Knowledge management for sustainable competitiveness in small and medium surveying practices

TLDR

Knowledge‑intensive SMEs face challenges in identifying, capturing, storing, mapping, disseminating, and creating knowledge from multiple perspectives and purposes. The study investigates how knowledge of key individuals, internal knowledge, and customer capital influences the sustainable competitive advantage of small and medium surveying practices. The authors combine a literature review with a field study of 12 professionals from 11 organizations, including two surveying practices, to examine the benefits of knowledge management for SME competitiveness. They find that while knowledge management strategies, tools, and techniques can aid competitiveness, managing knowledge assets is a complex, integrated social process involving culture, people, finance, technology, and structure, and they provide recommendations for SMEs pursuing formal KM initiatives.

Abstract

Purpose An investigation of the importance of the knowledge of the key individuals in organisations, knowledge within organisations as well as customer capital and knowledge; and how these might impact on sustainable competitive advantage of small and medium sized enterprises. The key challenges for knowledge‐intensive SMEs are the identification, capture, storing, mapping, dissemination and creation of knowledge from different perspectives and for different purposes. Design/methodology/approach Based on a thorough review of literature and field study, this paper presents and discusses the benefits of knowledge management (KM) for sustainable competitiveness in SMEs in surveying practices. A field study was conducted, involving 12 professionals from eleven organisations, of which 2 of the 11 organisations were surveying practices. Findings The paper highlights the role of strategies, tools and techniques which might be of assistance. The paper concludes that managing knowledge assets in SME is not easy. It is an integrated and complex social process, which has culture, people, finance, technology and organisational structures at its core. The paper also notes that SMEs can benefit from effective KM practices for sustainable competitiveness. Research limitations/implications Recommendations are offered to surveying practices that are already involved with formal KM initiatives and those SMEs that aspire to do so. Originality/value An innovative study applying knowledge management principles to small and medium sized surveying practices.