Forces Driving Knowledge Management in Emerging Economies: Learnings from the Egyptian Case

What is it about?

In this work, the audience will be better positioned to learn internal and external forces drive firms in emerging economies to adopt knowledge management. This paper is intended to explore forces driving knowledge management in the Egyptian telecommunication industry. It represents an attempt to shed more light on an issue of increased importance for researchers and practitioners alike. This area has traditionally received little attention and in a more extreme perspective no attention from the community of researchers in Egypt. Consequently, a major contribution of this piece of research is to fill in such a deepened gap as well as to discover forces driving knowledge management in an emerging economy like the Egyptian one. The results of this research indicate that there are four major categories of factors that drive knowledge management. The first group of factors are placed on the notion that knowledge management is increasingly perceived to enhance firms’ competitiveness. The second group of factors reside in the unique characteristics of the telecommunication industry itself. In contrast, the third and fourth groups of factors emphasize a set of internal (endogenous) factors that are required to create knowledge management. These internal forces represent some structural and managerial prerequisites for the proper adoption of knowledge management in emerging economies. The resulting driving forces should thus be taken into account when initiating knowledge management in an emerging economy.

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Photo by Tamarcus Brown on Unsplash

Photo by Tamarcus Brown on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This paper is the first of its kind to explore key drivers of knowledge management in emerging markets. The roles of management orientation, the corporate structure, competitive pressures, and finally, the industry key characteristics.

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