its role within SMEs. KM has gained importance in the today’s global knowledge economy. It is important not only for big firms, but for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) also. Indian SMEs sector is also one of the fastest growing sectors of Indian economy. So it is very important for SMEs to know what their knowledge assets are and how to manage and make best use of these assets to get maximum return, since without proper KM approaches, SMEs are likely to have more to lose than larger enterprises. This paper tries to identify the steps regarding implementation of KM in Indian SMEs for improving competitiveness of SMEs in global market.

Jeffrey W Alstete(2007), ” An assessment of knowledge growth stages in organizations”,

This paper examines the stages of knowledge growth in 50 companies through a qualitative research study that asked employees to identify where their organization ranks along Bohn’s eight-stage scale ranging from complete ignorance to complete knowledge. Participants were also asked to identify their competitors ranking and the ideal stage of knowledge to which their company should strive. The results found that companies today rank on the Bohn scale between stage three (the measure stage) where knowledge is typically written and stage four (control of the mean) where knowledge is written and embodied in hardware. Respondents also stated that their companies were perceived as usually slightly ahead of their competitors, but not nearly at the ideal level that they believe their organizations should achieve. Recommendations are made for further qualitative and empirical research regarding the stages of knowledge growth at organizations and how organizations can support movement toward complete knowledge.

Nour Eldin Mohamed Elshaiekh, Chong Chin Wei, Peter Charles Woods(2011), ” Knowledge-Based Development In Sudan: Key Factors Affecting”,

This study identifies factors affecting the perceived use of Knowledge-Based Decision Support System (KBDSS) tools in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Sudan. A questionnaire was distributed to 600 staff in three selected companies with a response rate of 45%. The study utilized quantitative data for ease of analysis and control of bias. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis and multiple regressions revealed that four factors in particular, Technology Infrastructure, Top Management Support, User Satisfaction and Staff Training affect usage of K-BDSS tools in SMEs in Sudan. The results of this study are not applicable to all industries; however, they provide useful guidance for specific policy formulation in Sudan with regard to SMEs and the use of K-BDSS tools.

Nomi Baruah(2012), ” Contribution of software process improvement approaches for small and medium scale enterprises”,

A software organization regardless of their size wish to succeed on the market by providing software of high quality together with related services, support, communication with customers etc. To improve the software quality of a product in an organization, it is largely dependent on the processes that are used to create it. The software industry is a very important activity which has emerged over the last two decades. It has been seen that majority of the software industry in the world are small and medium scale enterprises. The economy of a nation is largely dependent on these small and medium scale enterprises. Software Process Improvement is an important activity which instantiates when an organization plans to enhance the capabilities of its ongoing processes. For an organization to produce a high quality product there is a need to change the processes of the organization. This paper summarizes important SPI models and approaches those comprise of effective set of practices which can help small and medium scale enterprises to improve the quality of their products.

Chong Siong Choy(2005), ” Critical Factors In The Successful Implementation Of Knowledge Management”,

The globalization of business, the shift from production-based to a knowledge-based economy, the growth of information communications technology (ICT), the strive to become learning organizations and the emergence of the needs for knowledge workers have made knowledge management practice a must today across all types and levels of firms (Chong, 2005). However, because the concept is so new, there exist different views among practitioners and even researchers on how a knowledge management program can be designed and implemented in organizations. This paper posits that knowledge management consists of critical enablers such as employee training, employee involvement, teamwork, employee empowerment, top management leadership and commitment, organizational constraints, information system infrastructure, performance measurement, egalitarian culture, benchmarking and knowledge structure that are critical to the success of a knowledge-based organisation. These critical factors will provide a greater understanding to the researchers and practitioners of the enablers of a successful knowledge management program.

K. Cormican, G. Coppola, S. Farina(2012), ” KM Practices in Service SMEs”,

Knowledge management is a critical component of competitive success in service organizations. Knowledge management centers on creating new knowledge and utilizing existing knowledge. While utilizing existing knowledge relates to input and control and can lead to a reduction in costs; creating new knowledge relates to output and growth and can lead to an increase in revenue. Therefore managers must ensure that they can successfully optimize the knowledge and talent in their organizations. To do this they must try to develop an environment that promotes the generation, acquisition, transfer and use of valuable knowledge in creative ways. However, knowledge management is complex and diverse. Research suggests that organizations in general and SMEs in particular are finding it difficult to implement successful knowledge management initiatives. This research attempts to understand whether organizations are adopting best practice initiatives in their organizations. This paper presents findings from an exploratory study of 139 SMEs operating in the tourism sector across Europe. The goals of the survey is to assess the level of awareness of knowledge and talent management strategies and methodologies and to determine whether the responding companies implement best practice knowledge management initiatives in their organizations.