This paper discusses features of small firms that combine to constitute a different milieu for knowledge management. It reports upon work conducted with many small firms and presents a model of considerations and phases in knowledge management projects in small-firm settings. Copyright # 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. | Knowledge and Process Management Volume 8 Number 1 pp 3–16 (2001) & Case Study Knowledge Management in Small Firms John Sparrow* Knowledge Management Centre, University of Central England, UK This paper discusses features of small firms that combine to constitute a different milieu for knowledge management. It reports upon work conducted with many small firms and presents a model of considerations and phases in knowledge management projects in small-firm settings. Copyright # 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. INTRODUCTION that small and medium-sized businesses will need to address their knowledge management practices, Knowledge management but that, like so many aspects of business and management, the issues that small and medium- There can be little doubt that effective leverage of sized businesses will face will not be simply a knowledge will be the key to business success in scaled-down replica of large-company experiences. the future. Particular economic concepts have been argued to have become increasingly central to business and national competitiveness. These Knowledge Management Centre research include the economics of knowledge (Machlup, programme 1984), core capability (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990), The Knowledge Management Centre has been co-production of value (Wikstrom and Normann, established as a regional partnership between a 1994) and adaptability/innovation (Bolwijn and university, and local city council, and business Kumpe, 1990). In addition, there is an increasing support agencies in the West Midlands of the contribution of digital technologies to decision United Kingdom to identify and address the making in terms of their knowledge-processing business support needs for small and medium- characteristics and support for collaborative effort sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing their through enhanced communication (Hougaard and knowledge management (KM) practices. Duus, 1999). The ability for sets of individuals/ This paper draws upon a programme of in- .
