Knowledge Management as a solution for the shortage of competent employees in SMEs at the developing country (Case study: Vietnam)

This paper presents partial results from the first empirical study of KM in SMEs of Vietnam. A preliminary survey had revealed that KM is an important issue for SMEs in Vietnam. With scarce resources compared to large firms, SMEs in developing countries normally focus on real and visible practical objectives. KM is perceived as a difficult-to-measure aspect as it belongs to strategic management for the long term and is mainly related to promoting innovation: not a field to which such SMEs are likely to dedicate much effort. Using statistical analysis and fuzzy methodology, this paper formally verifies whether the inferences from the preliminary study really hold for the general population of Vietnamese SMEs, and from there proposes obvious actions to be taken to solve the shortage of competent employees. The findings presented in this paper could help academics and practitioners to understand more about the operations of SMEs in developing countries as well as to suggest a feasible approach to initiate KM for SMEs.