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The role of IT in supporting Knowledge Management
Exploration and Exploitation strategies in SMEs.
A case study approach in two European SMEs
A study submitted in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science in Information Management
at
The University of Sheffield
by
Ankkitt Mathur
September ‘11
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Acknowledgement
Reminiscing about my dissertation experience, it initially looked like an uphill
task for me to complete this research and without proper guidance and support
from the people around me it would not have been possible either.
First of all, a special thanks to my supervisor Dr. Ana C. Vasconcelos for her
undying support, relentless encouragement and a friendly attitude.
This study has enriched me with academic knowledge as well as the various
nuances of life and the things that I have learned during the Master’s
programme will always be etched in my memory.
I would like to thank my parents and both my sisters from the bottom of my
heart. Without their support and love, I would not have come this far. A special
Thank you to my mom for believing in me.
Big thanks to all my friends for being there for me. And a very special thank you
to Megan Hollway for constantly reassuring me and believing in my abilities.
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Abstract
Background: The literature on knowledge management exploration and exploitation in
SMEs disclose that the firms adopt an informal way of knowledge sharing. The task of
IT is to support the knowledge adaptation strategies. Previous researches have largely
disregarded the technological aspect to knowledge management. This study will
investigate the role of IT in knowledge management exploration & exploitation in SMEs
and also identify the knowledge management practices through the knowledge
adaptation framework.
Purpose: The purpose of this research is to analyse the role of IT in knowledge
exploration & exploitation in two European SMEs.
Methodology: The study has taken the inductive approach for two European SMEs
case studies. They use knowledge informally and are striving to be knowledge intensive
in their strategies. The case studies were analysed using the qualitative method of
constant comparison through concept mapping of the company interview transcripts.
Findings: The study provides evidence of how Knowledge Exploration and
Exploitation strategies are being practiced by the SMEs. It also assesses the role of IT in
the exploration and exploitation strategies. The research found out that both the
companies had a somewhat informal knowledge sharing techniques. Moreover, the
companies were trying to be knowledge intensive in their work practice and it was
evident that they wanted to invest more time on research and innovation.
Conclusion: The aims and objectives of this research were achieved to an extent. The
significance of IT in assisting knowledge management strategy was identified. There
were some limitations in terms of time and therefore some features were not analysed
which were suggested in future study.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction and context ..................................................................................................... 5
1.1 Research aims and objectives ...................................................................................................... 6
1.2 Research Outline ................................................................................................................................ 7
1.3 Structure of the Research............................................................................................................... 8
Chapter 2: Literature review .................................................................................................................... 9
2.1 Introduction to Knowledge Management ............................................................................... 9
2.2 What is Knowledge Management? .......................................................................................... 10
2.3 Understanding Knowledge Management Concepts ......................................................... 10
2.3.1 Understanding the creation of Explicit and Tacit Knowledge types ................. 10
2.3.2 Understanding codification and socialisation strategy in SMEs ........................ 12
2.4 Understanding Knowledge Exploitation and Exploration in an Organisation ...... 15
2.5 Summary and Implications for the Research ...................................................................... 22
Chapter 3: Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 23
3.1 Selecting a Research Methodology .......................................................................................... 23
3.1.1 Qualitative Research ............................................................................................................. 23
3.1.2 Inductive Research ................................................................................................................ 24
3.1.3 Case Study ................................................................................................................................. 25
3.2 Research Design .............................................................................................................................. 26
3.3 Research Sample ............................................................................................................................. 27
3.4 Data Collection ................................................................................................................................. 28
3.5 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................................... 29
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3.5.1 Thematic Analysis .................................................................................................................. 29
3.5.2 Concept Maps .......................................................................................................................... 31
3.5.3 Narratives ................................................................................................................................. 32
3.6 Practicalities ..................................................................................................................................... 32
3.7 Ethical aspects ................................................................................................................................. 33
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings .............................................................................................. 34
4.1 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................................... 34
4.1.1 Knowledge Adaptation ........................................................................................................ 35
4.2 Findings and Discussion .............................................................................................................. 69
4.3 Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 75
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Further Study ........................................................................................ 76
5.1 Contribution of the research...................................................................................................... 76
5.2 Lessons Learned & Limitations of the Research ............................................................... 77
5.3 Recommendation for Further Research ............................................................................... 78
References ..................................................................................................................................................... 80
Appendix 1 – Example of Interview Questions .............................................................................. 86
Appendix 2 – Figure 1 Knowledge Adaptation ............................................................................... 89
List of Figures
Figure 1: Knowledge Adaptation
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Chapter 1: Introduction and context
For the past decade, Knowledge Management has been catching the attention of
many organisations. It is the buzz word in the technology sector and most service
providers are eager to espouse the term and implement it as a solution (Silver, 2003).
The Information and communication technologies (ICT‟s) play a major role
especially during the initial phase of a knowledge management process (Hislop,
2005). In a particular organisation, the implementation of ICT depends on the needs
of the users. In other words, all the different kinds of technologies are incorporated
according to the requirements of the users, which allow appropriate knowledge
sharing and transfer.
In a study done by Chan & Chao (2008) on SMEs, it was revealed that a more
balanced Knowledge Management capability should be set up by the organisations.
Their findings were as follows: -
Being small or medium sized the organisations were technologically
underdeveloped, chiefly due to financial constraints.
Small or medium sized enterprises should encourage knowledge sharing
(informal knowledge) within their hierarchal structure through incentives
and rewards in order to facilitate better quality and growth.
They should be made to understand that knowledge management is a way to
extract the skills and experience of the people for the benefit of the
organisation.
Although, the popularity of knowledge management is ever increasing but the
impact of it is not yet fully realised. This is because it is a relatively new subject and
also it is not yet properly defined in terms of its usage. Additionally, the focus on
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knowledge management practice and research has been in large organisations with
relatively low research on small medium enterprises (McAdam & Reid, 2001).
There is a need to focus and research on the SMEs and produce a framework which
categorises and maps different strategies used in knowledge management of SMEs.
This would involve examining the current use of technology in knowledge sharing
in an SME, investigating if the organisations use collaborative technological
approaches as a part of knowledge adaptation strategy which includes examining
exploration and exploitation methods used by the organisations.
1.1 Research aims and objectives
This research aims to investigate and identify the role of IT in knowledge
management exploration and exploitation strategies in SMEs. The study will analyse
how they are put into practice by the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.
The objectives of this research are: -
a) To assess the state of the art for research of knowledge management in
SMEs.
b) To analyse the work practices in two SME case studies.
c) To identify and determine how exploration and exploitation strategies are
developed through these practices.
d) To develop an explanatory framework that will explain Knowledge
Management practices concerning exploitation and exploration in action in
SMEs
e) To generate recommendations for the understanding of these practices.
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1.2 Research Outline
This research starts from identifying the research aims and objectives by assessing
the potential factors related to the study. A detailed literature was reviewed to get the
basic understanding of the topic. Firstly, the basic knowledge management terms
were identified and explained. Then knowledge management exploitation and
exploration terms were investigated and described as the research area consisted of
analysing the knowledge adaptation of an organisation.
Generally, this study is a qualitative research by the means of inductive
methodology using multiple case study approach. The selected approach will
analyse the real life practices in the chosen organisations. The interview process had
already been done before this research and therefore there was no need for any
interviews. Also, the interviews were transcribed before the research which meant
that this research only focussed on analysing the data collected. Nevertheless, the
interviews that were conducted adopted a semi-structured, open-ended approach.
The analysis of the data was done by ground theory approach using the constant
comparison method. The data was interpreted and coded into concepts to get a rich
understanding of the information. Through the coded data, a concept map was
created to determine the relationships between the concepts which clearly
demonstrated the findings of the data analysis.
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1.3 Structure of the Research
This research consists of five chapters; chronologically it includes Introduction,
Literature Review, Methodology description, Data Analysis and Findings of the
Research, Conclusion, Lessons learned, & Further Research.
Chapter 1 introduces the research area of this dissertation underlining the aims and
objectives of the study.
Chapter 2 reviews the literature dealing with the area of research.
Chapter 3 explains the methodology applied for the research and its procedure.
Chapter 4 is divided into two parts. First past examines the interview data and
categorises the data. Second part discusses the findings and data analysis backed by
the literature.
Chapter 5 sums up the research in conclusion & limitations of the research, lessons
learned, contribution of the research, and future research
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Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1 Introduction to Knowledge Management
To understand knowledge, one needs to understand the nature of data and
information and how these are translated into knowledge. Davenport and Prusak
(1997) describe data as “observation of states of the world”. They further explain
the characteristic of data as easy to structure capture and transfer. Meaning, data is
just a structured observation which can be stored and defined in a data storage
technological tool. On the other hand, Information is an organised data which is
prepared by some form classification scheme (Jashapara, 2004). Choo (2002) states
that data becomes information by the aggregation of data, which means that the data
is converted into information when it is analysed and given a relevance and purpose
according to the needs of the organisation. From an organisational perspective, the
objective of information is to contribute to the organisation‟s information resources
and capabilities to fulfil the organisation‟s goals (Choo, 2002).
Knowledge is valuable information which has been given context, meaning, and an
interpretation by somebody who has reflected on its own wisdom and drawn out a
conclusion (Davenport & Prusak, 1997). Jashapara (2004) refers to knowledge as
„actionable information‟, which he further elaborates as any information which
gives us the ability to translate information into action or allow us to work more
efficiently and effectively. Choo (2002) also discusses knowledge as an enabler of
actions and distinguishes knowledge from information as the former facilitates in
taking decisions and actions. From an organisational perspective, knowledge is
supposed to acquire, transfer and utilise in order to be competent, to resolve
problems and to avoid crisis and threats (Choo, 2002).
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According to Srikantiaiah (1999), Knowledge Management is referred to as an
incorporation of earlier approaches such as information resource management,
business process reengineering and management of information systems. It is a new
initiative born due to the lessons learnt from previous initiatives.
2.2 What is Knowledge Management?
Knowledge management is an integrated approach to identify, capture, evaluate,
retrieve, and share an organisation‟s information assets, for example, databases,
experience of individual workers, uncaptured expertise, procedures and policies
(Gartner Group, cited in T. Kanti Srikantaiah, 1999). According to Srikantaiah
(1999), knowledge management helps an organisation improve its performance,
enhance its innovations, and also develops the organisation gain a competitive
advantage over others.
The whole purpose of knowledge management is to enhance the performance of an
organisation and increase its intellectual capital through strategising and integrating
the information systems and human resource process (Jashapara, 2004). The
challenging part in knowledge management is the sharing of knowledge after it is
created. Hence, knowledge management is not entirely dependent on technology; it
is more efficient when human beings share and support knowledge using the
technological tools. In other words, technology acts as a mediator of the transfer of
knowledge from one individual to the other but it does not create knowledge.
2.3 Understanding Knowledge Management Concepts
2.3.1 Understanding the creation of Explicit and Tacit Knowledge types
There are two forms of knowledge, namely, Explicit Knowledge and Tacit
Knowledge (Nonaka et al., 2000). Explicit knowledge refers to the knowledge which
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can be articulated and expressed to others, while Tacit knowledge is the knowledge
which is deep rooted in values, ideals and emotions and it cannot be articulated as
the consciousness is not able to access it (Nonaka et al., 2000). Nonaka et al. (2000)
proposed that these forms of knowledge can be inter-converted through these four
processes which they called the SECI processes. Their finding is as follows: -
Socialisation (Tacit Knowledge to Tacit Knowledge) – Because tacit
knowledge cannot be articulated, it can only be shared through sharing
experiences. Thus, an example of socialisation would be training as
apprentice where information is shared through experience rather than
from a written text.
Externalisation (Tacit Knowledge to Explicit Knowledge) – The process
by which tacit knowledge is made explicit and converted to a form that
can be articulated is called externalisation. Externalisation can be likened
to the development of a new product from a concept.
Combination (Explicit Knowledge to Explicit Knowledge) –
Combination is the process where data is collected and processed to form
more evolved knowledge. This evolved knowledge becomes the new
explicit knowledge and can then be shared within the organisation.
Internalisation (Explicit Knowledge to Tacit Knowledge) –
internalisation is the highest form of absorption where the shared explicit
knowledge is assimilated in a way that it becomes tacit knowledge for the
individual. An example of this would be when someone follows
instructions to do a process and eventually learns how to do it himself.
Binney (2001) reinstates the point that in the present, the companies strive to
become a knowledge based company and that is a successful condition for a
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company. He categorises the knowledge management landscape which he calls „the
knowledge management spectrum‟. This spectrum acts as a framework which covers
all the knowledge management applications and their use. Some of the findings of
the spectrum are as follows: -
Analytical knowledge management is used to analyse trends and patterns
of the marketplace, thereby, assessing the competitions activity. This is
done by collecting large amounts of data and information using data
warehousing, data analysis & reporting tools and management
information systems. Analytical knowledge management is a kind of
explicit knowledge which is explored to serve organisational objectives
and motives.
Developmental knowledge management centres on augmenting the
competencies and capabilities of a company‟s knowledge. These help in
transferring explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge through a
development programme, such as, experiential assignments and
membership in a community of interest. Community of interests involve
communities where people exchange and learn ideas, resulting in the
transfer of rich tacit knowledge from one another.
2.3.2 Understanding codification and socialisation strategy in SMEs
As Hansen et al. (1999) explains, knowledge management strategies can be divided
into two key components, which are codification strategies and socialisation
strategies. Codification strategy is collecting and saving the explicit knowledge
information into databases, data warehousing, reporting tools and other repositories,
while socialisation strategy deals with sharing knowledge through social interaction
such as emails, groupware, search engines, video conferencing and instant
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messengers. Hislop (2005) categorises different ICT applications such as computer
aided design (CAD) and groupware to creating knowledge and integrating
knowledge respectively, which are its knowledge management roles. Jashapara
(2004) elaborates the importance to have the ontology and taxonomy tools to
classify and categorise knowledge at an “individual, organisational level”.
Both Jashapara (2004) and Binney (2001) talk about categorisation of knowledge
management tools and especially for SMEs, the need to develop a framework of
knowledge management tools and technology is of utmost importance.
In a research article, Hutchinson & Quintas (2008) discuss the knowledge
management scenario in SMEs. They conclude that: -
The belief that SMEs do not manage knowledge is wrong.
SMEs do not have formal knowledge management processes.
SMEs use informal processes instead of formal knowledge management
processes which means that they do manage knowledge but in an
informal manner.
There is a lack of research in the knowledge practices of SMEs.
There is a sense of immaturity in the field of knowledge management.
Some of their research findings are contradictory to the literature which means that
they have found out that things are different in actual practice. Their findings are as
follows: -
Knowledge management is practised in an SME; it is just not recognised
properly.
SMEs do have formal knowledge but not always.
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In an SME, where knowledge is keenly practiced, without being regarded
as knowledge management, that knowledge should be assigned the name
of „informal knowledge‟.
The SMEs search for knowledge sources to gain competitive advantage
over others and to reassure themselves that they are better than them.
SMEs apply acquired knowledge to improve their services.
As Nonaka et al. (2000) discovered, the informal knowledge that Hutchinson &
Quintas (2008) discussed, can be utilised by externalisation. This is extremely
important for SMEs since they are rich in tacit knowledge which needs to be
converted into a more crystallised knowledge form that is explicit knowledge which
can be disseminated and shared within the organisation for its own development.
Mentzas & Apostolou (2003) did a post implementation research of know-net
management solution tool in four software companies. This study was conducted to
know how the business areas of the four companies benefit from the know-net tool.
The study established the following outcomes: -
For SMEs, a good practice guide with a set of predefined guidelines
which covers all the aspects of knowledge management would be
beneficial as SMEs do not want to invest on consultants and solution
experts.
Organisational structure plays a huge role in the management of
knowledge.
They also refer to the factors affecting tacit knowledge to the degrees of
“personal relationship and geographical proximity” and suggest
forming communities of practice which are not bound geographically.
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Knowledge asset management should be integrated with the standard
business processes which would mean that people will learn from
experiences of others and also provide their own experience for others to
learn.
2.4 Understanding Knowledge Exploitation and Exploration in an
Organisation
In a study done by Bibikas et al. (2010), they used the term „learning organisation‟
to explain the meaning, use and learning practices of knowledge exploitation and
exploration. They defined knowledge exploitation as making use of the existing
processes and developing the organisations pre existing knowledge assets. On the
other hand, knowledge exploration is referred to as a construction of new knowledge
for the development of the organisations products and services. They point out the
features of both knowledge exploration and exploitation. They are as follows: -
Knowledge exploitation is done to gain instantaneous returns for the
organisation by reusing, synthesising and implementing the current
organisational knowledge.
Knowledge exploration is more experimental and innovative as it is
practiced to gain new knowledge in order to enhance the organisations
current core competences.
However, balancing both the strategies is difficult for an organisation. March (1991)
points out the complexity in gaining new information for the future gains and
refining the existing information for the present gains. The uncertainty of the new
information being not useful or the unexpected results of the new information might
make the new information redundant. The implication of this to the organisation
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would be increase in cost and time. Hence, the organisation might find it hard to
take the risk of gaining new information without knowing the repercussions of it.
March (1991) describes the characteristics of exploitation and exploration in an
organisation: -
Exploitation is the extension of the current improving technologies and
competencies of the company.
Exploration is experimenting with new alternatives for the overall
development and success of an organisation.
The difference between exploitation and exploration is that the returns in
exploitation are predictable and safe while in exploration it might be
unpredictable and unsafe to the organisation.
He further explains this situation by looking at it holistically:
“What is good in the long run is not always good in the short run. What is good at a
particular historical moment is not always good at another time. What is good for one part of
an organisation is not always good for another part. What is good for an organisation is not
always good for a larger social system of which it is a part of.” (pp. 73)
As a result of the uncertain nature of exploration, March (1991) states that the
returns of exploitation is relatively more certain than that of exploration. This results
in exploitation strategy to cumulate and thereby broadening the gap of adaptability
and making an imbalance between exploitation and exploration.
In 2004, He & Wong tested and found out that the balance between exploration and
exploitation affects the sales growth rate of an organisation. They discussed the
ambidextrous nature of the organisations (i.e. to exploit and explore) and also the
effects of them on an organisation. Their results are as follows:
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The sales growth rate is positively related to the interaction between
exploitation and exploration.
The sales growth rate is negatively related to the imbalance between
exploration and exploitation innovation strategies.
This means that the balance between exploration and exploitation (ambidexterity)
positively effects an organisation financially and also in the context of technology.
On the other hand, Raisch et al. (2009) also discussed the organisational
ambidexterity and they found out that there are four fundamental tensions in the
ambidexterity of an organisation. They are as follows:
Differentiation versus Integration – Differentiation is the subdivision
of tasks into a separate organisational unit thereby developing the
exploration and exploitation in context. While integration which is
the „behavioural mechanisms‟ that helps the organisation to tackle
exploitation and exploration activities within the same unit. Since
both are complimentary, the balance between the differentiation and
integration is important for the dynamic capability of generating and
nourishing organisational ambidexterity.
Individual versus Organisational – Individual and organisational are
both interconnected. Individually, managers can demonstrate
personal ambidexterity by connecting to the activities of exploitation
and exploration. Organisationally, managers with decision making
authority are more likely to make sense and move the organisation
forward. Although, ambidexterity is not the sum of the individual
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activities but a relatively small number of individuals might be
capable of assimilating exploration and exploitation.
Static versus Dynamic – Simultaneous and chronological attention to
exploration and exploitation helps in having ambidexterity. The
dynamic alignment of ambidexterity is the managing of it and it is not
a static alignment.
Internal versus External – Ambidexterity may depend on the firm‟s
capability to integration of internal and external knowledge. The
capability to integrate external knowledge depends on the
combination of „external brokerage and internal absorptive
capacity‟.
Zahra & George (2002) reviewed and developed the absorptive capacity in a
company. They integrated the set of organisational routine and practices by which
companies develop and manage their knowledge. As a result, they recognized four
knowledge areas which they considered important for an organisation to be
successful:
Acquisition – refers to a firm‟s ability to „identify and acquire
external‟ knowledge. This includes the speed of which the knowledge
is acquired and therefore, decides the firm‟s acquisition potential.
Assimilation – refers to a firm‟s routine process to understand the
acquired knowledge. This includes interpreting and learning the
newly acquired knowledge.
Transformation – refers to combining the existing knowledge to the
newly acquired knowledge. This includes recodification or deleting
the existing knowledge.
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Exploitation – refers to using the existing knowledge in its
operations. This includes implementation and refinement of the
existing knowledge and thereby harvesting organisational resources.
Acquisition and assimilation of knowledge is seen to have latent absorptive capacity
while transformation and exploitation is the existing or current absorptive capacity
of an organisation.
In a study done by Gray (2006) it was revealed that the absorptive capacity of an
SME depends on levels of education, staff development and tendency to innovate.
Gray (2006) also found out that:
Higher the levels of characteristics of absorptive capacity mentioned
above, greater is the chance of stronger growth and performance.
The strategic objectives and culture that is created within the firm
needs to be directed towards sales and profits of the firm, resulting in
development and innovation from the drive to compete with other
firms.
Technical education on absorptive capacity is necessary as ICT plays
an important role in improving the pace and access of new
knowledge.
Cohen & Levinthal (1990) analysed the absorptive capacity from the perspective of
learning and innovation and they found out that:
Firms are sensitive to the learning environment and its attributes.
Absorptive capacity is developed and maintained when it is closely
related to the current knowledge base of the firm (i.e. absorptive
capacity is a by-product).
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When the firm wants to acquire unrelated knowledge then it must put
a dedicated effort in creating that absorptive knowledge (i.e.
absorptive capacity is not a by-product).
In 2004, Holmqvist examined the dynamics of exploration and exploitation within
and between organisations. The study found out the organisational learning of
exploration and exploitation are inter linked by two processes, namely, „opening up
and focusing‟. Holmqvist (2004) observed that:
Opening up describes how exploitation generates exploration.
Focussing describes how exploration generates exploitation.
Dissatisfaction with the ongoing behaviour of exploration or
exploitation in the firm is main cause or driving force of the above
dynamics.
Consistent exploitative behaviour can be a cause of exploration and
vice versa.
Vanhaverbeke et al. (2003) argued that a firm‟s alliance network is reliant on the
type of learning that it is doing. They concluded that:
Redundant information coming from alliance partners improves the
firm‟s exploitative learning.
Non redundant information enhances the firm‟s explorative learning
and thereby the alliance networks aid in covering the „structural
holes‟.
The acquisition of technological know-how through the external
sources and alliances is significant only when the firm is
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experimenting on new technological ideas and not when it is
strengthening the existing technological capabilities.
In explorative learning, direct ties and alliances provide different
ways to explore and examine tacit and unknown technological
knowledge.
Patrick & Dotsika (2007) takes the perspective of the organisation “learning from
within” in terms of knowledge sharing by the combination of social and technical
systems. Their research established the following:
Knowledge sharing and collaboration are the crux of knowledge
creation.
There is a need for improvement with the involvement of business
analyst and end user.
The impact of Web 2.0 technologies is bringing knowledge sharing
and end user involvement together to bridge the socio-technical gap.
Conversely, Handzic (2011) research on public administration organisations
knowledge management shows that social factors have a greater significance than
technical factor. The findings of the study by Handzic are as follows:
Organisational leadership is the most important knowledge enabler as
it directly and indirectly affects knowledge process through
organisational culture.
There is a positive influence between socio-technical combination
which enables knowledge processes and thereby facilitates the
knowledge stock of the organisation.
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2.5 Summary and Implications for the Research
To summarise, the literature reviewed for this research gives an exhaustive account
on the knowledge management terms and strategies. Firstly, it discusses the basic
terms such as data, information and knowledge to lay the foundation for this
research. Secondly, it reports about knowledge management and why it is being
used in organisations. Thirdly, it describes the knowledge management concepts
such as tacit and explicit knowledge, socialisation and codification strategies in
SMEs, and finally, exploration and exploitation strategies of the organisation.
Since, this research is about analysing the role of IT in knowledge exploration and
exploitation in SMEs, the literature is reviewed keeping IT in mind and how it
supports Knowledge Management objectives. Therefore, the literature review
informs about the objectives and also the current state of knowledge management in
SMEs. Hence, it was empirical to review the literature in accordance with the
research aims in order to support the data analysis of this research. The analysed
data will be backed up by the literature and it will act as verification for the research
findings. The research conducted is an attempt to contribute to the field of
information sciences, as it is a foundation for further research.
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Chapter 3: Methodology
This chapter gives a detailed understanding of the research process used in this
research. There are seven sections in this chapter and they include research
methodology, research design, research sample, data collection, data analysis,
practicalities & ethical aspects.
3.1 Selecting a Research Methodology
With a view to identify a suitable research methodology it is important to classify
what will be extracted from the research. The research aims and objectives will have
the bearing to define the methods with which the research will be conducted.
Subsequently, there was a need to examine the literature to find a suitable
methodology for this research. After examining the literature it was evident that the
research aims and objectives involved „research about persons‟ lives, lived
experiences, behaviours, emotions, and feelings‟ also from an organisational
perspective it involved „organisational functioning, social movements, cultural
phenomena‟ (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).
3.1.1 Qualitative Research
The approach for this research will be the qualitative approach which would be
likely to capture the natural viewpoint and understanding (Bryman, 2008). To
capture these „deeper understandings of social phenomena‟ this research will focus
on collecting data through interview transcripts (Silverman, 2001). On the other
hand, using quantitative research techniques would have been inappropriate for
some of the tasks of social sciences required in this research (Gubrium, 1988).
Therefore, qualitative research would serve as a flexible approach to conceptualise,
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reduce and elaborate the data which would be subjective to the interviews being
analysed (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Additionally, it would analyse the social and
cultural construction of the variables which the research seeks to correlate and it
would not have been possible in quantitative research.
3.1.2 Inductive Research
This research uses inductive approach, as the research is driven by patterns found in
the data collected in the interviews that were conducted. It will determine and
identify the patterns found in the transcript which would help in the construction of
the framework. Using the inductive method for this research would give an
underlying sense of order in the seemingly random information. This method will
analyse the interview transcripts using post positivist assumptions which would give
a holistic understanding of the situation (Cresswell, 2002).
The interviews will be micro analysed and the data collected will be broken down
into closely examined concepts, compared for similarities and differences (Strauss &
Corbin, 1998). This step is open coding which is a flexible process and it is subject
to revision and refinement. The next step after open coding is refining the coded data
through axial coding. Axial coding takes place around the axis of a category created
during open coding and that category is linked with other categories with same
properties and dimensions. Strauss & Corbin (1998) explains the function of axial
coding:
“The purpose of axial coding is to begin the process of reassembling data that were fractured
during open coding. In axial coding, categories are related to their sub categories to form a
more precise and complete explanations about phenomena.” (pp. 124)
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Finally, when the categories are defined they will act as a framework for the
analysis. This framework will facilitate in analysing the data and conceptualising it
by consistently and systematically comparing the data through constant comparison
method. This would lead to the key analytical understanding of the properties of the
identified categories.
3.1.3 Case Study
This research is an interview based multiple case study analysis of two companies.
The case study research is widely used in researches especially when the research is
related to social behaviour, that is, real life behaviour and practices (Yin, 1994). In
that context, this research is conducted through two European companies, which are
real organisations. Additionally, case study method is considered a robust research
method particularly when a holistic and in depth exploration is essential for the
research (Zainal, 2007).
Besides, the justification for conducting a multiple case study analysis is to follow a
line of investigation that examines replication of occurrences and pattern matching
various pieces of information that enhances and support the previous results (Zainal,
2007). According to Zainal (2007), this adds to the level robustness of the method.
For instance, this research needs to examine the role of IT in supporting Knowledge
Management Exploration and Exploitation strategy in SMEs, this requires a number
of replication that can be linked to the theory in order to get conclusive results, and
hence this research has used the multiple case study approach (Zainal, 2007). As
reported by Zainal (2007), the case study must be able to demonstrate that:
It is appropriate to the research question.
26
„Chain of evidence‟, either/both quantitatively or qualitatively, are
systematically documented.
It is the only practical choice to demonstrate explicit and implicit data
from the subjects.
The case studies chosen for this research are an exploratory case study which means
this kind of study opens up the door for further analysis of the phenomenon
observed (Yin, 1994; Zainal, 2007).
3.2 Research Design
To summarise, this study will use qualitative research approach using the multiple
case study method. The research is based on the elements of grounded theory and
therefore, the data will coded into categories using the constant comparison method.
This will lead to development key analytical categories and its properties. These
categories will then be connected through a relationship to make the framework or
theory to understand and explain the situation. This framework will be used for the
analysis of the case studies and the data/interview excerpts will be categorised in the
categories formed by coding, this will be the theoretical sampling for the analysis
(Strauss & Corbin, 1998). These categories full of data will be then be backed up by
the literature to form a full-bodied analysis. To conclude the design for this research
will be as follows:
Identifying the research problem.
Selecting and collecting data.
Theoretical sampling of data.
Constantly comparing data in each category.
Integrating categories and their properties.
27
Building a framework by relating the categories with each other.
Literature review.
Backing up the analysis with the literature.
Since the interviews have already been done, there are no steps to conduct and
prepare for the interviews. The interviews have been conducted before this research
using semi structured interview method. Therefore, it was a flexible interview where
the interviewer asked trigger questions and then the follow up questions (see
appendix 1 for questions).
3.3 Research Sample
This research is a multiple case study of two European SMEs. The first company is a
language translation company giving services to number of clients and also building
translation software for their clients. Since it is a translation company there is an
extensive use of knowledge which is ably supported by technology. The second
company is a CRM software solutions company in Europe. Again, the company has
number of clients availing their services and technology. Similar to the previous
company, the second company widely uses knowledge for its service and software.
Both the companies research on their products and services regularly to be on top of
their respective markets.
The reason why the two companies were chosen for this research was that both
companies worked for a different market. Although both company‟s primary aim
was focussed on giving service, one was more focussed in giving translation
services and the other was concentrating more on building products and customising
them to the customer needs. Both companies showed that they practice Knowledge
Management and its activities. Moreover, both the companies have realised that
28
knowledge management practices are an integral part of their organisation and
therefore, they are striving to become knowledge intensive organisations.
3.4 Data Collection
The research is based on the information which is provided by the SMEs. The
research is dependent on the data which is gathered from the SMEs themselves and
the analysis thereof. The data has already been collected from the two SMEs in
which twenty three interviews in total have already been conducted. This research
will analyse those interviews and then classify the findings. Instead of data
collection this research will be more of data analysis of already collected data.
Nevertheless, the interviews conducted were semi structured interviews and they
define this research as they provide insight to perceived inferences (Yin, 1994). Yin
(1994) also points out that the interview might be biased due to poor questions or
reflexive to the interviewer who wants to hear a certain answer. Therefore, the
following points demonstrate what kinds of questions were asked during the
interview (See appendix 1 for full details):
What initiated the establishment of the company?
How would you characterise the sector that you are in?
What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of your
company?
Where do you get ideas and inspiration from?
What types of clients do you deal with? Are there differences in their
requirements?
What are the key problems you face in your role?
29
The above mentioned questions are just an example of the interview questions.
Since the interviews were semi structured open ended interviews, there were other
department specific questions that were asked during the interview (see appendix 1),
to gather more information, expand the depth of data gathering and increase the
number of sources of information (Tellis, 1997). Also, there were follow up
questions to assist the semi structured type of interview.
3.5 Data Analysis
3.5.1 Thematic Analysis
The data will be analysed qualitatively using the thematic analysis method. The first
step of thematic analysis is data collection which has already been done before this
research and it has already been transcribed. The next step of thematic analysis is to
identify the data that narrate the already classified patterns in the interview and then
organise the data with the corresponding pattern. After the data has been organised,
the next step of thematic analysis is to combine and catalogue associated patterns
into sub patterns such as recurring activities and meanings (Aronson, 1994).
In addition, this research will focus on analysing the interview transcripts using the
grounded theory approach. The data will be analysed by using the iterative process
of constant comparative method as an analysis criterion. From this data, concepts
and patterns will be derived with the help of matrices and cross referencing. These
patterns and concepts will then be classified into categories. This means that data
will be systematically compared, conceptualised, and then categorised to understand
the properties of each category, as a means to derive a framework from the
qualitative research and analysis of the interview data (Vasconcelos & Kirk, 2003).
This will lead to a better understanding of the properties of each category. This
30
categorisation will be the theoretical framework of the research. The list of themes
that were identified is as follows:
Knowledge Adaptation:
1. Own Technology & New Software
2. Development
3. Redevelopment
4. Technology tools
5. Reuse
6. Requirements
7. Collaboration
8. Cost
9. Bookmarking
10. Internet
11. Intranet
12. Documenting
13. Communication
14. Self improvement
15. Brand new ideas
16. Information sharing
17. Research & Innovation
18. Improvement
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Figure 1 Knowledge Adaptation
The above categories and sub categories were derived from the interview transcripts
and as a proof, these categories will be analysed with appropriate data using direct
quotations from the interviews.
3.5.2 Concept Maps
Novak & Cañas (2008) describe concept maps as an evaluation tool used to provide
meaningful patterns. They further explain that concepts maps are useful in
organising the concepts and linking them with meaningful words thereby helping in
solving complex concepts.
The interview transcripts have been reviewed a number of times to get the holistic
understanding of the thoughts and opinions of the interviewees. This research is
based on these concepts and it is supported by the literature review. The concept
map is a detailed visual representation of the interrelationships between the
discovered concepts.
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3.5.3 Narratives
Silverman (2001) describes narrative structure as that of storytelling and a fairytale
characterised by the function that the characters play in it. This research will use the
narrative analysis as it helps in the flow of each concept. Each concept will be
analysed in a narrative style giving the account of the story and keeping who, when,
where, how and why into consideration. Additionally, direct quotes will be used
during the analysis and there will be instances where elements mentioned would not
be in the theme of the research. However, they will add value to the research.
3.6 Practicalities
The problems faced by this research might have been as follows: -
A long time taken in interviews – A research of this proportion would have
required interviewing of multiple SMEs, which would mean that data
collection would have consumed a lot of time.
Insufficient data gathered in the interviews – In spite of the interviews, it is
quite possible that there might have been gaps in the information gathered
which could have lead to a faulty or less accurate conclusion.
However, the research results will be based upon the interview transcripts of SMEs
which have already been conducted. Hence, getting access to these interviews would
not be a problem. These interviews have already been used in a research, which
would mean that there would be no significant gaps in the information gathered. As
a result, this research would not require interviews since it will be only using
material that already exists at the time that this research will be conducted.
Another practical issue which has been taken care of is the anonymisation of the
interview transcripts. The interviews have already been anonymised and transcribed
33
and therefore, if any clarification is needed then it can be cleared by contacting the
companies.
3.7 Ethical aspects
The project has been ethically approved for this research as the interviews have
already been done and hence, this research lies in the „no risk‟ category. The
interview transcripts were anonymised and were under the consortium agreement
which allows the university to use the material for research training purposes. In
order to avoid names directly the interviewee names were anonymised by giving a
unique numbering to each individual.
34
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings
This chapter deals with analysis of the data collected and discuses the findings of the
analysed data.
4.1 Data Analysis
The analysis of qualitative data was investigated by coding the data into categories.
The knowledge adaptation model1 was constructed from the interviews. Several
categories emerged out of the interview and these categories were used to interpret
the collected data. The use of constant comparison method assists in comparing the
data of both the companies by putting data in the different categories that emerged
out of the interviews. The analysis is backed by the literature which acts as a
testimony for the analysis.
The quotations in the analysis are anonymised to avoid names. The two company‟s
names are also anonymised as Company 1 and Company 2. Company 1 is a
language translation service company and Company 2 is the CRM software product
company. Therefore, each interviewee is given a company number, interview
number followed by the page number of the transcript and finally the paragraph of
the quotation. For example, the first interview quotation with the Company 1
employee will be anonymised as follows:
Megan Fleming, Page 6, Paragraph 3 will be anonymised to 1.1:6;3.
The interview number was given by the order of the interview conducted.
Moreover, the software(s) mentioned in the quotations will be anonymised as
follows:
1 Appendix 2 – Figure 1: Knowledge Adaptation
35
Microsoft Word will be anonymised as „Software 1‟.
4.1.1 Knowledge Adaptation
The sub categories formed for knowledge adaption are:
1. Own Technology & New Software
2. Development
3. Redevelopment
4. Technology tools
5. Reuse
6. Requirements
7. Collaboration
8. Cost
9. Bookmarking
10. Internet
11. Intranet
12. Documenting
13. Communication
14. Self improvement
15. Brand new ideas
16. Information sharing
17. Research & Innovation
18. Improvement
4.1.1.1 Own technology & New Software
The interview transcript of the owner of Company 1 reveals that the company
initially started building their own technology to cater to the services offered by
36
them. During this time the company focussed more on exploring ideas and
developing new technology in order to gain competitive advantage over others
(Srikantaiah, 1999; Hutchinson & Quintas, 2008). This meant that they created their
own technology and software which was built to facilitate them in being successful
in the market. The owner quotes:
“This was an in-house application, something that we build for ourselves.”
1.1:3;2.
However, the owner of Company 1 describes how it changed from being explorative
in terms of technological superiority to a more exploitative in their strategy (Zahra
& George, 2002). The transformation aided the company to get more clients as they
had the new technology which attracted a lot of customers in their field. The
addition of new clients along with the service provided by them helped the company
grow financially:
“This product had grown organically from in-house to a product. The more
users we got, the more requirements we got that were all bolted onto that system.”
1.1:3;3.
On the other hand, Company 2 also had their „own technology & software‟ which
they used for themselves as well as give customised solutions of that product to their
customer. The interview with the marketing person revealed that:
“We are also using our own products, so I do a lot of direct mailings to our
customers and prospects using it, so of course there is nothing like using CRM when
working for a CRM company.” 2.2:1;2.
37
Additionally, the product manager describes how the new technology is developed
and then it is tailored to the needs of the customer when they get a customer for the
developed technology:
“It starts with the definition of new products, new solutions. And this then
goes over finding first customers for a new product, developing the new product,
together with them.” 2.12:1;4.
This also illustrates that the company has a balance between exploration and
exploitation of knowledge which is a sign of a successful organisation (March,
1991).
It can be seen from the interview excerpts that both the companies utilise exploration
and exploitation effectively. Although, the analysis of Company 2 shows that it uses
a more balanced approach for exploring and exploiting.
4.1.1.2 Development
As far as development is concerned both Company 1 and 2 have an extensive
development program. Company 1 develops its product by looking at their
market/client needs and adding extra features/needs in the product. Meaning, it
explores ways to develop their absorptive capacity i.e. technology and moulds the
product according to the market (Zahra & George, 2002). Also, the company looks
at the defects and refines the product. The IT product manager states the following:
“We have our customers that already bought the product, they will send
trouble tickets to us, so we analyse if this is a problem ticket or an enhancement, if it
is a defect we say it is a defect, if it is a feature request again we are looking into
that to incorporate into the product, it is a complete process, they keep coming to us,
38
and when we see that we can release it, we will do that. So we release every quarter,
so we keep piling up the things you know. Things that are current, things that we
target for the future release, that is all part of the scope. But at the same time we
have our marketing team who talk with the customer, who get told if they want
different features and if we feel that feature is not in our product but it will enhance
the product than we will make it part of the release.” 1.7:1;4.
As mentioned above, the company adapts to the needs of the customers and
improves its current features regularly. But how does it use technology to help in
gaining knowledge of the customer needs? The information flows through the help
desk and also through training which assists in getting feedback from the customers.
Those feedbacks are reviewed and then implemented in the new release, which is
exhaustively tested by the peers (Use of combination in SECI process by Nonaka et
al., 2000). The development uses a wide-range of knowledge gained from the
customer and it does so by the support of technology (for example, documenting).
An example of the development process has been expressed by the Product
Manager:
“...a variety of channels really how information gets to me, if something is
requested in terms of features for the product it goes through me, so we have one
person who has access to all the information we require, so the first thing is we have
a help desk, so we get requests from there and see what people are struggling with
from a support point of view, the second aspect is the training and demos, again that
is where we pick up a lot of feedback from the users and see, in terms of usability,
how users react to features. If someone else is doing the training I tend to quiz them
on it and potentially improve that process. I suppose there is the main source that
39
the development manager creates documentation on what has to happen with the
development team and we then have processes here where we evaluate those...
feature requests and see what the effort involved is and integrate it in the product, I
would say that is where the initial stages come in. And once the feature has been
planned, we discuss it again and when it is developed I am involved to see, does it
look right, can we get the click-count down a bit and we pass it through a variety of
users, for example we have a team of users here anyway, so we look at them and get
them to do some testing.” 1.6:1;2.
While, Company 2 looked better equipped when it came to technology helping
knowledge management as they looked technologically inclined in terms of
knowledge adaptation. The interview with the Marketing department employee
revealed that the company used technology in the form of suggestion tool for the
development of the product:
“We have something like a suggestion tool in our own software where we
can always send in ideas and say: I am looking for this and that, it might be easier
for me if I had this function, so there is always a way to give feedback to the
development.” 2.2:1;3.
Additionally, the similarity between Company 2 and Company 1 in terms of
exploring knowledge was found in building ideas around customer needs. The
Marketing department said in the interview that new ideas did not come just by
experimenting. The ideas came through the customer and their requirements for the
product:
“But usually ideas come from sales because they have the contacts with
prospects, with customers. They pick up ideas and whatever customers want. But we
40
don‟t have anything like a group of people which just sits there and thinks about
new products. We just kind of listen to the market. And that is actually how these
products started.” 2.2:2;2.
Another example of the above mentioned strategy was described by the Marketing
department employee where the employee developed a tool for the partners:
“Develop new tools, last year we needed a new tool to get the new prices
from the publishers, for the journals. And we… I developed a tool for, where the
partners can look for the journals, which price it was last year and change them, or
change them not and accept the price for 2009. So we get new prices in our system,
that was my last work, until December.” 2.2:2;6.
In terms of development both Company 1 and 2 used customer as their main source
of knowledge gathering. However, Company 2 was more advanced in terms of
technology infrastructure.
4.1.1.3 Redevelopment
Basically, redevelopment is the revamping of an old product to make a new product
out of it (Nonaka et al., 2000). Company 1 has done a lot of redevelopment for their
products:
“We released the first version in 1998 but after five years or so we realised
we had to rewrite it, to include all the user requirements and make a new and
elegant product.” 1.1:3;3.
From the knowledge management perspective, the company does redevelopment to
stay competitive in terms of technology (for example, using .net technology) (Gray,
2006). This enables the company to stay updated with the technology and also use
41
their existing knowledge to explore new knowledge (Use of opening up approach
explained by Holmqvist, 2004):
“There is another product we have called „Software 1‟ and... I am not
mentioning it so much because it needs to be redeveloped, it was released seven
years ago and we need to implement it in .net, this will happen next year.” 1.1:7;3.
As previously stated by March (1991), time acts as a deterrent when it comes to the
limitations of redevelopment. In the interview the Product Manager talks about
redevelopment, “...to get the right information, because we interpret what (we) get,
that is fair enough, but when developed it is not actually what it should be, then you
review it, it has to be redeveloped...”. But due to time constrains the company
cannot redevelop the product even though the company has all the information and
knowledge of the product, “and we don‟t have the time to do that really. So that is
the key-issue...” 1.6:4;1.
While Company 1 interviews show that the company redevelops their product,
Company 2 does not show any signs of redevelopment as of now. Hence, there is no
evidence of redevelopment in Company 2.
4.1.1.4 Technology Tools
Technology tools play a very important role in knowledge adaptation and it can be
seen in the interviews that both the companies have used technology to good effect.
Company 1 initially started the company keeping technological tools in mind which
helped them market their products in the industry (Jashapara, 2004). The tools
served to give service to the customers and that initially helped the company to gain
revenues. The managing director talks about the early days of the company and how
it started work in the service industry:
42
“The technology helped us to have extra credibility in the service sector, our
biggest service customer for example was gained by showing them the technology.
And they didn‟t have a budget at the time, but said: would you be willing to provide
us with services.” 1.1:4;3.
Over the years, the company focus on giving services to the clients helped them to
invest time in exploring ideas where they could provide faster services without
compromising on quality. The technological tools that were made due to that reason
supported in giving faster solutions (Zahra & George, 2002). Moreover, the
technological tools were used to exploit the knowledge gained which meant that the
company invested on smarter technology in codifying the previous knowledge and
helping the company use that knowledge for future projects, thereby making work
more efficient. One of the Senior Translator talks about the benefits of such a
technological tool:
“...it is populated while you work. Unlike a terminology database where you
need to annotate the metadata and things. Whereas the translation memory goes in
as you work.” 1.8:2;4.
As discussed earlier, the smarter technology saved time for the company and that
meant the customers were happy with the timely service and also the quality of
work:
“...there is still a large overhead because you have to process it through. To
pick up the bits that were done before, but that is a lot quicker than translating it.
And then there is an algorithm that weighs how much of a match there is. If it is a
70% match it might take you half as long to translate as when you do the whole”
1.8:4;7.
43
Additionally, the company used other tools to gain knowledge. Again, technology
supported the company to retrieve codified knowledge and utilised it in their work
(Hansen et al., 1999). One of the translators gives examples of the tools which
helped in their daily work:
“I also use a German encyclopaedia on my PC, „Software 2‟, and that is a
very useful source, and I have a very good dictionary from Oxford University Press,
that is an incredibly useful tool as it has four different sections, a dictionary,
thesaurus, encyclopaedia and a book of quotations. You can type in any term you
want and immediately it shows if you spelled it right, have the grammar right, what
other sources you can use on the web, so that is a very useful source.” 1.10:4;1.
As far as Company 2 is concerned, it has its own software which they used for daily
use and sell the customised version of it as well. This means that part of the
extensive use of their product is for the utilisation of it as a technology tool (Use of
assimilation; Zahra & George, 2002). The interview with the Development team
member states:
“For the code itself we use „Software 3‟, author version, for the rest of the
information we use „Software 4‟ where we mostly put in documents that contain
specifications and to-do lists…” 2.9:3;1.
The use of technological tool for knowledge gathering and creation is intensive in
both the companies. Although the companies use different tools and techniques to
gather knowledge, the whole purpose of the tool is to make work easier and efficient
in both the companies.
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4.1.1.5 Reuse
One of the important aspects of exploiting knowledge and gaining instantaneous
returns is reuse of knowledge (Bibikas et al., 2010). It is the process of codifying
implicit knowledge which is the known knowledge. Broadly, reusing knowledge has
been seen in both the companies. Company 1 reuses the previously gained
knowledge to good effect. It can be seen from the Managing Directors interview that
the company aims not to work on the same thing again and instead codify the
knowledge and reuse it when necessary:
“We don‟t want to translate the same stuff over again and again it can be
done very nicely.” 1.1:5;2.
Another example of the company reusing knowledge and their technology is
observed when the Product Manager talks about using product not just for
themselves but making it work for a variety of clients:
“We didn‟t create something for in-house purposes but something that was
more open, rather than be governed by one company, ourselves, we have a broader
view.” 1.6:5;1.
The Lead Project Manager in the interview mentions how the company uses
technology to assist them in reuse:
“Basically, before you start you analyse a document in „Software 5‟and it
says how many repetitions there are, it does this using the translation memory, it
will tell you if there is a similar document you have done before. It cuts down on the
work.” 1.3:5;5.
45
Similarly, Company 2 also made use of reusing knowledge. As the Marketing
department mentions:
“...when there are three or four customers asking for the same thing and it is
being repeated, you just guess with the colleagues. It takes a little time, and then
when you see there is enough people asking for it you usually... then it goes to the
product management, who can say all the different technical background, so they
know how difficult it is to integrate the different products.” 2.2:2;2.
They further give an example in the interview stating when customers ask for
similar product they integrate the products/modules to make it a special solution for
the customer. Thereby, reusing the technology:
“...for schools, we had a customer for „Software 4‟ that approached us and
said, we would like to have more functions, especially for schools. And then we
found another school which also wanted a solution like that. And then we made
this.... special solution” 2.2:2;2.
The main reason that the company reuses their product for a solution is the fact that
they have a base product which they modify to suit their needs: “Because of the
openness, all our products are based on „Software 4‟, everything works.” 2.2:4;5.
Undoubtedly, the knowledge and technology solutions gained while making the
legacy product is reused to cater to the requirements of the customer. “By now I just
ask for the virtual machine, because usually the products look very much alike, I
would say of our new products, 80% is standard product and the rest is additional
and new.” 2.2:4;3.
46
Additionally, the Software Development employee points out how sometimes the
requirement for a particular solution helps in developing the product for future use.
Thus assisting the company in reusing some of the requirements for future projects:
“It is often, we talk together with other developers so we know, in this
project I have done this before, but it is seldom that we search in „Software 4‟ for
requirement, plus the requirements we implemented are later into the program, so
we have for our branch „Software 6‟, we have a solution, we do this for the
customer, but later it will also be in the program, if it is a requirement everybody
can use.” 2.3:7;6.
4.1.1.6 Requirements
It has been revealed in the interviews that requirements from the customer play a
crucial role in moving the company forward. Moreover, requirements facilitates in
getting a competitive advantage over the competitors (Binney, 2001; Gray, 2006).
Quoting the words of IT Project Manager:
“So we get these requirements from the customer, from the marketing team,
we check our competitors, so we enhance our product if the competitor has this
thing, we will enhance ours and also make it work.” 1.7:1;4.
However, the obstacle faced by the company is in the information flow from the
marketing team to the development team. As the Product Manager explains in the
interview, the information is not properly documented which negatively impacts the
existing product:
“...first of all understanding the requirements, see if we can solve what they
want in the product and see if we can integrate that into the product language, that
47
is the first thing and to see where it would fit in, then to bring that information to the
development team is very difficult, because often things are misinterpreted... I mean,
we can create documents and describe the things, but to do that right you need to go
into detail and describe it fully and that is where we make that information
accessible to everyone, and that has been the key-problem really, to make sure: hey
we are looking at this, but what is the impact? A lot of the time when we develop a
feature, some of the developers aren‟t so aware of the impact that this feature might
have on other features.” 1.6:2;1.
Similarly, Company 2‟s requirement gathering is also done where technology is
used to document it. The Product Manager calls it „requirements engineering‟:
“Collecting their requirements, so it is a lot of requirements engineering.” 2.12:1;4.
Another example of requirements gathering and implementing is, “When we do
product development, we just do bug fixing and implementing requirements.”
2.3:3;6.
The company uses technology (their software) to save their requirements for future
use. However unlike Company 1, the interview with the Product Manager did not
show any sign of misinterpretation of the information during the documentation:
“When a product has been launched, we start with requirements
management process, in a way that we collect requirements that we get from our
sales department who are in contact with our other customers. When they want
something about other products in that area, or perhaps customers are telling us: It
would be very nice if we could do this or that. These requirements can be entered in
to our intranet.” 2.12:3;1.
48
It can be seen that both the company use technology for requirement gathering.
However, as shown in Company 1‟s interview the misinterpretation of the
information can cause trouble in the future. Therefore, the ways in which
documentation of the requirement is done in the company needs to be analysed as it
can be a drawback for the company.
4.1.1.7 Collaboration
Both companies showed signs of collaboration with various partners. Collaboration
aids in knowledge transfer and sharing to the organisation which is in need for a
particular knowledge (Patrick & Dotsika, 2007). Company 1‟s Managing Director
talks about document lifecycle and the collaboration with a document management
company:
“So what we want to do is abolish fragmented processes which are still
present in large corporates as far as the document lifecycle is concerned and
streamline that for them, that is our main objective. That is also the reason why we
are now partnering up with a document management company.” 1.1:6;2.
Company 1 has a unique kind of collaboration when it comes to translation with
freelancers. The interview with the Lead Translator explains why freelancers are not
in contact with each other as there are chances of „competition‟ between them:
“Well, they do, but without knowing, we don‟t put them in contact with each
other, or on rare occasions, it allows us to keep more neutrality in regard to the
translation, you don‟t want them to agree on prices and things. It is good if the
translator and the reviser don‟t know each other.” (On freelancers collaboration)
1.2:6;5.
49
The collaboration with the in-house translators is also there. Although, they are in
contact with each as they are in the same working environment with no competition
between them:
“No it is different with in-house translators, because there is not the question
of competition. Part of the problem is that externals know each other and they may
not like each other... so if you get someone to revise someone they don‟t like... you
know there can be conflicts of interest.” (On in-house collaboration) 1.2:7;3.
Company 2 also shows collaboration when it comes to development of new
software. However, unlike Company 1 where the collaboration was focussed more
with partners and colleagues, Company 2‟s collaboration was more with the
customers in building the new software/module. This goes to show the socio-
technical involvement in the company (Patrick & Dotsika, 2007). The Marketing
department states:
“The development was a cooperation between us and the two customers. So
there were always meetings, for what we listened to what they wanted to have and
then the product manager integrated, formulated what we needed to have and the
development really made the product” 2.2:2;4.
To sum up, both the company used collaboration as a medium of gaining knowledge
but in a very different way. Company 1‟s collaboration was solely based on giving
service to the customers while Company 2‟s collaboration was aimed to provide
service but also focussed on the research of new products. In other words, Company
2 focussed more on the development and technologically advanced solutions for the
future. This may be because Company 1 is more focussed on giving translation
service while Company 2 gives CRM solutions to their customers and therefore,
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they need to refine their product regularly. Hence, Company 2 focuses more on
research and development of their products.
4.1.1.8 Cost
As March (1991) describes, the cost to develop or acquire a new technology or a
solution may sometime hinder the growth of the company. Company 1 shows signs
of such difficulty. The IT Support employee gives details of such a problem in the
company:
“We were looking for a similar solution for „Software 5‟ but it is far more
expensive, that is one of the main issues we have with the product, its expense. And
in terms of cost it is far more expensive for the server licence, user licenses and
year-to-year support is also expensive. That is why we decided to look at something
else. Even our freelancers agree as well, they have to pay 300 £ for a freelance
version which is a lot, whilst „Software 7‟ they pay about 70 £.” 1.4:5;1.
Being a small medium enterprise the implication of cost needs to be analysed. The
IT Support employee gives one such instance of a situation where the limitation on
spending could damage the resources of the company, such as the servers:
“At the moment, if one of the machines dies, it will be a couple of hours of
downtime to bring the second one up. It could be recovered from the tape. With the
commercial servers that takes care of it itself, it puts it up in seconds and puts the
backup in place itself. But that involves costs that I need to discuss with the director.
At the moment we are obviously keeping costs down.” 1.4:7;5.
While in Company 2, there is an indication that the cost of things such as
requirements and development of a product is analysed to check if it is feasible or
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not. The Project Manager expresses that this is done with prior knowledge and
experience of work practice in the company:
“OK, in most cases it‟s a request, look at the requirements if they have them,
tell them how much it would cost and whether we can meet the requirements. So I
read that stuff, most things I can decide immediately from experience and
knowledge.” 2.5:3;4.
Another instance of checking if the cost incurred is feasible to the company is
explained by the Marketing employee who indicates that the cost is justified if the
same solution is required by many customers. Meaning, one solution for many
customers would reduce the cost:
“At the beginning we just say: You can do anything you like if you have
enough money, and when there are three or four customers asking for the same
thing and it is being repeated, you just guess with the colleagues.” 2.2:2;2.
After analysing both the companies it can be seen that Company 1 has difficulty in
transferring the overhead costs to the customers. Company 2 also faced such
problems but they analysed the situation and transferred the burden of cost to the
customers. As a result, Company 2 did not hamper their growth and technological
advancement.
4.1.1.9 Bookmarking
Bookmarking is an important tool to save important information for future reference.
Company 1 shows signs of using bookmarking to save useful work information
(Patrick & Dotsika, 2007). The Senior Translator states:
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“...there are online dictionaries which are useful, both general and technical
glossaries that you come across, and most often you find these things when
searching for a term and then obviously you bookmark it so it is there for the
future.” 1.8:1;4.
Similarly, Company 2 also shows signs of bookmarking, the Software Development
employee says “I just store it, in my favourites” 2.3:11;9., but the Product Manager
talks about the problem of not being able to share those bookmarks with others and
as a result the manager uses email to share the bookmark:
“If there are links which I think should be stored, so they can be assessed
later, if I find important things I would store this link in „Software 4‟, if not I might
send it around as email, that happens every now and then, there is no other way to
share bookmarks.” 2.12:2;8.
Nevertheless, both companies use bookmarking tool to save information for the
future. It acts as a knowledge preservation tool for the user which is easily
accessible.
4.1.1.10 Internet
As far as Internet aiding knowledge adaptation is concerned, there is a lot of usage
in both the companies (Patrick & Dotsika, 2007). Particularly, in Company 1 the
interviews have found out that the employees refer to a lot of online material as a
search tool for finding translation information. The Senior Translator highlights:
“It is amazing how much you can find online. But you have to be persistent
and sometimes a bit creative” 1.8:2;5.
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It can be inferred that Internet acts as a tool for acquiring new knowledge and also
verifying the known knowledge:
“Sometimes I check online myself, and I check sources myself to see if I
come across this term, if I am not familiar with it myself, you know I can do
research on the internet myself to find out.” 1.10:3;3.
While Company 2 also show signs of internet usage but it is seen that the company
uses internet for advertising their products online. The company website is used to
give information of their products. Again, the website acts as product information
portal and thereby attracting potential clients:
“...we usually start with a first version of the website, because the website
for us is a very, I‟d say for us, the most important medium. A lot of our prospects
come to us just via Google research and; I read about your product, tell me about it.
So we usually have a few sites where we display the product, what kind of features it
has and yeah, we have contact information, but that is at a very early stage.”
2.2:3;1.
Furthermore, it is seen in the interview with the Marketing employee that internet
helps in the process of collecting customer information. Again, the knowledge about
the customer is codified using the technology:
“In the email, we have, we collect all the information we send to the
customers and in the journal. So every address has a journal and „Software 4‟
automatically links emails and telephone calls with the address. So usually it is in
there. Sometimes you have to remember to make that link, which leads to the fact
that some things just aren‟t linked.” 2.2:6;5.
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Undoubtedly, both the companies widely use internet, even though it is seen that
Company 1 uses more internet while working on a project and Company 2 uses
internet for marketing their product and saving client details.
4.1.1.11 Intranet
Both companies using various technologies would mean that they would certainly
use intranet. Company 1 uses wiki instead of an intranet network, indicating a good
practice for knowledge storage and transfer. Again, it can be seen that technology
supports the company in building their knowledge base:
“Yeah I suppose it would be an informal intranet use, we don‟t have one, but
the wiki is closest to an intranet I suppose.” 1.4:3;2.
Company 2 has its own software which it uses for their daily use. Meaning, they use
their own technology to store and share knowledge. As the Marketing person
explains how their product is being developed and used by the employees and why
other products such as wikis cannot be used in the company:
“But the difficult thing there is that we usually all work with „Software 4‟,
and if you use different products it makes it more difficult, you have to open up a
new system, a new program, you have to check if there is new information it would
be easier if it was in the same product and if you got an email if someone added
important information.” 2.2:6;1.
Moreover, the use of intranet to share knowledge helps both the companies‟
employees gain knowledge. Although, both the companies use a different way to
share knowledge but the idea of technology aiding knowledge is can be seen.
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4.1.1.12 Documenting
For a company to be knowledge intensive in their practice, the documenting process
is an essential stage. When asked how the idea of wiki came up, the IT Support
employee told that:
“There was one of our developers who was getting tired of information
getting lost or duplicated or whatever on the development team. So he decided to
implement it himself.” – On Wiki. 1.4:6;5.
As mentioned above, the idea of wiki was to eliminate the duplication of
information in the development team. The instant benefits of documentation are
clarified by IT Support manager:
“Yes, one of the problems I have always found, not problem, annoyance, is
repetition of the same information, this is a big problem in Company 1 because it
hasn‟t been properly documented. One of the reasons we have implemented the wiki
is to stop having to repeat all the documentation. So now when we induct new
development staff we can just give them access to the wiki and they can read it and
get informed by that. So it is a way to improve the information that gets shared.”
1.4:4;2.
Moreover, the gap between IT and Marketing department is narrowed down by a
wiki as it acts as a common platform to share and edit knowledge:
“...yes a wiki would avoid that, we can have information on there... That is
the problem with an intranet, which I always avoided, an intranet is fairly fixed and
you need someone to maintain it, that works well when it is small, but in a large
company it is impossible. It just becomes impossible to manage. If it was a wiki
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scenario, I could see that work, because if something is not on there, you can add it
yourself. It is the whole point of it.” – On Wiki. 1.4:7;3.
The whole point of documentation is to share knowledge and store knowledge for
future reference and being a translation company, the documentation of the
translation would greatly benefit the company as a whole (Patrick & Dotsika, 2007).
Hence, the company should use wiki and other documentation tools to save all the
information of the projects. Also, encourage the employee to actively use wiki. This
is what the IT Support manager reiterates:
“It is just a case someone makes a note of this somewhere, it could proceed
to a new starter, procedural things like that. And we just want to make sure things
like that end up in the wiki so that someone can be pointed to the wiki and pick that
information up.” 1.4:3;2.
But the problem with Company 1‟s knowledge sharing is not with the information
flow, they have the technology but the information that needs to be added by the
employee is the main problem. The Product Manager explains:
“The key system we use is called „Software 8‟, a task tracking system, so we
enter information into that system and can upload files that expands it further, so we
can see in terms of planning when what feature might be due, what the deadline is.
So there is a management aspect there. Then in the development team, they had at
some point... an essential area to save files, which I don‟t have access to
interestingly, and the other things I think.. we just set-up a wiki for development
purposes as well, but then the question is who puts the information on that? And that
was not taken up entirely... So nothing specific at the moment” 1.6:2;3.
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It can be seen that the company has knowledge tools but it struggles to use it.
Another point which the Product Manager makes is lack of time for typing and
documenting information:
“Uhmmm... It is just I think the time we need to spend to actually put
information on there and to just learn, not struggling with it, but the sales and
marketing team to learn to put information on there in the first place. And I don‟t
know... we want to create a new website which we don‟t have time for really, so it
just can‟t be classed as a priority. At the moment that impacts long term goals, but
in short term there is no way we can spend a day a week, or even an hour typing...”
1.6:2;4.
Company 2 has a more organised way for documentation of information. Unlike
Company 1, Company 2 employees document the information and do not show lack
of time in typing the information. The Software Development team member
illustrates:
“So everybody knows what this project is about, and this project is about.
Also, we often have problems with our SDK for „Software 4‟, our Software
Development Kit, so some features are not really documentated, so when someone
finds such a thing he will document it on the wiki.” 2.3:9;3.
As explained above, the organised way of documenting the information gives instant
benefits to the company in the form of customer knowledge and previous projects
information (Bibikas et al., 2010). This can be seen in the interview with the Sales
team member:
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“...all documentation about the customer. The reason is when I am not in the
office, and the customer calls my colleague, that the colleague can see that complete
folder, what happened with the customer and you can give more service to the
customer.” 2.13:2;6.
Both the companies have technology to support documentation but it is evident in
the interview transcripts that Company 2 utilises technology more efficiently in
terms of documentation.
4.1.1.13 Communication
In an organisation, without communication there would not be knowledge
adaptation as it is one of the key mediums to share knowledge. It encourages
continues use and reuse of sharing explicit knowledge from one individual to the
other (Handzic, 2011; Patrick & Dotsika, 2007; Raisch et al., 2009). As the Head of
Development says, “We have the interaction, when the requirement is not clear we
will go to her, that is our internal process. We are, when we define the scope we
have interaction.” 1.7:2;2.
Company 1 mostly uses MSN as a medium of communication, even when the
colleagues are sitting next to each other. Hence, it is an organisation where
communication tool like MSN is used extensively. When asked about how they
communicate with each other, the Project Manager says:
“...in the evening is instant messaging, so I can see when people are online
and I can contact them when I need to. We are constantly communicating with my
others, so there is also email of course which is a bit slower than instant messaging,
also the phone, which we don‟t use as often because we always use MSN here and
well sometimes I need to fax things, so I use that as well.” 1.9:1;2.
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Additionally, the interviews demonstrate that MSN helps not only in communicating
but also transferring important information when it is needed. So it fills in the gap of
knowledge transfer as a way of communicating and transferring knowledge. Once
again, technology acts a medium to aid knowledge exploitation as well as
exploration:
“Well if it is a rush job there wouldn‟t be that much teamwork, but if there is
a longer deadline they may swap terminology, glossaries and things. We use MSN a
lot here, so people use that to discuss things with each other. You can also add
several people together so you can discuss it in a group.” 1.3:2;2.
Moreover, the use of mobile messaging for communication is also used in the
company. Again, this can be seen as a way of quick communication and thereby,
saving time which results in the company being more efficient:
“Well, if you require a translation quickly, I have a few translators who have
blackberries and they respond really quick, they reply in ten minutes, I appreciate
that. Also if you send them the files, if they say thank you, confirm they received it,
you know. Some of them you have to ask for that, it can be lost or they might not
receive it, would be nice to know if they got it.” 1.2:6;4.
Although the communication is quite evident in the development and translator
teams, there is a need to bridge the communication between the IT and Marketing
team. There is a lack of communication and information shared between both the
departments which can be improved in Company 1:
“...we have a problem where information shared between IT and marketing
is either forgotten or lost. Which is a detriment when they are making a sale, they
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might communicate something to the customer that isn‟t true, or isn‟t correct.”
1.2:7;3.
On the other hand Company 2 a good mix of communication through technology
and formal communication through meetings. The company has a very positive
outlook in terms of work culture and it can be seen that through communication and
constantly finding solutions they come out of the bad situation. As the Product
Management employee mentions in the interview:
“The culture is open as long as you fit in the culture... Company 2 has a very
optimistic way of looking at things and it is not a company in which it is... uhmmm...
it is possible in a very good way to say, OK that is not a nice situation, you might
curse, but then you say: OK We have been in worse times, let‟s find a solution and
go on. You have to skip the part where you say this is not a nice situation...”
2.12:5;4.
The positive mindset to find solutions coupled with formal meetings where
communication and exchanging knowledge is the ultimate goal of the company has
served the company develop holistically (Raisch et al., 2009). An example of formal
discussion is given by the Software Development team member:
“What we do is, we have tasks in a list. And we just prioritize A,B,C. And
this task we set to on-going and done and we have every morning something like a
meeting. Everybody, we three, in this room. Where we tell what happened yesterday,
what are the troubles and stuff.” 2.4:5;1.
As far as technology helping communication is concerned, another Software
Development team member says:
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“I can say there are two forms, one is to speak to them directly. There is
another way, using our software „Software 4‟, we have the project there so we can
link some files or have the files we are working on altogether. So when a task, a
development goes on, some task has a problem you can say, OK I have a problem
here and things.” 2.9:1;8.
4.1.1.14 Self improvement
As for self improvement in an organisation, it is with regard to improvement of the
product and finding new customers for the product (Holmqvist, 2004). Company 1
show signs of self improvement in the interviews conducted. The interview with
Product Manager reveals that the company is striving to enhance their current
position by improving the document management and expanding their clients:
“I think we focussed on multilingual processes but „Software 9‟ can
definitely cater for other types of projects. Our niche is the multilingual aspect, but
in terms of development we need work-flow information that will be the first key
requirement we are working on, to enhance the document management side of
things as well. So I would say those are the key challenges in the next year. But
yeah, in terms of applying the system to other businesses entirely, we need to do
some analysis and see what might be the best ideas and which one we would prefer
to look at in more detail. And... yeah, the opportunities I think to try this, to do
something different are certainly there, but it is just the idea of marketing and sales
as well, because of course our resources are limited as well.” 1.6:3;3.
Having said that, the company also knows its weaknesses and the interview with the
Managing Director shows that the company is trying to improve their sales
department (He & Wong, 2004):
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“...One weakness we have in our company, we are not very strong in sales.
...But we are not a typical company that has a big sales department. In many
technology companies you have a situation that you have ten developers and twenty
or more sales people....I know we need to change that somehow.” 1.1:7;2.
Similarly, Company 2 employees also talk about self improvement to augment their
position in the market. The interview with Product Management member
demonstrates that the company is consistently looking for new ideas which are a
sign of improvement:
“You get to know new ways of thinking and that leads to new ideas and
completely other ways of working.” 2.12:6;3.
Another example of self improvement can be seen in the interview with the Human
Resources employee who talks about the possibilities of improving their software.
The interviewee mentions that there is a „potential‟ to improve:
“...because we have many possibilities how we can manage processes in
„Software 4‟, we have no fixed ways, and we use it, many people use it in this
company, but I think that there is a big... uhmmm... potential for us to use it much
more better. We use it for time management, for document management, these are
easy things, you can do with this program much more things and here in many
departments it stops. It seems to be that we are very good in this topic, but I think
there is a big...(a lot to gain)” 2.11:4;2.
It can be seen that there is a high degree of self improvement in the company as the
marketing team member replies, “...we are thinking about either working with a
partner, working on our own, or developing our own even more and we had a
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discussion about, what do we think, what are our ideas.” 2.2:1;3. There is a high
degree of self improvement in the company and also the company shows signs of
bringing ideas together and thinking of progress for the betterment of the company.
4.1.1.15 Brand new ideas
Another aspect where exploration is seen is having brand new ideas and
implementing those ideas with the aid of technology (March, 1991; Gray, 2006).
Being in the service sector, Company 1s interviews confirm that they used new ideas
to develop their own software and sell them in the market. The Product Manager
explains how they explored new technology initially with years of research and now
they are selling those new ideas in the market:
“...it was a system that was developed over ten years and for „Software 9‟ we
needed new technology and the same requirements, so it had to be a lot quicker to
develop all these features again in effect that were developed over ten years.
Because we have some things we got from client feedback that we wanted to
incorporate, but interestingly, finding that from the clients now is quite difficult, so
the tracking of those initial development phases, even now is difficult, so when I
came on board we had the initial prototypes for „Software 9‟ and we started testing
each of the modules. Now we have, initially, a big client on board already and we
agreed with them we would deliver the product module by module, and we built it in
that way which impacted on a few things. [inaudible] It is sometimes difficult if you
have different people working on the same features, you get inconsistencies. To get
the developers on board is quite challenging at times. But yes, that is the one year
initial development stage. And then last year we took the product to market, just
over a year ago, so now we have had the first year with version one and experiences
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with the product, and now we are somewhere where the product has reached a stage
where it is mature enough to sell to a wider audience basically, so that is the time
bracket.” 1.6:3;2.
On the other hand Company 2‟s interview also shows that they are open to invest on
new ideas which are a sign of exploration of knowledge:
“I think it starts in this thing from the top. I think our CEO is the kind of
person which is able to put a lot of energy, very fast, into new things. The kind of
person who is willing to decide if it is necessary, at the right point, time and has a
lot of energy and that is something that propagates through the layers of
management.” 2.12:5;2.
It can be said that both the companies have created brand new ideas but in different
ways. Company 1 being a service provider is seen to focus more on giving service to
customers, which means that they are more inclined to utilize exploitative
knowledge. Conversely, Company 2 is a software provider which means that they
sell their product in the market and therefore they need new ideas to improve their
product. Hence, they are more focussed to explore new knowledge of their product.
4.1.1.16 Information Sharing
Another aspect of knowledge adaption is how information is shared in the
organisation. Company 1 essentially shares information through the
system/technology but being a translation company its employees share information
and ideas about the documents that they are working on (Using Web 2.0 technology
to bridge the socio-technical gap, Patrick & Dotsika, 2007):
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“I think it is that what you need is on the system really. The reason that... the
questions we discuss with other people is more like, have you met this before, how
did you like the document... how did they handle it. You know, rather than; what is
their word for this.” 1.8:2;6.
In Company 2 it is seen that the information sharing is quick and easy. The
interview with Project Management team member shows that information is shared
accurately and timely:
“It is very easy to get information in terms of knowing who to ask. And from
where they get the information, I don‟t care, and you get the information really
fast.” 2.5:5;2.
4.1.1.17 Research & Innovation
For an organisation to have an effective knowledge adaptation strategy, it needs to
have a constant research and innovation of their products and technology (March,
1991; Binney, 2001). Company 1 has shown that it started off by building its own
technology and thereby innovating on their research of the translation sector. The
Managing Director explains how innovative they were when they started:
“It was technology provided by little companies, spin-offs of IBM by the way,
and they were five people each and nothing much was known about them and that
was very innovative at the time, to implement that technology and then we build our
own technology in „Software 10‟ and that was highly innovative because there was
nothing like it in the industry at all.” 1.1:5;3.
Furthermore, the Managing Director expects the company to innovate more in the
future and remain market leaders in their sector. The Managing Director believes
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that the company always had innovation in mind, “No, we were always! [laughter]
always into innovation and that is why I have found interesting application areas for
(the research)” 1.1:9;3. Therefore, the company hopes to explore new technologies
which will result in innovative products:
“Well, we want to continue with our innovation, we want to continue being
market leaders in the business process automation area, we want to implement the
technology increasingly in large corporates, either implement within or in any other
way which is sort of ... less disruptive to them” 1.1:6;2.
From the above mentioned points, it can be seen that the company aims to be more
innovative in their ideas and build those ideas into products. Similarly, Company 2
also wants to develop their products, research on the market, think of the future of
the company and invent new technologies for their customers:
“Then we have people in our company that are... that look at... the
developments... in our economy and in the future of IT that have very high interest
and I think that another thing that contributes to do is that we participate in a lot of
research projects.” 2.12:6;2.
Also, the implementation of new and unexplored knowledge means that the
Company 1 needed to organise the whole process of designing and releasing the new
technology (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990). This resulted in the growth of knowledge
which could be exploited in the future:
“See, we have two teams now, one focuses on the releasing part of it, once
we have decided on the new features, that is done by the design team. So they focus
on new ideas and new features.” 1.7:6;1.
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4.1.1.18 Improvement
Another important step towards knowledge adaptation is the improvement of the
services and products of the company. As Holmqvist (2004) discovered, consistent
exploitative behaviour will lead to exploration and vice versa. Similarly, new ideas
and technology need to be improved with time and therefore improvement is
necessary for the growth of the company. As the Product Manager of Company 1
elaborates:
“...we review everything that comes in, what we plan for the next version and
say: what is feasible for now, and what did we hear from the clients? That is
something I would like to do, introduce a version system of some sort. So that the
most frequently asked for features can be voted for by clients, which are the most
critical currently. We are not in a position to do that now, we are still... it is still a
version 1 product, so there are key-features that we are concentrating on, and bug-
fixes. Not new features.” 1.6:4;3.
Company 2 also attempt to improve according to the customer needs and also keeps
customer satisfaction in mind. Improvements can add to the existing knowledge of
the organisation and it can be seen as ways of experimenting on the technology:
“The customer should be using this software successful(ly), if there are
adaptations necessary then this needs to be done, and then the customer should say:
OK, now it is finished, I will pay your bill and then the next thing starts.” 2.12:1;4.
The Product Management employee gives another example of how the product is
discussed with the colleagues and then a new version of it is released:
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“And this is showed as a list that we go through, every now and then, I get
an email message when there are new requirements entered and from this and from,
I‟d say interviews, before we start the definition of a new version, this is done in a
way that product management collects all the things and tries to set priorities for all
the different requirements and from this a proposal is derived, a proposal for the
contents of the new version and this is then discussed in team meeting which
involves sales, our department manager, software development, product managers,
so all the people that contribute in a way that makes sense to the definition of the
product, and in this final situation the definition of the product is produced”
2.12:3;1.
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4.2 Findings and Discussion
As stated in Chapter 2, Knowledge Management assists an organisation to improve
its performance, innovations and competitive advantage over others (Srikantaiah,
1999). The analysis of the collected data has also authenticated this view by the
author. A successful condition for a company is to become knowledge intensive as
an organisation (Binney, 2001). The analysed data has also confirmed that
knowledge adaptation in SMEs is as follows:
Own Technology & New Software
Development
Redevelopment
Technology tools
Reuse
Requirements
Collaboration
Cost
Bookmarking
Internet
Intranet
Documenting
Communication
Self improvement
Brand new ideas
Information sharing
Research & Innovation
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Improvement
The process of knowledge adaptation can be stimulated by the above mentioned
triggers. Having said that, due to the highly dynamic nature of organisations, there
are many other strategies than the codes and practices defined above.
In comparison, the two chosen companies were very different from each other. One
was a translation company focussing more on giving translation but inclining
towards making new products and technologies for their customers. On the other
hand, the CRM software provider company was centred on giving customised
solutions of their products to their customer. Moreover, the data analysis
demonstrated that Company 2 (CRM Software provider) was more organised in
terms of a learning organisation (Bibikas et al., 2010). Although, Company 1
(Translation service provider) has the potential to become organised with respect to
their knowledge intensive practices. However, both the companies were
technologically equipped for knowledge absorption and adaptation. Initially,
Company 1 showed signs of knowledge exploration through the building of their
own software and solutions but later on it was seen that the company lost its balance
and drifted towards knowledge exploitation. March (1991) mentions that balancing
both the strategies are difficult for an organisation as focussing more on exploration
brings uncertainty in terms of its results. Comparatively, Company 2 was better
balanced in terms of knowledge adaptation, although, since Company 2 deals with
software and products, it needs constant exploration of new knowledge in order to
be technologically advanced. In the framework created by Binney (2001), the
companies adapted to the analytical framework of analysing the market trends and
assessing the competitors‟ activities. The developmental knowledge management
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that helps the organisation expand the competencies and capabilities should be the
area of focus for both the companies.
The common thing about both the companies was that they both tailored to the needs
of their customers. Since both the companies used their own technology to begin
with there was always the room for development. Company 1 development took
place through help desk and training where they acquired new knowledge for
development. Technically, in terms of technology tools, Company 2 looked more
technologically driven in terms of using these tools for development. Both the
company however were customer driven for gaining knowledge (Binney, 2001). In
terms of reuse of the old knowledge, both the companies exploited it in different
ways. Company 1 reused its translated documents for referencing whereas Company
2 reused their legacy product and modified it according to the customer needs. As
Hutchinson & Quintas (2008) believed, the SMEs acquire knowledge to improve
their services.
However, the common problem seen in both the companies was the flow of internal
information. The documentation processes in Company 1 was weak and there is a
need to encourage the employees to make a more thorough documentation which
should be understood by technical and non technical professionals. On the other
hand, Company 2‟s documentation is organised but the problem arises when the
information is misinterpreted and documented. As far as costs are concerned, both
the companies review the costs of each project. Being an SME, there is a cost factor
involved in any assignment.
Patrick & Dotsika (2007) established that Web 2.0 technologies bridge the socio-
technical gap in an organisation. Moreover, collaboration and knowledge sharing are
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the defining factors of knowledge creation. There is a technological gap as far as
Web 2.0 technologies are concerned. For instance, both the companies use
bookmarking for knowledge storage but there is no technological tool for sharing the
saved items. Although the company uses email to share these kinds of knowledge, in
order to be efficient there should be an integrated tool to share bookmarks.
Nevertheless, both the companies use the internet for different reasons. Company 1
uses it for communication with the colleagues and also to find various translation
tools and websites for their work. Conversely, Company 2 uses the internet mostly
for advertising and gaining customer information. It pays a great deal of attention to
update their company website as it has a dual benefit. Firstly, it is an advertising
area to display their product for the potential customer. Secondly, it acts as a
knowledge repository for the employees of the company to check if they have any
doubts about the product.
As mentioned above, the gap between the IT and Marketing department in Company
1 is narrowed down to a degree through wiki but the problem is that it is not that
active and the employees do not actively contribute to add the new information.
Therefore, it struggles to use the technology. Company 2 has a more organised way
of documenting and through the transcripts it is seen that the company puts extra
efforts to maintain the information. The immediate benefits that the company reaps
are that it has instant knowledge of their customers and their previous projects.
As far as communication was concerned, Company 1 communicated extensively
through MSN for knowledge sharing and transferring between translators. There
was use of mobile phone messaging as well but it was not used that much. Company
73
2 had a better mix of technology and direct communications in the form of meetings.
Therefore, Company 2 looked better equipped in terms of communication.
Both the companies are perceived to show improvement and future growth.
Company 1 interview reveal that they are weak in sales and they are trying to
improve in that department while Company 2 strives to improve their software and
explore their software to get new ideas.
Comparing both the Companies as far as information sharing is concerned,
Company 1 has a relatively low level of information sharing as compared to
Company 2. As seen from the interview excerpts Company 1 share basic
information about the project while Company 2 shares information about their
product and features in terms of marketing and also during the development of
features in their product.
Company 1 has a high potential in research and innovation while Company 2 has a
high degree of research and innovation in place. The problem arises in the recent
growth in both the companies. Due to the accelerated growth in the past years both
the companies are now facing the huge task of sustaining that growth. The
companies know what they are lacking and are trying to improve on it.
Following table gives the summary of the analysed concepts being used in Company
1 and 2:
Knowledge Adaptation Company 1 Company 2
Own Technology & New
Software
High initially but
moderate now
Extensively used
Development Highly used Highly used
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Redevelopment Medium N/A
Technology tools Highly used Moderate use
Reuse Highly used Highly used
Requirements Highly used Highly used
Collaboration Highly used Highly used
Cost Defining factor Defining factor
Bookmarking Low usage Low usage
Internet Highly used Highly used
Intranet Moderate use Moderate use
Documenting Highly used Highly used
Communication Moderate use Highly used
Self improvement High potential High potential
Brand new ideas Moderate potential High potential
Information sharing Highly used Highly used
Research & Innovation High potential High degree of usage
Improvement High potential High potential
Both these companies are customer driven and most of their innovations are a direct
result of the customers‟ requirements. The dependence of innovation and
development on customers‟ needs directs the company‟s objectives in terms of
future growth. Therefore, acquiring and expanding new knowledge supported by
technology is reliant on the market trends. The returns for such kind of stance of the
company are financial gains. Gray (2006) reinstate this fact and explains that the
75
strategic objectives and the culture of an organisation should be directed towards the
sales and profits of the company.
4.3 Summary
To sum up, this chapter is divided into two parts, namely, data analysis of the
interview transcripts and findings & discussions. Firstly, the methods of data
analysis are discussed with examples of how the findings have been anonymised.
Secondly, a detailed analysis of data has been carried out, which includes the
description and analysis of the main concepts. The analysis assessed the current
work practices in SMEs and examined how exploration and exploitation strategies
were put into practice. Additionally, the analysis also studied the role of IT in
exploration and exploitation strategies. These findings were backed up by the
literature as a support for the analysis.
During the analysis of the two companies, it was observed that both the companies
have the technology to support the knowledge exploration and exploitation strategy.
But in some areas, both the companies fell short of using the technology properly.
Although the companies showed interest in improving their current stand in terms of
knowledge, it will only be possible to see in the future if they have really improved
their weaknesses.
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Chapter 5: Conclusion and Further Study
5.1 Contribution of the research
The research conducted so far validates the use of technology in the field of
knowledge management. The contemporary literature does not properly highlight
the use of ICT in knowledge management strategy. This research focuses on
providing knowledge adaptation from a technological perspective. Moreover, the
focal point of this research was to analyse the knowledge management work
practices in SMEs. Therefore, it informs the reader about how technology is used to
support knowledge exploration and exploitation in an SME. The aim of this research
is to analyse the work practices in two SME case studies and identify how
exploration and exploitation strategies are developed through these practices. Also,
this research developed an explanatory framework that explained Knowledge
Management practices concerning exploitation and exploration in action in SMEs.
For this reason, qualitative interview research using a multiple case study method
was adopted for this research as it gave different perspective to the research
problem. Using the patterns found in the data to make the framework for the
research the interview transcripts were analysed by means of the ground theory
approach of constant comparison method. The literature acted as a backbone for the
research. The analysed data was synthesised with the literature to make the research
valid. Finally, the research explained the findings that revealed the current
knowledge state of the organisations and also the state of IT to support knowledge
management practices. It also concluded that both the companies attempted to be
knowledge intensive in their work practice and it was evident that they implemented
an informal way of knowledge sharing.
77
5.2 Lessons Learned & Limitations of the Research
While this research project was substantially robust, there were certain limitations
that prevented it from being better. The first, and the most important, limitation was
time. Because the researcher is a student in a Masters Programme, the time limit
available to him was not sufficient to conduct a suitably intensive research. This
research was completed in a matter of a few months, and thus does not have the
depth of a longer research and analysis.
Furthermore, the research data was pre-collected, and the researcher was limited to
the companies that participated. The interviews were conducted at an earlier date
and were not based on this research project. The questions asked in the interviews
were, therefore, not entirely relevant for this research.
Another important limitation that affected the outcome of this research was that the
results were case-based. As each case had very specific situations, the results cannot
be generalised.
Finally, as the pre-conducted interviews had been conducted for a different research,
the data that was collected was not compiled with exploration and exploitation in
mind (Post hoc analysis). The questions asked in these interviews were not always
relevant and there were a number of questioned that were not asked. All these
limitations have affected this research project.
The lessons learned from this research are invaluable. The study gave a unique
opportunity to the researcher to explore the area of knowledge management. The
technological aspect of knowledge management was especially challenging,
particularly since there was not enough literature on this subject. Nevertheless, it
acted as a motivation for doing this research since the topic was not properly
78
investigated. To conclude, this research experience will be an essential learning
curve for the researcher.
5.3 Recommendation for Further Research
The aims and objectives of this research have been achieved but during the research
there were some points which could be recommended for further research. They are
as follows:
1. Due to the time limitation, some of the features of knowledge adaptation
were not analysed. One of the important aspects of knowledge adaptation is
organisational culture, which has not been analysed in this research. The
work culture and other sociological aspect are the core areas that can be
analysed in terms of knowledge adaptation.
2. Since the interviews for this study were adopted from a different research,
there were some questions asked that were unrelated to this research. Hence,
there should be a research only focussing on the organisation‟s explorative
and exploitative strategies keeping technology as the theme of the research.
3. Another important aspect that can be researched in the future, which this
research did not cover is to make a generalised rule that can be adopted by all
the organisations. Since this research was a case based research, it only
focussed on two companies and therefore, the research results were company
specific. It would be beneficial if there is a research that generalises the
knowledge adaptation strategies by making a generic framework for the
benefit of all the companies.
4. How to overcome the potential barriers of knowledge adaptation? There can
be a research based on the potential loopholes that SMEs can test. These can
79
be organisational barriers, organisational structure and hierarchical barriers,
barriers in the aims of the organisation, technological barriers like lack of
ICT infrastructure, cultural barriers such as lack of communication and
communities of practice. A full knowledge check up of a firm would need
such a check list which they can adhere to.
Word Count – 18,059
80
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Appendix 1 – Example of Interview Questions
General Questions:
- Can you tell me a bit about your professional background?
Follow up: If needed, specify: Education, Work Experience, Interests etc.
- Can you explain what your role in the company is and what activities it
entails?
- What initiated the establishment of the company?
- What do you think were the most important milestones?
- How would you characterise the sector you are in?
- What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of the company?
- Do you think that the company is an innovative company?
- What is your vision for the next 5 years?
- Where do you get ideas and inspiration from?
- What are the key problems you face in your role?
- Which software tools do you use for your job? How do you use them?
- What procedures seem to work well in your current role? What would you
not like to see changed?
Company Specific Questions:
Company 1:
- In what areas do you consider Company 1 an innovative company?
Follow up question: What has driven in this area?
- What kind of external collaboration does Company 1 engage with?
Follow up question: What is the nature of these collaborations?
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- Can I ask you to take us through a typical job (referring to the specific job
titles of the interviews): let‟s suppose a client needs a document to be
translated/requests for support/sales leads comes in/new feature comes. How
would the request be made?
Follow up questions:
What actions from your part follow such a request?
In this hypothetical situation how would you relate incoming requests
with translators/project managers/director)?
Is interaction with other staff involved in the process? (eg.
translators/project managers/director)?
How would you interact with the client?
If a job involves a team effort, how do staffs work together?
- If you were asked to design a different translation/sales/product development
cycle procedure, what would you suggest?
Company 2:
- What types of marketing development projects do you get involved with?
- What types of clients do you deal with? Are there differences in their
requirements?
- Can I ask you to take us through a typical marketing/software/project
management/editorial/sales/HR development job: let‟s suppose a new
campaign must be developed. How would the request be made?
Follow up questions:
What actions from your part would follow such a request/lead?
88
What other interactions with staff involved in the process? (eg. other
business units/developers/project managers/director)?
How would you interact with the client?
If a job involves a team effort, how do staffs work together?
Bottlenecks during the process?
How a request is communicated between employees, gets validated
(quality control), finalised and delivered to the client.
Tools used
- Which software tools do you use for the purpose of
sales/software/management development/of the product and how do you use
them?
- If you were asked to design a different PM/editorial
development/sales/software/HR development procedure, what would you
suggest?
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Appendix 2 – Figure 1 Knowledge Adaptation