IT‐enabled Knowledge Management for the Competitive Performance of Manufacturing SMEs: An Absorptive Capacity‐based View

• Published date: 01 April 2016
• Author: Anne‐Marie Croteau,François Bergeron,Josée St‐Pierre,Louis Raymond
• Date: 01 April 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/kpm.1503

■Research Article

IT-enabled Knowledge Management for

the Competitive Performance of

Manufacturing SMEs: An Absorptive

Capacity-based View

Louis Raymond

1

*, François Bergeron

2

, Anne-Marie Croteau

3

and

Josée St-Pierre

4

1

Institut de recherche sur les PME, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Quebec Canada

2

Télé-Université, Quebec City, Quebec Canada

3

Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec Canada

4

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Quebec Canada

Manufacturing small-sized and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) now evolve in a globalized business environment

that is characterized by the need for global competitiveness based on knowledge and innovation. This research uses

the concept of absorptive capacity as a theoretical lens to study the effect of e-business and strategic capabilities upon

the performance of the SMEs in implementing their innovation and international strategies. It addresses the following

three research questions: To what extent does the SME’s entrepreneurial orientation influence its development of e-

business capabilities? To what extent does the SME’s entrepreneurialorientation and development of e-business capa-

bilities influence the development of its strategic capabilities and, in so doing, help build its absorptive capacity? To

what extent does this influence contribute to the firm’s competitive performance, that is, to the successful outcome of

its innovation and internationalization processes? The results of a survey study of 588 manufacturing SMEs indicate

that e-business capabilities have a significant impact on competitive performance to the extent that these capabilities

are developed as a result of a more entrepreneurial orientation and are realized through the development of strategic

capabilities. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

INTRODUCTION

Many small-sized and medium-sized enterprises

(SMEs) now evolve in a globalized business envi-

ronment, characterized by the need for greater effi-

ciency and effectiveness based on knowledge and

innovation. This has generated increased pressure

upon the management of these firms, especially

SMEs in the manufacturing sector that must become

“world-class”enterprises (Lu and Beamish, 2001)

and in highly competitive environments (Autio

et al., 2011). In attempting to reduce their

manufacturing costs, improve their productivity

and product quality, and respond to their cus-

tomers’and other business partners’added exigen-

cies, many manufacturing SMEs have made

significant investments in information technology

(IT) and especially in Internet/Web-based technolo-

gies as the infrastructural basis on which to develop

and implement e-business applications (Grandon

and Pearson, 2004; Harrigan et al., 2010–2011;

Solaymani et al., 2012).

To the extent that e-business applications are fully

assimilated, they can significantly impact the SME’s

core business processes and key relationships such

as servicing customers worldwide and collaborat-

ing with business partners in the development of

new products (Soto-Acosta and Meroño-Cerdan,

2007) and can thus enable the firm’s innovation

and internationalization processes (Tiwana, 2002;

Rhee, 2005). The ultimate aim is to compete on a

*Correspondence to: Louis Raymond, Institut de recherche sur les

PME, Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres, 3351, boul. des

Forges, PO Box 500, Trois-Rivieres, Quebec G9A 5H7, Canada.

E-mail: louis.raymond@uqtr.ca

Knowledge and Process Management

Volume 23 Number 2 pp 110–123 (2016)

Published online 22 April 2016 in Wiley Online Library

(www.wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/kpm.1503

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.