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PurposeThe specific challenges which small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) face lead to a special knowledge management system with harmonised methods and supporting software tools. This paper seeks to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachA theoretical framework is proposed as a layer concept to describe the special situation of knowledge management in SMEs. Based on this framework empirical studies were conducted in German‐speaking countries to find out the relevant methods and tools supporting knowledge management in SMEs.FindingsThe outcome of the empirical study describes methods of knowledge management supporting the four key knowledge processes in SMEs, i.e. knowledge identification, knowledge acquisition, knowledge distribution and knowledge preservation. The results are explained in the developed “TechnicalSocialSocialTechnical Model” (TSST Model), which is a balanced system for technical and social knowledge applications.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical study presented provides a model for knowledge management support in SMEs in German‐speaking countries. Further research will expand the empirical data on an international focus.Originality/valueThe developed TSST Model is currently used for the implementation of knowledge management systems in Austrian SMEs. The developed TSST Model functions as a decision support framework for SMEs to select technical and social knowledge methods according to the corresponding knowledge processes.

The discipline of knowledge management is no longer emerging in large organizations, but also small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are focusing on finding the right process that will allow them to make advantages of their intellectual capital. Using survey data from 219 small and medium-sized enterprises in Austria and Switzerland, this article illustrates the four key knowledge processes (1) knowledge identification, (2) knowledge acquisition, (3) knowledge distribution, and (4) knowledge preservation for SMEs and also reports the findings of the empirical study designed to allocate cost-efficient software products to each of the four knowledge processes. As a result a knowledge toolkit for SMEs that integrates knowledge processes, methods and software tool for decision support making is given. Finally, the social view of knowledge management to SMEs is discussed, showing that the use of information technology is currently far more important than the integration of a social-cognitive perspective.

The management of knowledge has become a major research field in different disciplines in the last years. A key issue is the future development of knowledge management as a “fashion” or “trend” initiative. A longitudinal empirical study conducted by the authors analyzing the literature of knowledge management from 1994 until 2004 comes to the conclusion that knowledge management is already transformed into a “trend”. Furthermore, this chapter deals with the integration of knowledge management in the banking sector by applying the building block approach from Probst, Raub & Romhardt. Currently knowledge management is used in an unbalanced manner and not considering all knowledge-intensive processes.

Knowledge management measurement has the key objective to evaluate the value of knowledge workers and their relationship to the company strategy as well as on the knowledge flow between the key knowledge workers. From a theoretical point of view, this article presents the transformation of the Uncertainty Principle of Heisenberg through analogical reasoning into the knowledge potential measurement method. The knowledge potential research focuses on the measurement process of highly uncertain knowledge of the experts who have a high importance to the organization. The knowledge potential view expresses the knowledge of a knowledge worker in a nine-dimensional measurement system. Case studies conducted by the authors show that the interviewer bias has a high impact on the measurement quality. Future research will focus on the design of a multi-functional stakeholder information system for knowledge potential measurement.