Web 2.0 as a key tool for sharing knowledge in Basque Country SMEs

  1. Izaskun Álvarez-Meaza 1
  2. Ernesto Cilleruelo-Carrasco 1
  3. Ibon Zamanillo Elgezabal
  1. 1 Depar tamento de Organización de Empresas. Escuela Superior de Ingeniería de Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco
Journal:
Dirección y organización: Revista de dirección, organización y administración de empresas

ISSN: 1132-175X

Year of publication: 2014

Issue: 53

Pages: 58-64

Type: Article

DOI: 10.37610/DYO.V0I53.453 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Dirección y organización: Revista de dirección, organización y administración de empresas

Abstract

nformation and Communications Technologies (ICTs), generally, have been known as the tools that allow firms to capture, process, store and transfer information. But also, ICTs are acknowledged as a valuable tool in the knowledge management process. Many research works related to SME have defined ICTs as one of the critical factors when implementing knowledge management. The process for managing knowledge can be grouped into three stages: knowledge acquisition, storing and sharing. The knowledge process starts when a necessity triggers the interest to acquire new knowledge. In this process, knowledge sharing has become an important variable in enterprises; however, the workplace cannot be considered the best context to make employees’ knowledge flow. Nevertheless, in practice, knowledge sharing proves to be a significant barrier for effective development of this mentioned process. And due to the existence of this barrier, it has become very important to analyse the influence of the ICTs in the last decade and they evolution towards filling up that gap. The bibliographic review in this paper illustrates that some of the existing ICTs, such as Web 2.0, are perfect matches to knowledge management. Web 2.0 focuses on people and can help us find a solution in order to improve the knowledge sharing. Fur thermore, these tools are inexpensive to acquire and operate, so they adapt better to the requirements of small enterprises in what refers to their resource scarcity. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are an essential part of economy, and due to this, they are important in employment creation. Besides, the characteristics of SMEs are different from large business, and that is why the ICT theories developed for larger enterprises may not be suitable for SMEs. In addition, it can be confirmed that not many research works focused on SMEs have been conducted in the field of knowledge management. Therefore, with the aim of confirming a significant presence of ICTs in the Basque enterprises, this research study analyzes what is the current availability of technological tools for Basque Country SMEs. More specifically, we research the use of Web 2.0, in order to evaluate whether the Basque SMEs give importance to knowledge sharing process and what activity sector and size of SME, grouping the results by number of employees.

Bibliographic References

  • ADAMS, E. C., & FREEMAN, C. (2000). «Communities of practice: Bridging technology and knowledge assessment. Journal of Knowledge Management, 4(1), pp. 38- 44.
  • ALBORS, J., RAMOS, J.C. & HERVAS-OLIVER, J.L. (2008). “New learning network paradigms: Communities of objectives, crowdsourcing, wikis and open source”, International Journal of Information Management, 28 (3), pp. 194-202
  • ALVAREZ, I., CILLERUELO, E., ZAMANILLO, I. & ZARRABEITIA, E. (2014). Knowledge management practices in SME. Case study in Basque Country SME. In: Prado, J.C.& García, J.A. (Eds). Annals of Industrial Engineering 2012: Industrial Engineering overcoming the crisis, London: Springer, 105-111.
  • BARBA, V., MARTÍNEZ, M.P. & JIMÉNEZ, M.I. (2007). «Drivers, benefits and challenges of ICT adoption by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs): a literature review», Problems and Perspectives in Management, 5 (1), pp. 103-114.
  • CELA, J. (2005). «Sociedad del conocimiento y sociedad global de la información: Implantación y desarrollo en España», Documentos de las Ciencias de la Información, 28, pp. 147-158.
  • COYTE, R., RICCERI, F. & GUTHRIE, J. (2012). «The management of knowledge resources in SMEs: an Australian case study», Journal of Knowledge Management, 16 (5), pp. 789-807.
  • DAVENPORT, T.H. & PRUSAK, L. (2000). Working Knowledge, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
  • DESOUZA, K.C. & AWAZU, Y. (2006). «Knowledge management at SMEs: five peculiarities», Journal of Knowledge Management, 10 (1), pp. 32-43.
  • DURST, S. & EDVARDSSON, I.R. (2012). «Knowledge management in SMEs: a literature review», Journal of Knowledge Management, 16 (6), pp. 879-903.
  • EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2012). EU SMEs in 2012: at the crossroads. Annual Report on small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU, 2011/12, Rotterdam: ECORYS.
  • EUROSTAT (2012). ICT usage in enterprises 2012, European Union: European Commission.
  • GOBIERNO VASCO (2010). Plan de Competitividad Empresarial 2010-2013, Vitoria-Gasteiz: Servicio Central de Publicaciones del Gobierno Vasco.
  • HENDRIKS, P. (1999). «Why share knowledge? The influence of ICT on the Motivation for Knowledge Sharing», Knowledge and Process Management, 6 (2), pp. 91-100.
  • HUTCHISON, V. & QUINTAS, P. (2008). «Do SMEs do knowledge management?Or simply manage what they know?», International Small Business Journal, 26, 31-151.
  • LEVY, M. (2009). «WEB 2.0 implications on knowledge management», Journal of Knowledge Management, 13 (1), pp. 120-134.
  • MOHAMED, M., MURRAY, A. & MOHAMED, M. (2010). «The role of information and communication technology (ICT) in mobilization of sustainable development knowledge: a quantitative evaluation», Journal of Knowledge Management, 14 (5), pp. 744-758.
  • NUNES, M.B., ANNANSINGH, F., EAGLESTONE, B. & WAKEFIELD, R. (2006). «Knowledge management issues in knowledge-intensive SMEs», Journal of Documentation, 62 (1), pp. 101-119.
  • OCDE (2003). Measuring Knowledge Management in the Business Sector : First Steps, Paris: OCDE.
  • RICCERI, F., GUTHRIE, J. & COYTE, R. (2010). The management of knowledge resources within private organisations: some European best practices illustrations. In: O’Brien, E.; Clifford, S.; Southern, M. (Eds). Knowledge Management for Process, Organizational and Marketing Innovation: Tools and Methods, Pennsylvania: IGI Global, 36-61.
  • SALOJÄRVI, S., FURU, P. & SVEIBY, K.E. (2005). «Knowledge management and growth in Finnish SMEs», Journal of Knowledge Management, 9 (2), pp. 103-122.
  • TENA, R. & ONGALLO, C. (2004). Estudio sobre la gestión del conocimiento en España, Madrid: SETSI; FUNDECYT; AENOR.
  • TISSEN, R., ANDRIESSEN, D. & LEKANNE, F. (1998). Value-based Knowledge Management: Creating the 21st century company: knowledge intensive, people rich, Amsterdam: Logman.
Data source: Dialnet