Level of adoption and use of KM practices in supply chains of manufacturing companies

Business competition increasingly involves entire supply chains (SCs) rather than individual firms. Thus, knowledge, which is a strategic resource for companies, needs to be managed properly not only in single firms, but also at inter-firm level and in SCs, so that companies can coordinate and co-manage resources, activities, and innovative efforts in collaboration with their partners for improved competitiveness. To this end, knowledge management (KM) practices and their adoption for the effective management of SC inter-firm relationships can be of great help, but the current studies on this aspect are very fragmented, and there is still insufficient knowledge of what practices are adopted to manage knowledge in inter-firm relationships and how intensely these are used. This study contributes to filling this gap by measuring the adoption and intensity of KM practices and comparing their use at the intra- and inter-firm level. A survey of a sample of European large and medium-sized manufacturing firms was used. A descriptive statistical analysis and a correlation analysis were performed on the collected data. The study confirms that KM practices are less used at the inter-firm level. Also, a relative higher variation is depicted among firms in the use of the proposed practices at inter-firm applications. On the other hand, the correlation analysis revealed that the more intensely firms used the practices internally, the more likely the firms will intensely employ them to manage knowledge in the SC inter-firm relationships. The study provides information about how the different KM practices are used by firms. Improving the awareness of that for business managers and consultants, both at firm and inter-firm, the study can also facilitate introduction and development of KM programs.