Renee Reid

Sme and Large Organisation Perceptions of Knowledge Management: Comparisons and Contrasts

Compares the perceptions of both large organisations and small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) at a meta level in regard to knowledge management (KM) to improve overall understanding and synthesis of the philosophy and to develop sector‐specific learning in the SME sector. First, identifies and describes the key dimensions of KM using a socially constructed KM model. Second, uses a survey of large (> 250 employees) and SME (< 250 employees) organisations to investigate the perceptions of the KM dimensions. Third, reviews a series of qualitative social constructionist workshops, involving both large and SME organisations which were run to gain a deeper insight into the sectoral comparisons. The results indicate that KM is understanding and implementation is developing in the large organisation sector and knowledge is recognised as having both scientific and social elements. However, the SME sector was less advanced with a mechanistic approach to knowledge and a lack of investment in KM approaches and systems.

The determinants of training in SMEs in Northern Ireland

This study looks at SME spending on training in Northern Ireland. We include a range of human resource management functions, as well as workforce characteristics, the external environment, size, and the impact of changes in ownership status as important determinants of training expenditure in SMEs. Particular attention is also paid to the importance of whether the enterprise is family owned and/or managed. Generally, our results show that HR functions do generally matter; however, workforce characteristics (other than shift working), ownership characteristics and external factors, and even to some extent size, were much less important than expected. What our results do show is that whether the firm is family‐owned/managed is a major factor in determining training budgets in SMEs in Northern Ireland.

INNOVATION AND ORGANISATIONAL SIZE IN IRISH SMES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

The aim of this paper is to conduct an empirical study to explore the influence of size category on innovation incorporation in Irish SMEs. Changes in markets and in large organisation strategies have resulted in the need for SMEs to re-examine and modify their competitive strategies to increase innovation. Although there is some literature on innovation incorporation in SMEs, there is a lack of direct studies on this issue, with a reliance on related but indirect studies such as Reengineering and New product development in SMEs. Furthermore, there is a paucity of studies and data on the innovation incorporation in different organisational size categories within SMEs. This study uses a grounded SME innovation model developed from earlier studies as the basis of a questionnaire survey of 2086 SMEs in Northern Ireland. The results indicate that SME organisational size categories has a significant effect on innovation incorporation in relation to leadership, people and culture, TQM/CI, product and process and Knowledge and information management.

Implementing innovation management in manufacturing SMEs: a longitudinal study

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to evaluate the longitudinal effect of innovation programmes on improving the process of innovation in manufacturing SMEs. The process of innovation in organisations covers people, process and technology. Therefore interventions in the form of innovation improvement programmes often require high levels of complexity. This complexity is compounded in SMEs, where issues such as scarce resources and skill shortages must be recognised.Design/methodology/approach – A multiple case research methodology combined with an innovation evaluation model is used to evaluate the longitudinal effect of an innovation intervention programme, which combined taught modules and Critical Action Learning networks over an eighteen month period. Within‐group comparisons are made.Findings/research implications – The findings reveal that SMEs, which have high levels of innovation improvement, adopted a broad process based approach to innovation rather than using a narrow technical definitio...

Determinants for innovation implementation at SME and inter SME levels within peripheral regions

Purpose – Innovation efforts of small- or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in peripheral regions are limited both by innate resource limitations and by location factors such as excessive distance from key markets and higher cost bases for new technology. However, the emergence of the knowledge economy may enable leveraging of knowledge to address such innate limitations. The aim of this study is to twofold. First, the study explores how SMEs in peripheral areas, i.e. challenging regions, seek to implement innovation from a path perspective by examining the contributions from antecedent and mediator variables or constructs, including knowledge-based factors identified in the literature, using a cross-sectional survey of SMEs at firm level. Second, to further examine how these path model constructs and relationships contribute in a causal manner to innovation implementation at an activity level of analysis based on knowledge-based view and dynamic capability theory, using a case study analysis. Design/method...

Knowledge Management as a Source of Innovation and Competitive Advantage for SMEs in Peripheral Regions

The advent of knowledge management has offered new opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in peripheral regions to leverage knowledge as a source of competitive advantage. However, few studies at firm level examine the role of knowledge management in helping to improve innovation and competitiveness in SMEs in such regions. This paper explores how SMEs in peripheral regions can use knowledge management concepts and practices of knowledge acquisition and assimilation to achieve higher levels of innovation implementation. Survey findings indicate that more innovative firms are more likely to acquire or source external knowledge through various methods, and are more likely to have higher levels of absorptive capacity. Overall, the authors conclude that SMEs in peripheral regions can use knowledge acquisition and assimilation as antecedents to innovation to help overcome innate tangible resource limitations.

Levels of innovation within SMEs in peripheral regions: the role of business improvement initiatives

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of business improvement methods (BIM/TQM) in contributing to innovation implementation in SMEs within peripheral regions.Design/methodology/approach – A survey with responses from 606 SMEs in the North West European peripheral regions was administered. The survey explores the role of a range of business improvement methods (BIM/TQM) as an antecedent or stimulant in helping to achieve three levels of effective innovation implementation: introducing new products/services; engaging in innovation that resulted in major product/service innovation (radical), and engaging in innovation activities that did not result in major product innovation (incremental), and non‐innovative.Findings – The findings show that BIM/TQM was likely to stimulate and encourage the development of incremental levels of innovation in the SMEs where there was an emphasis on the people, or organic aspects of BIM/TQM applied, rather than more mechanistic BIM/TQM approaches...

Longitudinal development of innovation implementation in family‐based SMEs: The effects of critical incidents

Purpose – There is a paucity of studies on the complex longitudinal dynamics of innovation incorporation within family‐based small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in response to market and technological change. Attempts at innovation implementation are likely to be influenced by the dynamic effects of critical incidents or crisis points in small family‐based firms. The aim of this EU‐funded study is to explore the effects of critical incidents on innovation implementation within a regional cluster of family‐based SMEs over a two‐year period.Design/methodology/approach – The research methodology involves the longitudinal study of a regional cluster of five family‐based businesses in relation to innovation implementation at firm level. A participant observation and critical action learning methodology was used to study the firms over the two‐year period of the study.Findings – The findings, as summarised using a conceptual model, show that the critical incidents acted interactively with the firms lifec...

Employee Involvement in Family and Non-Family-Owned Businesses in Great Britain

Nationally representative data on family businesses is available in the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey, alongside comparable information for other types of firms. We use this data to compare differences in the use of different consultation and communication procedures. We cover such practices as the use of direct communication schemes (e.g. briefings, the provision of information on financial performance to the workforce) as opposed to indirect methods such as the use of joint consultative committees. There is an a priori expectation in the literature that family‐owned businesses are either more likely to use direct forms of communication (vis‐a‐vis indirect forms) or that they will not be involved in direct communication or consultation with their employees, and we test this using multivariate techniques. Finally, we consider whether the type of consultation/communication structure matters in terms of establishment performance, and what differences exist with respect to family‐owned businesses. In particular this short paper reports the outcome of testing if those firms that consult directly with staff, as apposed to those that consult through joint consultative committees or trade unions, have higher productivity and/or other measures of performance.

Key determinants of organisational and technological innovation in UK SMEs: an empirical study

The aim of this paper is to conduct an empirical study of innovation incorporation in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) as a key sustainable source of competitive advantage, by controlling for key technological and organisational determinants. Large-scale changes in technology, markets and in large organisation strategies have resulted in the need for many SMEs to radically re-examine and modify their approaches to innovation management. This study uses a grounded SME innovation model, developed from earlier studies, as the basis of a questionnaire survey of 2086 SMEs in the UK. The results indicate that innovation was most strongly related to government grant aid, firm size, industrial sector, and the approach taken by the firm to organise how it develops products and processes.