Knowledge Management in Serbian SMEs: Key Factors of Influence on Internal and External Business Performances

Dragana Rošulj, Dejan Č. Petrović and Siniša M. Arsić ()
Additional contact information
Dragana Rošulj: Academy of Technical Vocational Studies, Katarine Ambrozic 3, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Dejan Č. Petrović: Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Jove Ilica 154, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Siniša M. Arsić: Telekom Serbia, Takovska 2, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-21

Abstract: This study investigates the pivotal role of knowledge management (KM) in Serbian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), highlighting its impact on both the internal dynamics and external business performance of a company. Addressing the unique socio-economic and cultural context of the Serbian business environment, this research study explores how effectively KM practices can streamline business processes, enhance decision making, and foster more significant outputs. This study includes a sample of 370 companies, conducted during the period of the initial 6 months of 2023, by measuring the influence of knowledge management factors within the process of generating revenue and on decreasing operating costs. Drawing on previous theoretical research provided by different experts, followed by a quantitative analysis performed through principal component analysis (PCA), this study identifies critical factors of influence for KM adoption and exploitation in Serbian SMEs. This study offers insights into the interplay between knowledge acquisition, formation, application, warehousing, and knowledge transfer. Findings suggest that from an external perspective, the process capabilities of a company for acquiring and formatting knowledge have a positive influence on business performance, while the technological capabilities of a company for knowledge warehousing, sharing, and formatting produce the same effect but from an internal business perspective.

Keywords: knowledge management; factors; SMEs; business; organization; performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/797/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/797/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:2:p:797-:d:1320792

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().