Introduction 3
1. Factors and trends in IT industry: a critical review 4
1.1. Knowledge management 4
1.2. Creativity 9
1.3. Social interactions and communication 13
1.4. IT companies and SMEs 16
1.5. Research gap, goal, object, research questions, and tasks 19
Summary of chapter 1 21
2. Research design: theoretical foundations and application 22
2.1. Research methods for KM, creativity, and SI studies 22
2.2. Methodology of empirical study 34
Summary of chapter 2 38
3. Observed factors and in small and medium IT-enterprises 40
3.1. Data gathering process: sample and channels 40
3.2. Results of the empirical study: considerations and analysis 41
3.3. Discussion of the results of the empirical study 63
Summary of chapter 3 67
Conclusion 68
Acknowledgements 69
References 70
Appendix
In the modern business world, proper and efficient management of knowledge and information is one of the key capabilities that provide for the competitive advantage of a firm. Information flows become more and more saturated, and increasingly more data needs to be taken on and analyzed by the employees on the daily basis in order to generate new knowledge. At the same time, creative solutions are required to sustain the advantage and generate new products.
The current economic conditions are to a large extent shaped by intangible assets that become increasingly important as a source of competitive advantage. Peters (2010) states that there are now three main forms of the knowledge economy: learning, creativity, and openness. These three notions, to our view, profoundly determine the current conditions of IT market where companies need to excel not only in the quality of products, but also to be agile and creative in order to respond to the demand and constant competition.
In the context of operation of IT companies, issues of knowledge management effectiveness are of great significance as knowledge-related practices in such companies provide for innovative capabilities of the company and sustain the employee's creativity, which in term leads to competitive advantage and may even determine survival of the company in the market. Therefore, in the highly competitive environment, especially the one saturated with small or medium IT enterprises, it is crucial for a developing IT company to be able to effectively manage the knowledge base, processes, and supporting notions.
The aim of this study is to identify and analyze such factors that affect knowledge management practices in small scale IT companies like communication patterns, creativity levels, and preconditions for knowledge management processes, to conduct empirical investigation, and to provide possible practical recommendations for the issues identified during the investigation.
The structure of the present work is as follows: the review of previously published research literature on topics investigated (chapter I) is followed by the research methodology design (chapter II). The results of the investigation are analyzed and discussed in chapter III along with the recommendations generated. The conclusion summarizes the whole body of work and consummates this thesis.
This thesis investigates the IT-SMEs in the Russian market, the internal practices of these companies, and their relation to each other. These are the knowledge management, creativity, and communication practices.
The review of the existing research has highlighted the importance and relevance of the study. A number of studies investigate the relationships between KM practices and companies’ performance, relationships between creativity and knowledge management in organizations, and other related topics, such as creativity in IT-enterprises or KM in SMEs; however, a very limited amount of studies is dedicated to the IT-SMEs, combination of the three types of practices, especially in the context of Russian market and startups operating in it.
According to the important considerations highlighted in the literature, an original research design is developed for the purposes of the present study. The research design addresses the 4 areas identified for research by the stated research questions.
The study has found that there is a relation between knowledge management, creativity and communication practices in IT-SMEs, which is consistent with the previous research. The study also has shown that knowledge management practices in most organizations, along with explicit creativity management practices, can be improved.
The analysis of the findings provided a base for managerial implications and recommendations generation. The managerial implications discuss the threat of various biases and organizational decisions for small IT-enterprises. Among the recommendations suggested are the introduction of a certain hierarchy, introduction of a search system in the knowledge storage systems is applicable, introduction of time constraints for development, introduction of an ideas scorecard system, applicable trainings, and self-development ideas.
The research is subject to several limitations (scope- and nature-related), however, it is of value to a broad circle of stakeholders, including the academia and business circles as it provides the overview of the existing conditions of the organizations operating in the market, suggest practical managerial actions, and provides a novel evaluative instrument.
