Business Networking as a Tool of the Information and Knowledge Management of the Owners of Small and Middle Enterprises - Case of Study

This article sums up the results of my research and qualitative expert interviews with owners of small and medium-sized enterprises active in the Czech Republic. The qualitative sample of these interviews includes respondents through the whole field spectrum of entrepreneurial activities, which are enabled by the Trade Licencing Office of the Czech Republic and are classified in the CZ-NACE database. This research took place during the world COVID-19 pandemic when the strictest measures were adopted in the Czech Republic concerning grouping, entrepreneurship, and movement. The research also sums up the short-term and the long-term change ratio of offline and online networking and information tools, which occurred in individual companies because of these measurements. The research shows an interconnection of the management discipline of information and knowledge management and networking as tools of marketing, HR, business, and building of client-supplier networks, which create sources for companies, enhance their competitiveness and lower the risk of company closures in the time of economic boom as well as crisis.