Analysis of the Effectiveness of Technological KM Tools in the SME Sector Using the DEA Model

Abstract

Knowledge management has emerged over the past decade as one of the key issues at the heart of modern organisations. The Industrial Age has been replaced by the Knowledge Age. It is a time when strategic management of knowledge and resources is a critical success factor for the organizations. Good Knowledge Management (KM) practices can equip the organizations to be more innovative and provide better integration and sharing of knowledge, which is the basis for starting new organizations or revitalizing mature organizations. The issue of knowledge management is primarily considered in the context of large organisations. In contrast, relatively little attention has been paid in the literature to the specifics of knowledge management in small and medium-sized enterprises. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the backbone of the economy, significantly benefit from KM practices. The operation of modern organizations in the SME sector requires constant adaptation of management methods and development strategies to new economic conditions. This is particularly important in the process of digital transformation, which has been making significant transformations in the area of economy for a few years now. This also applies to the issue of knowledge management in business organizations, which can be considered in the area of organizational structures, business processes, personnel, organizational culture, but also ICT technologies supporting this management. Advanced ICT solutions for knowledge management, understood as the systematic and organized use of its resources to improve the functioning of the organization, implemented within the framework of process orientation, come to the rescue. The article implies a research method based on a non-parametric DEA model, in particular CRS, identifying inputs and outputs and used to study the effectiveness of using technological tools for knowledge management in enterprises operating on the Polish SME market. In the literature, there is no use of the DEA method to study the effectiveness of technological tools for knowledge management in companies in the SME sector.  The research objective of the article is to analyse the effectiveness of the use of technological tools for knowledge management in enterprises operating on the Polish SME market. The study was carried out using the non-parametric DEA method, which is based on a two-factor concept - technical efficiency (TE), meaning the ability of a company to produce maximum output (effects) for a given level of inputs, and allocative efficiency (AE), which in turn means that a company can use inputs in optimal proportion to individual prices (input costs). After analysing all possible inputs and effects, it was assumed that the following factors have a primary impact on the individual efficiency of technological KM in the SME sector: sales revenue, number of computer workstations, net profit included in effects, and fixed assets in the form of IT equipment, intangible assets in the form of software and the number of employees using technological KM tools included in inputs. Data for the survey was obtained using the CATI method among 600 randomly selected SMEs operating on the Polish market.