1 THE INTER-RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE, KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN A TRANSITIONAL ECONOMY1 Que Thi Nguyet

Nguyen Graduate College of Management Southern Cross University, Australia Email: t.nguyen.15@scu.edu.au Dr. Philip A. Neck Graduate College of Management Southern Cross University, Australia Email: philip.neck@scu.edu.au Thanh Hai Nguyen Department of Management Monash University, Australia Email: Thanh.Nguyen@buseco.monash.edu.au 1. Background to the Research The critical role of entrepreneurial culture in providing firms with a competitive advantage (CA) has been broadly discussed in the literature. This factor has also been identified as the key enabler in successfully managing firm-specific knowledge-based resources (Barney 1986; Davenport, DeLong & Beers 1998; Gold, Malhotra & Segars 2001). In todays dynamic business environment with rapid and unpredictable changes, these knowledge management (KM) activities have, in turn, emerged as dynamic capabilities contributing to organisational CA (Nielsen 2006). Given the growing interest in these issues, a review of the literature shows that there is a lack of research in simultaneously investigating the inter-relationships between entrepreneurial culture, KM processes, and firm competitiveness. In addition, work to date has mainly explored these

This paper was presented to the 17th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia in Melbourne 1-3 July 2008. It has been peer reviewed via a double blind referee process and appears on the Conference Proceedings Website by the permission of the author who retains copyright. This paper may be downloaded for fair use under the Copyright Act (1954), its later amendments and other relevant legislation.

2 factors in the context of Western advanced, developed or Asian newly industrialised countries. The question is that in the context of Vietnam, an emerging Asian less developed country, dominated by a Confucian - Socialist market economy with a long exposure to Western values, where or not these complex attributes of culture contribute to the success of KM efforts and firm competitiveness. The study aims to answer this main research question. The paper commences with a review of the literature leading to a set of research hypotheses for empirical testing. This is followed by a discussion of methodological issues, including measurement of variables, data collection procedure, and data analysis techniques. The paper then continues to present the results of data collected from 362 Vietnamese managers using structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses. Finally, the paper concludes by a further discussion on the complexity of Vietnamese culture and research implications, followed by stating the limitations of this study and suggesting future research. 2. Literature Review This section briefly reviews the relevant literature to develop a set of research hypotheses that explain the inter-relationships between entrepreneurial culture, KM process capabilities, and organisational CA. 2.1 Organisational Culture and Competitive Advantage The role of organisational culture as a source of sustained CA has been strongly stated in the literature. Barney (1986, p.646) concludes that firms that do not have the required cultures cannot engage in activities that will modify their culture and generate sustained superior performance because their modified culture typically will be neither rare nor imperfectly imitable. Moreover, he adds that organisations which have a culture that supports and encourages cooperative innovation should try to understand what it is about their culture that gives them a CA and develop and nurture those cultural attributes (Barney 1986). Similarly, Hibbard (1998) argues that strong culture is a determinant of organisational performance. In fact, most of the successful companies (those with sustained profitability and the above-normal financial returns) such as Coca-Cola, Disney, General Electric, Microsoft, and Toyota, have a major distinguishing nature, their organisational culture, that is their most important CA (Cameron & Quinn 1999). According to Gold, Malhotra and Segars (2001), organisational culture typically evolves over long period of time through the accumulation of organisational operations. Therefore, this

3 valuable resource becomes hard to acquire and complex to imitate. In accordance with the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, organisational culture should provide a sustained CA (Chuang 2004). An empirical evidence in the context of Vietnamese construction industry also shows that entrepreneurial culture has the unique significant contribution to a firms CA (Nguyen et al., 2008). This relationship is, therefore, illustrated by: Hypothesis 1: Organisational culture has a positive impact on a firms CA. 2.2 KM Process Capabilities and Competitive Advantage The contribution of KM processes in gaining and sustaining CA has been broadly discussed in the literature of KM and CA. Chakravarty et al. (2005, p. 305) posit that while the characteristics of knowledge are primarily valuable defending existing advantages, the processes it uses to accumulate and leverage knowledge have greater implications for creating new sources of advantage. Each of the three KM activities plays a distinctive role in providing a firm its CA: knowledge leverage is necessary for growth; knowledge accumulation to ensure that this growth is profitable; and knowledge protection to sustain this profitable growth (Chakravarthy et al. 2005). From the dynamic capability based approach, Nielsen (2006) also illustrates a link between dynamic capabilities and KM stating that dynamic capabilities are seen as integrated sets of KM activities including the creation, acquisition, capture, assembly, sharing, integration, leverage, and exploitation of knowledge. A combination of these well-known processes into three important types of dynamic capabilities relates to the development, (re)combination, and use of the firms stock of knowledge-based resources. Therefore, KM processes as dynamic capabilities allow firms to create new products, adapt to rapidly changing external conditions and remain competitive in the current dynamic market place (Eisenhardt & Martin 2000; Hamel & Prahalad 1996; Lopez 2005; Nielsen 2006; Powell, W. W. & Snellman 2004; Verona & Ravasi 2003; Winter 2003). As such, we hypothesise that: Hypothesis 2: KM process capabilities have a positive impact on a firms CA. 2.3 Organisational Culture and KM Process Capabilities In relations with the concept of KM, DeLong and Fahey (2000) identify four comprehensive ways in which culture influences the behaviours central to knowledge creation, sharing, and use. First, culture shapes assumptions about what knowledge is and which knowledge is worth managing. Second, culture defines relationships between individual and organisational

4 knowledge, determining who is expected to control specific knowledge, as well as who must share it and who can board it. Third, culture creates the context for social interaction that determines how knowledge will be used in particular situations. Finally, culture shapes the processes by which new knowledge with its accompanying uncertainties is created, legitimated, and distributed in organisations. Turban and Aronson (2001, p.355) also conclude that the ability of an organisation to learn, develop memory, and share knowledge is dependent on culture. Organisations should establish an appropriate culture that encourages people to create and share knowledge within an organisation (Holsapple & Joshi 2001; Leonard-Barton 1995). To stimulate the development and application of knowledge, the key elements of a knowledge culture are required, that is a climate of trust, confidence, and openness in an environment where constant learning and experimentation are highly valued, appreciated and supported (Martin 2000; Moffett, McAdam & Parkinson 2003). Cultures that explicitly favour knowledge sharing and knowledge integrating into the organisation encourage debate and dialogue in facilitating contributions from individuals at multiple levels of the organisation (Davenport & Prusak 1998). Obviously, organisational culture becomes one of the most important factors for the successful implementation of KM efforts (Davenport & Prusak 1998; Gold, Malhotra & Segars 2001; Lee & Choi 2003; Martin 2000; Roman-Velazquez 2004). Given the critical role of cultural factor in supporting KM processes, the study hypothesises that: Hypothesis 3: Organisational culture has a positive impact on KM process capabilities. 3. Research Methodology This section deals respectively with developing measures of theoretical constructs and outlining techniques applied for data collection and data analysis in the study. 3.1 Measurement of Variables All measurement items of variables are based on existing instrument derived from the relevant literature using a seven point Likert scale ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (7) strongly agree. The variable of organisational culture is adapted from Smiths (2006) study while the measure of CA is based on the work of Chuang (2004). KM process capabilities, a second-order latent construct, are adapted from Smith (2006) study, composed of four dimensions, namely knowledge acquisition, conversion, application, and protection processes. The operational definitions of these six first-order latent variables are provided in Table 1.

5 Table 1: Operational Definitions of Variables Variables Cultural Infrastructure (CI) Acquisition Process (ACP) Conversion Process (CP) Application Process (APP) Protection Process (PP) Competitive Advantage (CA) Operational Definitions The shared values, beliefs, and practices of the people in the organisation (McDermott & O'Dell 2001). The ability to seek and obtain entirely new knowledge or create new knowledge out of existing knowledge through collaboration (Inkpen 1996) The ability to make existing knowledge useful (Gold, Malhotra & Segars 2001). The ability to apply, exploit and use knowledge (Gold, Malhotra & Segars 2001). The ability to secure knowledge from inappropriate or illegal use or theft (Gold, Malhotra & Segars 2001). The objective of organisational strategies (Porter 1985) which is measured in many dimensions such as innovativeness, market position, mass customisation, and difficulty in duplication (Byrd & Turner 2001).

Source: Developed by this study 3.2 Data Collection Procedure A pilot survey was conducted at a national exhibition of construction firms in Vietnam to preliminarily evaluate the existing scale and modify it to the new context. Questionnaires were directly distributed to 600 senior managers on site and 148 responses were returned with complete data. Reliability analysis using Cronbachs alpha and exploratory factor analysis were employed to refine the draft questionnaire (Hair et al. 2006). The final instrument (as presented in Table 2) was distributed by mail to 1000 senior managers randomly selected from the 2000 Business Directory issued by the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, followed up by phone and two reminders by mail to increase the response rate. 3.3 Data Analysis Techniques The data collected from the main survey was first assessed for missing values, sample characteristics and normality identification. A two-step approach to structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS version 6.0 was then applied. Step one was to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the proposed measurement model fit and construct validity while step two aimed to develop and estimate the structural model for testing the significance of theoretical relationships (Hair et al. 2006).

6 4. Data Analysis Results This section covers the descriptive statistical analyses of the sample followed by an assessment of the overall measurement model and structural model to test the identified research hypotheses. 4.1 Sample Characteristics After applying pairwise deletion method of missing cases, the final sample included 362 usable responses, producing an acceptable response rate of 36.2% and satisfying the minimum ratio of 5:1 between the number of cases and parameters in the study (Hair et al. 2006; Kline 1998). The respondents company profile was analysed on their size, type of business, and basic categories of industry. Most surveyed organisations were SMEs employing less than 300 employees (above 80%) and operated in the service industry (nearly 70%). While the majority of the state-owned enterprises were of larger size and operated in manufacturing sector, the service industry employed more smaller-sized private limited and joint-stock companies.

7 Table 2: Final Instrument of Construct Measurement Scales

Construct Measurement Scale In my organisation, Organisational OC1: Employees understand the importance of knowledge to corporate success Culture (OC) OC2: High levels of participation are expected in capturing and transferring knowledge OC3: On-the-job training and learning are valued OC4: Senior management clearly supports the role of knowledge in our firms success My organisation ACP1: Has processes for acquiring knowledge about our customers Acquisition ACP2: Has processes for generating new knowledge from existing knowledge Process ACP3: Has processes for acquiring knowledge about our suppliers (ACP) ACP4: Has processes for distributing knowledge throughout the organisation ACP5: Has processes for acquiring knowledge about new products/services within our industry ACP6: Has processes for exchanging knowledge between individuals My organisation CP1: Has processes for filtering knowledge Conversion CP2: Has processes for transferring organisational knowledge to individuals Process (CP) CP3: Has processes for absorbing knowledge from individuals into the organisation CP4: Has processes for integrating different sources and types of knowledge CP5: Has processes for organising (store/file) knowledge CP6: Has processes for replacing outdated knowledge My organisation APP1: Has processes for using knowledge in development of new products/services APP2: Has processes for using knowledge to solve new problems Application APP3: Matches sources of knowledge to problems and challenges Process (APP) APP4: Uses knowledge to improve efficiency APP5: Uses knowledge to adjust strategic direction APP6: Is able to locate and apply knowledge to changing competitive conditions APP7: Takes advantage of new knowledge My organisation PP1: Has processes to protect knowledge from inappropriate use inside the organisation PP2: Has processes to protect knowledge from inappropriate use outside the organisation Protection PP3: Has processes to protect knowledge from theft from within the organisation Process (PP) PP4: Has processes to protect knowledge from theft from outside the organisation PP5: Has extensive polices and procedures for protecting trade secrets PP6: Values and protects knowledge embedded in individuals PP7: Clearly communicates (create awareness of) the importance of protecting knowledge CA1: My organisation often uses knowledge-based innovation Competitive CA2: My organisations market position can strong barriers to entry for other firms Advantage CA3: My organisation uses knowledge management to widen the array (line/range) of (CA) products without increasing costs CA4: The knowledge management capability in my organisation would be difficult and expensive for rivals to duplicate

Source: Developed by this study

8 4.2 Measurement Model Development All values of skew and kurtosis of six interval variables in the study were found not to exceed the absolute values of 2 for skewness and 7 for kurtosis indices and, therefore, the data set was considered to have moderately normal distribution and the maximum likelihood estimation was used (Hair et al., 2006; Kline, 1998). The initial fit of the overall measurement model was not particularly good (!2/df=3.16; p=0.001; CFI=0.83; GFI=0.78; RMSEA=0.077). Standardised loading estimates (below |0.5|), standardised residuals (above |4.0|), and modification indices (greater than 4) were employed to suggest item deletion while content validity of constructs were still satisfied (Anderson and Gerbing 1988; Hair et al. 2006). The fit of the re-specified measurement model improved considerably to !2/df=2.14, p=0.001 (a significant p-value can be expected with large sample size), CFI=0.94; GFI=0.90; and RMSEA=0.056. Table 3 shows that all standardised regression weights were substantial and significant (">0.50 at p=0.001) and the composite reliability for all individual constructs was acceptable (Pc>0.70). In addition, the inter-construct correlation coefficients were found to be significantly different from unity at the 0.001 level. The measurement model did not contain any cross-loadings either among the measured variables or among the error terms. These results supported the unidimensionality, convergent and discriminant validity of all constructs in the final measurement model (Hair et al. 2006). 4.3 Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) The results of SEM analyses are displayed in Figure 1 proving that the model satisfied an acceptable level of model fit and, thus, was used to test the related hypotheses through the standardised regression weights, t-values, and squared multiple correlations. The standardised regression weights and t-values for the paths of KM process capabilities (KMPC) -> CA and organisational culture (OC) -> KMPC indicate the significance of these relationships, supporting hypotheses 2 and 3. Organisational culture is found to considerably improve KM process capabilities and explain 60% of the variance of this construct (R2=0.60). The dynamic capability view of KM is confirmed, stating that KM process capabilities, measured by knowledge acquisition, conversion, application, and protection processes, strongly contribute to organisational CA, among which application processes are the most important dimension. This result also supports the knowledge-based theory of the firm, positing that the

9 major source of competitiveness rests in the ability to exploit a firms integrated knowledge and not in its ability to create new knowledge per se (Grant 1996). The parameter estimate of OC -> CA path demonstrates this structural link insignificant (p>0.05). As such, hypothesis 1 is rejected by the data, showing that culture alone does not generate CA directly and significantly. However, this factor is found to indirectly contribute to organisational CA with the standardised mediated effect of 0.61. The structural model demonstrates good explanatory power for CA, the outcome variable, with 84% of its variance (R2=0.84) explained by two predictors, among which culture displays insignificant effect, and hence, mainly accounted for by KM process capabilities. These findings imply that organisational culture though has no direct impact on CA, its critical role is fully mediated through KM process capabilities. Figure 1: Parameter Estimates for Structural Model
Protection

Application

Conversion

Acquisition

0.80

0.90

0.82

0.73

KM Process Capabilities

R2=0.60

H1 (0.78; 9.05)

H3 (0.79; 5.00)

Organisational Culture

H2 (0.15; 1.62)*

R2=0.84
Competitive Advantage

CMIN=432.78; df=202; CFI=0.93; GFI=0.90; RMSEA=0.056

R2 = Squared Multiple Correlation H (!=Standardised Regression Weights; t-value) All p-values = 0.001 except * with p > 0.05 ------- Indirect effect, standardised mediated effect = 0.61 Measurement errors, residual terms, and item loadings are omitted for clarity

Source: Developed by this study

10

Table 3: Standardised Regression Weights, t-Values, Composite Reliability of Constructs

Organisational Culture (Pc=0.81) Competitive Advantage t-value (Pc=0.78) (p=0.001)

Items

Acquisition Process Conversion Process Application Process Protection Process (Pc=0.80) (Pc=0.80) (Pc=0.74) (Pc=0.83)

0.76 0.80 0.67 0.58 0.76 0.76 0.71 0.60 0.62 0.74 0.74 0.88 0.71 0.75 0.77 076 0.66 0.66 0.73 0.64 0.74 0.63

ACP1 ACP2 ACP3 ACP4 CP1 CP2 CP3 CP4 APP1 APP2 APP3 PP1 PP2 PP3 OC1 OC2 OC3 OC4

13.06 13.54 11.66 10.09 11.10 11.11 10.71 9.52 6.57 6.33 6.57 13.60 12.06 12.60 16.44 15.89 13.23 13.16 6.84 6.61 6.86 6.59

CA1

CA2 CA3 CA4

Second-order Factor Loadings (KM Process Capabilities KMPC)

Standardised Regression Weights (!)

0.73 0.82 0.90 0.80

t-Values
8.43 8.03 5.58 8.45

Composite Reliability is defined by Fornell and Larcker (1981) as: Pc = (!"i)2/((!"i)2 + !(1-"i2)) where "i is factor loading of indicator number i.

ACP CP APP PP

Acquisition Process Conversion Process Application Process Protection Process

Source: Developed by this study

11 The rejected result of hypotheses 1, on the one hand, suggests that when culture is investigated in isolation (as in previous research), this factor may significantly contribute to a firms CA. Such effect, however, becomes negligible once KM process capabilities are included in the model and all theoretical hypotheses are examined simultaneously, therefore, changing the role of culture to the key enabler of KM processes. The unsupported result, on the other hand, can be justified based on the current dynamic and turbulent landscape with constant and unpredictable changes, where the possibility of cultural attributes being imitated by competitors and/or modified by engaging in global business activities is increased (Porter 1985; Powell & Dent-Micallef 1997). This factor, once a source of CA, has become competitive necessity due to its being no longer rare and imperfectly imitable (Barney 1986). Walters, Halliday, and Glaser (2002) further emphasise that in the new economy, the generation of competitive positioning is a dynamic process and, thus, other organisational resources such as culture should be utilised and leveraged to harness this dynamism. For example, organisations, to remain competitive, must be able to utilise their knowledge of customers, products, services, and resources, and be able to overcome cultural barriers to sharing knowledge (McDermott & O'Dell 2001; Soley & Pandya 2003). 5. Further Discussion and Conclusions This section provides further discussion on the specific characteristics of Vietnamese culture and research implications, followed by stating the studys limitations and suggesting future research. 5.1 Vietnamese Culture Characteristics Gibb (1996) argues that most people who run SMEs do so as a way of life which as a particular culture. According to the author, organisational culture (values, attitudes and beliefs) is shaped by a particular set of characteristics and firms need to recognise the nature of the environment in which the entrepreneur seeks to cope on a day-to-day basis. Furthermore, as argued by Gibb, entrepreneurial culture should be nurtured and developed. In transitional economies, there is growing awareness of the scope for influencing societal culture, attitude to work, to business and to entrepreneurship. The culture which supports small enterprise development has broadly been described as sets of values, beliefs, attitudes and norms of behaviors which underpin a role model of success in society via individual or collective entrepreneurial endeavor.

12 Despite the fact that globalisation is important, there are different culture and customs (Dana 2007). With the same point of view, Gibb (1996) concludes that culture shapes managerial assumptions. In addition, businesses have increasingly engaged in interaction with foreign suppliers, employees, distributors, clients and government officials. Each operates in a particular environment, where interactions involve implicit and explicit assumptions. According to this view, it is a function of the complex belief systems, cultural values and attitudes that dictate accepted norms of conduct (Dana 2007). Dana (2007, p. 286) further emphasises that in Vietnam the people of the North are of SinoTibetan race that has strong Han influences from many years of Chinese domination; the people of the South tend to have been exposed to slightly more Dionysian and fewer Promethean values. While the people of the North adopt a northern sect of Buddhism, those of Cochin-China include followers of a southern sect, with some Hindu influence. The invasion conducted by France in 1859 created a strong impact on Vietnamese culture. Catholicism was heavily introduced to Vietnam during that period and became the second largest religion in this country. Western values and Catholicism have somewhat influenced the lifestyle of some groups of people, especially strongly affected the lifestyle and values of rich people. In 1954, French military force was defeated by Vietnamese in Dien Bien Phu and Vietnam was then divided into two parts: North Vietnam became a socialist country which was strongly influenced by China and Russia while South Vietnam became closer to America. The war between Vietnam and America last until 1973 and the country was reunited in 1975 after the collapse of the Saigon puppet government. After the war, Vietnam experienced a hard long period until 1986 when the country formally converted its centrally planned economy to the socialist market economy with the Doi Moi policy. The method employed by the Vietnamese government at that time was gradualism with step by step moving from a socialist economy to a socialist market oriented economy. Surprisingly, like China, Vietnam has become one of the two typical transitional economies with an impressive economic growth rate without significant reduction in public sectors role and noticeable shift in the political system. Private sector has also become vital to the economy and has been encouraged to flourish by the government with remarkable reduction in governments intervention and control. It should be noted that Vietnamese culture has been strongly influenced by Buddhist, Confucians, and Taoists for thousand years (Le et al. 2007; Mcleod & Dieu 2001; Nguyen, Alam & Prajogo 2008). These values and religions are the key referencing system in this country. As

13 discussed above, Catholicism and Western values have also strongly affected Vietnamese values and culture. As a result, the two largest religions currently exist in Vietnam include Buddhism and Catholicism. There are also small Muslim community and other religions such as Cao Dai and Hoa Hao. Apparently, Vietnamese culture is quite dynamic with key distinctive characteristics. To many Vietnamese, Confucian culture is values and beliefs while Western lifestyles and management approach are ideal. This is the most distinct feature of Vietnamese business environment. In face with the intensive competition from globalisation, Vietnamese entrepreneurs began to recognise the critical role of marketing, sustainability and the need for improving knowledge and competitiveness. Such complex attributes of culture and developmental history in Vietnam should provide strong influences on the way organisations manage, capture, share and transfer their knowlede. To take advantage of the hybrid features of culture, Vietnamese entrepreneurs should incorporate Confucian philosophy, socialist market philosophy and carefully adapt new managerial approaches and innovative ideas plus belief reference system. In fact, Vietnamese entrepreneurs tend to pay more attention on traditional values, more static and tradition focused mentality, personal steadiness and stability, protecting face, tradition respect, and reciprocation of greetings, favors, and gifts (McDermott & O'Dell 2001). The friendliness, openness and willingness to help each other would encourage the creation, sharing, transfer, and use of knowledge within organistions. In conclusion, there is a strong evidence that the cultural, economic, and political context in Vietnam shapes entrepreneurial business activities and, therefore, should strongly influence an organisations ability to be successful in managing knowledge and, thereby, achieving a CA. Future research can look at specifc aspects of this culture to further investigate their impacts on KM processes in Vietnam. 5.2 Research Findings and Implications This study is based on a RBV of KM with an extension of the dynamic capability approach to develop and empirically examine a theoretical model that explains the impact of organisational culture as the key enabler on KM process capabilities and their contribution to a firms CA in todays dynamic market places. A survey of 362 senior executives in Vietnam randomly selected from the 2000 Vietnamese Business Directory provides strong support for the theoretical model

14 within the specificities of an emerging Asian socialist market economy where a Confucian culture and a majority of SMEs currently exist. The results of SEM analyses confirm the strong support of organisational culture on KM process capabilities. This construct, composed of four dimensions, namely knowledge acquisition, conversion, application, and protection processes, significantly contributes to a firms CA, among which application processes are the most important dimension. The findings also imply that once KM process capabilities are added into the model as the key contributor to organisational CA, entrepreneurial culture becomes the critical enabler of KM process capabilities and indirectly contributes to firm competitiveness through these processes. In terms of practical implications, this paper attempts to provide Vietnamese business executives with a better understanding of the inter-relationships between organisational culture, KM process capabilities and their relative importance to leverage, exploit and sustain a CA. In particular, practising managers should utilise, develop, and nurture the specific attributes of culture to strongly support KM processes, especially the storage, retrieval, application, and sharing of knowledge, thereby, achieving firm competitiveness. The study also provides a discussion on the complexity of Vietnamese culture as being affected by both Chinese Confucian philosophy and Western values which should strongly influence on the development of KM and CA. In the current business environment of Vietnam, particular aspects of culture need to be emphasised, that is, a supportive culture should value the role of knowledge in corporate success, appreciate on-the-job training and learning, and encourage people to create and share knowledge within the organisation. 5.3 Limitations and Future Research The studys limitations suggest that fit statistics under re-specification of the CFA model on shortened scale require cross-validation studies to retest the model and examine its generalisability, in both similar and other settings of culture. Future studies from both quantitative and qualitative approaches are also needed to answer more questions in detail such as what specific aspects of culture currently exist in Vietnamese SMEs and how they relate to KM practices? And how might these issues differ for different firms in different industries? In a broader view, other KM enablers such as information technology, organisational structure, leadership, strategy, and human skills could be taken into consideration to provide a more

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