شکست مدیریت دانش استراتژیک در شرکت های خدمات حرفه ای کوچک در چین Strategic knowledge management failures in small professional service firms in China

1. Introduction Knowledge is commonly regarded as an important organizational resource and its effective management is key to the success of organizations that wish to enhance employee productivity and reduce redundancies associated with recreating knowledge repeatedly (Ou, Davison, & Wong, 2016). Knowledge Management (KM) research focuses largely on the capture, retention, processing, and reuse of explicit knowledge (Gold, Malhotra, & Segars, 2001). Indeed, since knowledge is recognized as a driver of competitive advantage (Kogut & Zander, 1992), there is considerable interest in the application of IT as a facilitator of “collaboration among different units and individuals unconstrained by the boundaries of geography and time” (Lu, Leung, & Koch, 2005). Thus, it is not surprising that successes with formal knowledge management systems (KMS) in large, Western-based firms dominate the KM literature (Oshri, Fenema, & Kotlarsky, 2008; Von Krogh, 2012). Given that organizations benefit from successfully implemented KM systems, it is not surprising that China, the world’s second largest economy, should also pay attention to this phenomenon. Indeed, the last decade has witnessed considerable interest in KM research in China. Unfortunately, most of this research has involved surveys of captive or convenience populations (Chow, Deng, & Ho, 2000; Ou et al., 2016). Intensive studies of projects where a KM initiative has failed are difficult to find in any location, with Olesen and Myers (1999), Storey and Barnett (2000) and Davison, Martinsons and Ou, (2013) being rare exceptions. This limits opportunities to learn from past mistakes and for organizational leaders to avoid repeating the errors of others. KM studies in both smaller organizations and less developed settings are also rare (Atherton, 2003; Empson, 2001). This is unfortunate given the substantial economic importance of both small enterprises and emerging markets.