Knowledge management practices within Hong Kong organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how knowledge is currently being collected, distributed, managed and the perspective of knowledge management's (KM) strategic significance to performance within a broad range of Hong Kong organizations. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was administered to a broad cross‐section of Hong Kong business organizations to elicit input regarding current KM practices within the organization, their perspective on its value to organizational performance and competitive advantages. Findings – The results indicate a fuzziness exists concerning KM's potential benefits. Majority of respondents felt a KM policy existed, while a smaller number did not and even less did not know. Findings show a high dependence on personal networks and a high use of information technology tools such as intranet, Groupware, and other decision support tools. Barriers to sharing included power loss, appearing dependent, a basic unwillingness to share with national culture possibly playing a role. Incentives did not appear to encourage sharing with management of KM programs not focused on a particular department or individual. Respondents were evenly divided over strategic benefits but felt the existence of an internal culture that promoted sharing could result in competitive market advantages. Practical implications – First, it provides a better understanding of KM issues within Hong Kong organizations, the current status of KM's implementation and readiness to accept and adopt best KM practices. Second, the findings also offer business practitioners a better understanding of the internal mechanisms necessary to leverage a firm's specific resources. Finally, the results shed additional clarity on the fuzziness surrounding KM's correlation to being strategically significant to the firm. Originality/value – Unlike previous studies, the paper uses a holistic approach as opposed to best practices firms. The findings contribute to previous research and provide insights into current practices which identified differences and gaps; recognized areas of improvement; and should help stimulate use of KM and provided an understanding of internal mechanisms necessary to leverage internal resources.