Egbu, C; Hari, S and Kumar, B (2003) Knowledge management practices in small and medium enterprises in the construction industry. In: Greenwood, D J (ed.) Proceedings of 19th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2003, Brighton, UK.
Abstract
As organizations carry out their business activities in a knowledge economy, they must do so in a competitive manner if they are to survive and remain profitable. Being able to map out the knowledge assets an organization has and how it might successfully exploit them in competitive markets, are key challenges for organizations, especially the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the construction industry. At present, there are very few empirical studies in the construction industry that have considered Knowledge Management (KM) practices in SMEs. This paper, based on an on-going study on KM in SMEs in construction, presents some of the main challenges associated with implementing KM initiatives in SMEs. It also looks at the roles and types of Information Technologies, which might assist SMEs in their KM programmes. It documents the present and future training needs of SMEs, with regard to KM. 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 organizational structures at its core. The paper also notes that SMEs can benefit from effective KM practices. It recommends that more research effort needs to be targeted at improving KM practices in SMEs, and that there is ample scope for empirical research in this area. Similarly, Information Technologies for KM in construction SMEs need to take account of the challenges that confront SMEs, such as finance, training leadership and commitment.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | enterprise; information technology; knowledge management; training |
| Index terms: | programme, commitment, training need, organizational structure, knowledge management, information technology, markets, construction industry, documents, social process, empirical study |
| Subjects: | economic analysis, psychology, computing systems, industry analysis, communities and social development, sociology, project controls, professional development, educational resources, research methods |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Information Management, Education, Time Control, Organizational Design, Digital Applications |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here