Knowledge Management Tools and Practices alignment in SMEs

Purpose - The main aim of this paper is to provide a taxonomy of knowledge management systems and investigate the alignment between the intensity of use of relevant tools and practices supporting small and medium enterprises in the process of knowledge management. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on a literature review on knowledge management systems in SMEs, which allows to identity two research questions that are addressed through a face-to-face survey carried out in a sample of SMEs operating in high-tech industries such as aerospace, engineering, ICT, management training and consulting. Originality/value - In the literature there is not a common definition of knowledge management system but a variety of definitions. The main value of the paper is to explore and systematise the existing literature on knowledge management systems and provides a novel definition that includes both the IT-based tools and the organisation practices. In addition, the paper provides empirical evidences on knowledge management tools and practices adopted in SMEs and highlights the level of alignment between tools and practices. Practical implications - From the practical point of view the paper shows the difficulties that SMEs have to be responsive to the rapid technological changes as well as the lack of support from ICT vendors in the decision making process for choosing adequate knowledge management tools. From the SMEs point of view, this paper has highlighted that small firms could further increase the impact of knowledge management by better exploiting the opportunity offered by the new ICTs (such as, cloud computing, crowdsourcing system collaborative filtering, wiki, etc.). From KMSs provider point of view, this paper has stressed that SMEs typically do not have dedicated resources to monitor the process of innovation in the field of knowledge management systems. Nevertheless, they could represent a significant market. To catch this opportunity, it is necessary create not only a new market segment dedicated to small and medium enterprises but also direct channels of communication even virtual between SMEs and KMSs providers.