Big data for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME): a knowledge management model

Purpose Big data has raised challenges and opportunities for business, the information technology (IT) industry and research communities. Nowadays, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are dealing with big data using their limited resources. The purpose of this paper is to describe the synergistic relationship between big data and knowledge management (KM), analyze the challenges and IT solutions of big data for SME and derives a KM model of big data for SME based on the collected real-world business cases. Design/methodology/approach The study collects eight well-documented cases of successful big data analytics in SME and conducts a qualitative data analysis of these cases in the context of KM. The qualitative data analysis of the multiple cases reveals a KM model of big data for SME. Findings The proposed model portrays the synergistic relationship between big data and KM. It indicates that strategic use of data, knowledge guided big data project planning, IT solutions for SME and new knowledge products are the major constructs of KM of big data for SME. These constructs form a loop through the causal relationships between them. Originality/value The study contributes to the KM literature by developing a theoretical model of KM of big data for SME based on underlying dimensions of strategic use of data, knowledge guided big data project planning, IT solutions for SME and new knowledge products.