Knowledge Management Assignment.

Knowledge management is the process of gathering information, managing it, and sharing it in
an organization. Sharing information in an organization is important as it boosts existing
business processes and enhances efficiency. Through sharing employees within an organization
learn new capabilities. The firm itself learns through a process of problem solving, dynamic
learning, strategic planning, and decision-making. An organization, which is efficient in
knowledge management, has an advantage over other firms. Knowledge Management Assignment.This paper reviews the work of Jafari, Suppiah & Ramalingam (2014) and Wang & Yang (2016) who examines the role of knowledge management in fostering innovation and enhanced performance. To be able to do
this, this critique is divided into the following sections: aim and purpose, methodology, main
findings, contributions, limitations, and future research.

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2.1 Aim and purpose
Wang & Yang (2016) sought to investigate the success of knowledge management in small and
medium enterprises in Taiwan. They test empirically the Jennex and Olfman (J&O) KM success
model. They selected the model because it is strong theoretically hence can easily be used to
analyze influences of knowledge management on productivity of Taiwanese small and medium
enterprises. Jafari, Suppiah & Ramalingam (2014) were interested in finding or identifying the
role of knowledge management in supporting innovation in a firm. According to the researchers,
innovation is critical for a business that wants to stand out in a competitive operating
environment. Knowledge Management Assignment. As such, it is important for an enterprise to gather market data or intelligence and use it to make decisions. The role of knowledge management is assisting in the process of gathering data and transforming into a usable format for decision-making. The goal and aim of
researchers is to understand whether knowledge management is an antecedent to innovation.

2.2 Methodologies
Jafari, Suppiah & Ramalingam (2014) used data collected from manufacturing industries in
Malaysia. Sources of the data used included annual surveys of manufacturing sectors in the
country. The size of the sample used was 384. Researchers gave respondents a questionnaire to
capture their responses. Likert scale was selected to examine the response of the subjects along a
continuum of agree or disagree. Knowledge Management Assignment.
The items in the questionnaire were 27. Before the final copy of the questionnaire was given out
to respondents or subjects in the study, they were taken through pretesting stage. Based on the
findings and feedback provided at this stage, the questionnaire was further improved upon or
made better. After pretesting stage, a pilot study was conducted with 30 respondents. The pilot
study provided an opportunity for testing the reliability of the data. The findings of the reliability
test showed that the questionnaire could be relied on.
To collect data, the researchers found that online method was the best for that purpose. In the
modern, fast moving environment, researchers found that giving subjects an electronic
questionnaire over the internet was the best way to collect data. The interface through which data
could be collected was the web. The targeted firms were selected in the east of Malaysia. Based
on the circumstances of the firms selected, a web-based tool was found to be the best to collect
the data needed. Researchers managed to collect 420 replies of which the firm found only 384
were good enough for the purposes of the study. Knowledge Management Assignment.

Wang & Yang (2016) used a questionnaire distributed to practitioners and managers as the
subjects in the study. The managers approached in the study were those whose companies or
businesses qualified as small and medium enterprises in Taiwan. The demographic information
of the respondents was noted down and the variables considered were age, gender, educational
level, work position, industry type, and total number of employees working the company.

2.3 Main findings
Knowledge management is crucial for the survival of small and medium enterprises. Wang &
Yang (2016) found that even for small and medium enterprises, their operations are complex
enough and hence the need for knowledge management. Furthermore, under the current
competitive environment brought by globalizations, it is crucial for all organizations to become a
learning organization. As a form of intangible resource, knowledge management is an important
resource nevertheless. Indeed, in the current information age, the most crucial resource is
intangible resource. While in the past tangible resources such as plants and machine mattered,
they are no longer as important today (Scaringella, 2016). Knowledge Management Assignment.
Any resource that allows a business to serve customers better is important. The resource could be
tangible or intangible. In the current context, most of the resources that make businesses serve
customers better are intangible. For instance, customer service skill is an intangible resource that
is important to customer service representatives (Wang, Noe & Wang, 2011). Training is
important in making employees serve customers better. The quality of training is based on
knowledge management conducted by the firm. Another aspect of knowledge management and its relevant to small and medium enterprises is market intelligence. A business has to collect that information in the market and act on it. Such kind of data collected from the market and its management form part of knowledge management.
When a business has knowledge, it is able to understand information and made decisions.
Understanding the information fosters problem solving, decision making, teaching, and learning.
If an organization is able to learn faster than the rest, it has an advantage in the market.
Wang & Yang (2016) further found that the crucial determinant of success is not physical assets
but the value of intangible assets. Forward-looking companies seek to accumulate a greater
number of resources in the form of improving its ability to innovate, serve customers better, and
adopt the right culture that attracts and retains highly qualified employees. Knowledge Management Assignment.
According to Wang & Yang (2016), knowledge management can be defined as a process through
which a firm is able to generate value from knowledge based assets. The process of acquiring
knowledge based assets starts by seeking to understand customers, more employees, and the
market a firm is operating. Market information could include things such as the number of
operators, their brands, sales per year, their marketing practices, and other related market
intelligence (Jiménez-Jiménez, Martínez-Costa, & Sanz-Valle, 2014). Once this information is
gathered, it is then shared with employees, departments, and even customers if there is a need to
share it with them.
Knowledge management is a continuous process. Once information is collected, it has to be
shared with the right people at the right time to aid decision making. The marketers are provided
with information about the marketing practices of their competitors, they are able to develop a
counter strategy before the company falls behind in the market. Knowledge Management Assignment. According to Jafari, Suppiah & Ramalingam (2014), knowledge management is a critical
determinant of competitive advantage.
As a managerial tool, knowledge management helps firms create knowledge and share it. A good
manager is attuned to the hidden assets of the people in the form of experience and other soft
skills. Without the intangible assets, a firm is unlikely to face the future and succeed.
Knowledge management also includes the management of the business processes that take place
using the resource. A business need processes for managing knowledge creation and establishing
contacts with people outside the firm responsible for creating knowledge (Johnston, 2005). For
example, the firm need processes for engaging with outside consultants and researchers engaged
by the firm for generating knowledge on behalf of the organization. Also, the firm should have a
clear plan or structure for sharing the information or knowledge through training, mentorship,
and other means. Knowledge Management Assignment.
The main goal of knowledge management is in supporting innovation and increasing the free
flow of information within the firm. In the final analysis, knowledge management allows the
firm to take products to the market faster and reduces costs through identifying redundant
processes that drive costs without adding value. From the perspective of employees, knowledge
management improves their motivation (Noruzy et al. 2012). The basis of knowledge
management is understanding that hidden resources within employees such as experience and the
information they gather informally in the course of their work is very important.
A firm committed to knowledge management necessarily invests in employee training, as they
are partners in gathering of knowledge and sharing. Motivation theories suggest that employees
have needs that go beyond payment of salaries and one of meeting those needs is training and appreciating their role within the firm. Knowledge management places employees as the most
important resource, ahead of tangible resources such as plant and equipment.

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Knowledge management process requires four skills, which require skills acquisition,
assimilation, transformation of knowledge, and ability to exploit that knowledge. The process of
knowledge creation includes market research, research and development, and formation of
strategic partnerships with other firms (Reich, Gemino & Sauer, 2014). Assimilation, as the
name suggests, is using knowledge in the right way. Knowledge Management Assignment.
Knowledge transformation is bringing together scattered pieces of information into one whole
for better decision making. In knowledge transformation, new knowledge is created entirely from
what is available (Nancy, 2012). This is the most important stage in knowledge management as
the firm gains new and fresh ideas for further application and solutions to meet the needs of the
market. The firm with the ability to assimilate more information stands a better chance of
transforming knowledge and solving problems the firm is facing.
The six knowledge management assets include stakeholder relationships, human resources,
physical infrastructure, culture, practices and routine and intellectual property. Stakeholder
relationships include licensing agreements, partnering agreements, and contracts and distribution
agreements. Human resources include skills, competence, commitment, and loyalty or employees
(Meizzu, 2012). Elements of culture include organizational values, employee networking, and
management philosophy. Patents, copyrights, trademarks, brands, registered designs, and trade
secrets form part of intellectual property.
Knowledge acquisition is challenging as the process of acquiring and knowledge and making it
usable is not easy. In the majority of cases, firms fail to acquire knowledge, which they already have due to poor culture and collection gaps. A firm may also lack the capability to acquired data
in its raw and unstructured form. The second major challenge is knowledge modeling, which is
bridging the gap between knowledge acquisition and use (Meihami & Meihami, 2012). Other
problems include retrieval of knowledge, reusing it, publishing, and maintenance. Knowledge Management Assignment.
Knowledge management refers to the process of gathering information, managing, and sharing it
throughout the organization. Sharing knowledge boosts the existing business processes and
improves efficiency by eliminating redundant processes. Knowledge management further helps
employees improve the capabilities and the firm learns from experience. Inside an organization,
the practical role of knowledge management is problem solving, dynamic learning, strategic
planning, and decision-making. Looking at the role of knowledge management, it is evident an
organization efficient in the process gains a competitive advantage over firms, which lack the
capacity to collect, assimilate, transform, and share knowledge. Knowledge management,
therefore, is an enabler to attaining strategic objectives.
Knowledge management is a discipline that promotes creation, sharing, and leveraging of the
corporation’s knowledge. It provides the platform a firm needs to build on its experiences. The
knowledge that has been generated within the firm need sharing and transmission and knowledge
management provides the platform for that too. In the course of operations, an organization
generates a massive amount of information relating to customers, the performance of individual
employees, performance of various processes and other data. This information should be
collected, managed, and shared within the organization when needed (Dulipovici & Robey,
2013). Organization with superior knowledge management tools outcompete their rivals in the
long term. In the final analysis, what matters is the ability of an organization to learn from its
experiences and adjust accordingly. Knowledge Management Assignment.

While knowledge management is defined as the exploitation and development of knowledge
assets of an organization to further its objectives, innovation on the other hand refers to the
creation of something of value. Objectives of a firm could be increasing market share, increasing
sales or revenue, or outcompeting rivals. Introducing a new product in the market is innovation
as it has value to customers. A new product does not have to be due to new inventions. Creative
use of available knowledge to create something new qualifies as innovation. Studies show that
knowledge management and innovation are positively correlated. Organization with better
framework and tools for knowledge management are more innovative.

2.4 Contributions
The findings of these two journal articles agree with previous research that underlines the need
of knowledge management in an organization. The success of a knowledge management is
determined by knowledge acquisition, dissemination, and responsiveness. Jafari, Suppiah &
Ramalingam (2014) specifically finds that knowledge management is an antecedent to
innovation. Without knowledge, it is impossible for an organization to innovate. Managing
information an organization has access is a crucial factor in making an organization create new
knowledge and product. The antecedent to employee innovativeness is knowledge acquisition
and responsiveness to knowledge. Knowledge dissemination is not as important in making
employees innovative. Knowledge Management Assignment.This finding suggests that companies should focus more encouraging knowledge acquisition and responsiveness to encourage innovation within their firms. Another
critical finding of the paper is that too much formalization makes innovation, hard to achieve
within an organization. Instead of following the best way, the organization should attempt to
encourage employees to approach problems in a flexible manner and not stick to orthodox ways
of handling issues. The “best way” is often followed mechanically without much thought.

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However, for innovation to take place, employees must think through the process and the
challenges they are facing. The best of knowledge management could also be poorly
management leaving no opportunity for innovation.
The main reason that organizations are aggressively using knowledge management is the
pressure from competition, consumers who are willing to change any time, globalization, and
short product life cycle. The study by Wang & Yang (2016) found that the antecedents to
successful implementation of knowledge management include system quality, knowledge
quality, and service quality. The three dimensions provide a model for implementation of
knowledge management, especially for small and medium enterprises without significant
resources. Enterprises seeking to implement knowledge management systems in their firms or
integrate it into their operations have a good model to work with. Knowledge Management Assignment.

2.5 Limitations
In Jafari, Suppiah & Ramalingam (2014) study, the research was based on a small cross sectional
study that involved a small number of respondents. The small number cannot be representative
of Malaysia. Moreover, Malaysia itself is a small country and perhaps the findings cannot be
generalized to other countries with a different culture and large population. The researchers
could not establish a causal effect between constructs and a longitudinal study. A larger
longitudinal study is required to establish such effect. The context all matters and therefore a
large study with more respondents from different industries, regions, and perhaps even countries
would provide more reliable results. Also, researchers found that organizations with sound
knowledge management practices were more innovative. The study could not establish what
comes first: innovation or establishment of sound knowledge management tools. Knowledge Management Assignment.

Wang & Yang (2016) could not establish knowledge management success model from a single
study. When generalizing the findings, they call for caution. Secondly, the sample itself is
inherently problematic because it was self-administered. The authors also say that the findings of
the paper are based on Taiwanese small and medium enterprises and in that sense, these
enterprises cannot be considered as representative of all SMEs in the world. Knowledge Management Assignment. Also, the findings
are collated from the views of the respondents and their perceptions. Such views vary across
entire sectors and industries and they are influenced by ownership, function, and work
experience of the respondent.

2.6 Identification of future research
At a glance, it appears that knowledge management does more than support innovation. More
research is needed to understand the supporting role of knowledge management practices. Wang
& Yang (2016) says that future research is needed to assess the views of other respondents in
other countries before their findings could be generalized small and medium enterprises.
Knowledge management success model should also be applied in different stages to provide a
comprehensive of knowledge management. Knowledge Management Assignment.

3.0 References

Dulipovici, A. & Robey, D., 2013. Strategic Alignment and Misalignment of Knowledge
Management Systems: A Social Representation Perspective. Journal of Management
Information Systems, 29(4), pp.103–126.
Jiménez-Jiménez, D., Martínez-Costa, M. & Sanz-Valle, R., 2014. Knowledge management
practices for innovation: a multinational corporation’s perspective. J of Knowledge
Management Journal of Knowledge Management, 18(5), pp.905–918.
Johnston, S., 2005. Knowledge Management and Innovation. Headquarters and Subsidiaries in
Multinational Corporations, pp.148–172.
Jafari, M., Suppiah, M., & Ramalingam, T. (2014). the Effect of Knowledge Management
Practices on Employees’ Innovative Performance. The International Journal of
Management Science and Information Technology (IJMSIT) Special Issue: ICIE 2014
(82 – 93) Knowledge Management Assignment.
Nancy, P., 2012. Knowledge Management and Innovation Management. An Interdisciplinary
Perspective Knowledge Management Series on Innovation and Knowledge Management,
pp.285–323.
Meizzu, P., 2012. Knowledge Management and Innovation Management. An Interdisciplinary
Perspective Knowledge Management Series on Innovation and Knowledge Management,
pp.285–323.
Meihami, B. & Meihami, H., 2012. Knowledge Management a Way to Gain a Competitive
Advantage in Firms (Evidence of Manufacturing Companies). ILSHS International
Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, 14, pp.80–91.
Noruzy, A. et al., 2012. Relations between transformational leadership, organizational learning,

knowledge management, organizational innovation, and organizational performance: an
empirical investigation of manufacturing firms. The International Journal of Advanced
Manufacturing Technology Int J Adv Manuf Technol, 64(5-8), pp.1073–1085.
Reich, B.H., Gemino, A. & Sauer, C., 2014. How knowledge management impacts performance
in projects: An empirical study. International Journal of Project Management, 32(4),
pp.590–602.
Scaringella, L., 2016. Knowledge, knowledge dynamics, and innovation. Euro Jrnl of Inn
Mnagmnt European Journal of Innovation Management, 19(3), pp.337–361.
Wang, S., Noe, R.A. & Wang, Z.-M., 2011. Motivating Knowledge Sharing in Knowledge
Management Systems: A Quasi-Field Experiment. Journal of Management, 40(4),
pp.978–1009.
Wang, M., & Yang, T. (2016). Investigating the success of knowledge management: An
empirical study of small and medium-sized enterprises. Asia Pacific Management
Review 21 (2016) 79e91. Knowledge Management Assignment.