Knowledge transfer partnership - a case study from the building industry

In spite of many IT issues being regarded as solved problems by the academic community these solutions are not readily finding their way into business and industry. Likewise, academics are not always fully aware of the issues facing industry in terms of culture change and barriers to the adoption of new (and not so new) technologies.

This is particularly so with SME's (Small to Medium Enterprises) who rarely have a dedicated IT support and are less likely to engage with universities. A trend here is to develop personalised systems, often based on Excel spreadsheets. This paper will examine a case study based on a classic Knowledge Transfer Partnership within the building industry which highlights problems of managing and sharing knowledge in an SME and the issues involved in change where new processes are introduced. Relevant applicable knowledge management frameworks are examined in terms of dissemination within a company and the knowledge transferred back to the academic partner.