Demystifying Knowledge Management in Indian Manufacturing SMEs

The purpose of this research work is to explore various insights on knowledge management in the Indian manufacturing Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs). The research outcome is the learnings from the analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with CEOs, top managers, manufacturing consultants, students and various talk shows covered. This study also includes a brief review of knowledge managementpractices in SMEs and covers various barriers to knowledge management. The study concludes that the in-depth study of market orientation, which is one of the subsets of knowledge management, learnings from consultants, attending conferences/workshops outside India specific on a particular topic & subtopic of manufacturing processes, extensive use of internet and frequent interactive sessions with employees are seen as key driving factors of knowledge management. Knowledge management professionalism, social networking and industry academia interaction require more attention and workout as these would help position India as an international manufacturing destination, specific to innovation and sustainable development. This research study also suggests few managerial implications for owners of SMEs for the effective use of knowledge management in their organizations. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.