A Systematic Methodology for Assessing and Building Knowledge Management Capacity Among SMEs in India

This study aims to develop a systematic process for assessing the existing knowledge management practices and build the knowledge management capacity of small and medium enterprises. Knowledge creation, acquisition, sharing, storage and utilization are the five knowledge management practices considered for the study. The study used a structured questionnaire to collect data about the knowledge management practices among SMEs. A capacity assessment methodology is used to assess the capacity of five essential knowledge management practices and plot a Knowledge Management Capacity GRID. The GRID showed the practices in organizations with high capacity and high consent and those with low capacity and low consent which needs capacity building. As the pump manufacturing firms operate as a cluster, this exercise can be conducted periodically for the cluster as a whole or for individual firms. The outcome of the assessment can be used as a reference for comparative analysis among the firms in the cluster