Knowledge Management: Pressing Need for Business Organisations

The value and importance of knowledge, as seen by numerous organisations today, does without a doubt play a crucial role in the current ever-challenging and aggressive business environment. As a result, businesses that aspire to be labelled as being successful and competitive need to seek and find better ways to improve their firms’ performance. Hence, Knowledge Management (KM), which is viewed as a source of sustainable competitive advantage, has attracted the attention of various companies all over the business world. With the realisation of KM, the systematic management of organisation knowledge - a strategic corporate asset not to be taken lightly; can thus be created, transferred, shared and, utilised, in pushing for greater organisational competitiveness, innovativeness and, productivity. The environment in which businesses operate today can be summarized in terms of five key trends: globalization and the increasing intensity of competition; changing organizational structures; new worker profiles, preferences and predispositions; advances in information andcommunication technology; and the rise of knowledge management (KM). The basic assumption of KM is that organizations that manage organizational and individual knowledge better will deal more successfully with the challenges of the new business environment. KM is seen as a key factor in realizing and sustaining organizational success for improved efficiency and innovation. This research paper examined the factors that help to improve business performance. Key Words:  Knowledge Management, KM Process, Success Factors, Small and Medium Size Enterprises, Competitiveness.