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BPMJ
25,7
1474
Received 19 July 2018
Revised 3 December 2018
Accepted 17 January 2019
Business Process Management
Journal
Vol. 25 No. 7, 2019
pp. 1474-1490
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1463-7154
DOI 10.1108/BPMJ-07-2018-0191
Knowledge management
strategy: an organisational
development approach
Made Andriani
Department of Industrial Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung,
Bandung, Indonesia, and
T.M.A. Ari Samadhi, Joko Siswanto and Kadarsah Suryadi
Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to formulate a knowledge management strategy model that aligns
with the organisational growth stage and the characteristics of the business processes at every growth stage.
The difference in characteristics at each growth stage has an impact on the characteristics of business
processes, such as decision making and the period of process execution.
Design/methodology/approach – This research focussed on three fashion companies in Indonesia, and
data were collected using a historical case-study method. Data collection was performed through in-depth
interviews with the business owners, directors and managers, by direct observation, and through the
collection of secondary data from the companies’ documents.
Findings – Through this research, a knowledge management strategy based on organisational growth
stages was produced. It was found that when an organisation is at the entrepreneurial stage, the knowledge
management strategy focussed on humans with tacit knowledge as well as explicit knowledge. At the growth
stage, a transformation of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, especially at the individual level, is
required, whereas at the expansion stage, the focus of the knowledge management strategy is on a system
usage at the organisation level.
Research limitations/implications – Research using the case studies method has a limitation in the
generalisation of the model. The knowledge management strategy generated in this study is unique to the
fashion industry, where if the research were performed in other industries, there is a possibility for different
results. Moreover, the characteristics of the business processes that are examined in this study are limited to
the period of implementation and level of interaction. Other more detailed dimensions such as task variety
and task analysability can be used to obtain more detailed characteristics of business processes.
Practical implications – Using the knowledge management strategies model formulated at every growth
stage, the company owner can specify a knowledge management strategy that suits the organisation’s goal.
Also, the results of this research can provide information on the priority for developing a knowledge
management system aligned with the company’s growth.
Originality/value – The knowledge management strategy formulation from the organisational
development point of view has not been investigated previously. In fact, the needs of the organisation,
along with its growth, will change. Therefore, this research provides a new perspective which is more
dynamic and can be integrated into formulating the knowledge management strategy.
Keywords Knowledge management strategy, Organizational growth, Business process
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The creative industry is one sector that is considered a mainstay of the national economy in
Indonesia. Since this industry contributes significantly to the national GDP, the National
Ministry of Industry has been notably active in promoting the creative industry by
designating it as one of the areas with high priority for development. The main factors that
This research was partially supported by P3MI 2017 grant from Industrial Research Group, Institut
Teknologi Bandung. The authors would like to thank the authors’ colleagues from three cases who
provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research, although they may not agree with all
of the conclusions of this paper.
play a role in the creative industries are human. Innovation became a hallmark of the Knowledge
creative industry companies in order to succeed, thereby introducing competitiveness in this management
field. On the other hand, quality standardisation of creative products has also become strategy
necessary in the creative industry (Bettiol et al., 2012).
Although the creative industry has developed quite rapidly, there are some problems
that have occurred in this sector. The industry, which is dominated by Micro, Small, and
Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), is still showing low competitiveness in the ASEAN 1475
Economic Community. Data from Indonesian Agency for Creative Economy (2017) showed
that the growth of the creative industry in 2015 is 4.38 per cent, which is considered quite
slow since it even includes the fashion industry as one of the sub-sectors of the creative
industry. The slow growth rate may be due to ignorance of the company owners that their
organisation is growing. Changes in the environment will have an impact on the
organisational growth, which should be monitored by the organisation. One method that
can be used to control the growth of the organisation is the organisational life cycle because
solely using the age of the organisation cannot determine the corporate growth (Rutherford
et al., 2003; Lester et al., 2003).
In addition, another problem occurring in MSMEs is high rates of employee turnover.
Sukwandi and Meliana (2014) showed that two out of ten employees at MSMEs leave every
year. This hampers the standardisation process and the accumulation of knowledge, which
hinders the improvement of the company performance. The strategy is necessary for
knowledge management implementation, especially regarding MSMEs. Choi and Lee (2002)
explained that a knowledge management strategy is a basis for determining the process of
knowledge management, so it is important for organisations to identify the right knowledge
management strategy to run the proper process of knowledge management.
In a study conducted by Shackelford and Sun (2009), they emphasised the importance of
knowledge management strategy in MSMEs. Unique characteristics of MSMEs include the
high level of dependence on a few core people such as the owner or founder, and low
hierarchical level of the organisation structure. It also results in centralised decision making
and learning in MSMEs, and often ignores the need for knowledge management to expand
its business scale. For that reason, the selection of the right knowledge management
strategy will improve effectiveness and provide added value to the organisation.
On the other hand, Bhatt (2002) explains that the knowledge management strategy
might change along with the growth of the organisation due to changes in the activity
characteristics of the organisation. In the early stages of an establishment, the owners’
expertise plays a major role in the settlement of this problem. However, as the
organisation grows, relying on the owners’ knowledge is inefficient and requires
collaboration from various members of the organisation. Previous research by Andriani
et al. (2016) also showed the differences in characteristics of product design and in the
development process during organisational growth in the fashion industry. Thus, this
research aims to develop a knowledge management strategy model that corresponds to
the stage of organisational growth.

Literature review
The main issue in the implementation of knowledge management is how knowledge
management supports the achievement of the organisation’s goals. Some previous research
has focussed on the alignment between the knowledge management strategy and the
business strategy. However, from the organisation development point of view, the corporate
goal will differ as to their environment changes, and thus is considered to be dynamic. In
the organisational life cycle theory, organisations grow through several stages and
characteristics of the organisation will change according to their growth stage (Quinn and
Cameron, 1983; Scott Bruce, 1987; Dodge Robbins, 1992; Greiner, 1998). Therefore, the
BPMJ activities undertaken by the organisation and its characteristics will change with the growth
25,7 of the organisation.
The business process is one tool that can be used to describe the organisation’s strategy
at the operational level (Porter, 1985). Oluikpe (2012) also explains that the implementation
of knowledge management based on business processes is a way to align the knowledge
management strategy against the business strategy of the organisation. To that end, the
1476 knowledge management strategy used in this study is based on a business process as a
translation of the organisation’s business strategy.
Research in the field of knowledge management has been ongoing since the early 1990s,
while research of knowledge management for MSMEs has only been conducted since
the 2000s and is still being developed to this day. This shows the importance of the
knowledge management role in MSMEs and the fact that there is still not a standard way in
the formulation of the knowledge management strategy, especially in MSMEs. Table I
shows the previous research related to knowledge management strategy.

Knowledge management strategy dimensions

Based on Table I, it can be seen that several dimensions are used to define the knowledge
management strategy. Type of task dimension, i.e., routine or non-routine, has been used by
Donoghue et al. (1999), Bhatt (2002) and Greiner et al. (2007). These studies concluded that
routine activities require explicit knowledge to facilitate learning, while non-routine
activities can rely on tacit knowledge. Even more detailed, Gottschalk (2005) identified the
type of problem and the method of the problem faced by the organisation to determine the
appropriate knowledge management strategy.
Interaction, i.e., individual or group, which is used in the research of Donoghue et al.
(1999) and Bhatt (2002), determines whether the knowledge management is focussed on the
individual or if there is a need to involve several people in the organisation. If the activity
has personal interactions, then the knowledge management strategy used is focussed on the
individual, either tacit or explicit. On the other hand, if the activity has the interactions
between peoples at the organisation level, then the knowledge management strategy is
focussed on the standardisation of knowledge both tacit and explicit.
Type of knowledge, i.e., tacit or explicit, was used in Hansen et al. (1999), Choi Lee (2002),
Greiner et al. (2007), Shackelford and Sun (2009), Ng et al. (2012) and Kim et al. (2014).
Tacit knowledge can be managed with a personalisation strategy, while explicit knowledge
can be managed with the codification strategy. In addition, Greiner et al. (2007) also used the
business strategy dimension, i.e., innovation or efficiency, whereby organisations with an
innovation strategy use a personalised method to enhance the creation of innovation, while the
efficiency strategy uses the codification strategy to increase the utilisation of existing knowledge.
The proposed research uses two dimensions of previous studies, the type of task and
interaction, and adds one variable which previously has never been used, which is the growth
stages of the organisation. This variable was selected to illustrate that the organisational
growth is dynamic and that there is a change of characteristics that has an impact on the
knowledge management strategy, along with the change in the organisation goal.

Type of knowledge management strategy

Based on the dimension types, the proposed research further specifies the knowledge
management strategy used in previous research studies. Donoghue et al. (1999) and Bhatt
(2002) used the type of task and interaction, and the knowledge management strategy used
can be divided into four types, which are routine activity-strategies for individual-routine,
organisation-routine, individual-non-routine and organisation-non-routine. Several studies
(Hansen et al., 1999; Greiner et al., 2007; Shackelford and Sun, 2009; Ng et al., 2012;
Mladkova, 2014) used two types of knowledge management strategy, codification and
 Empirical study
Author Dimension KM strategy Implementation Method Object

Donoghue et al. (1999) Type of task (routine/non-routine) Transaction, integration, collaboration, expert Integration None –
Interaction (individual/group)
Hansen et al. (1999) Type of knowledge (tacit/explicit) Codification – Personalisation Focus Case Consultant
Business strategy (innovation/efficiency) studies
Bhatt (2002) Type of task (routine/non-routine) Empowerment- and job-specific and business- Integration None –
Interaction (individual/group) related training
Creating a balance between existing expertise and
creativity
Collaboration between employees
Periodical reviews and revisions of existing rules,
procedures, and policies
Choi and Lee (2002) Type of knowledge (tacit/explicit) System – Human Integration Survey Cross-industry
Gottschalk (2005) Type of problem Stock – Flow – Growth Focus None –
Type of problem-solving method
Competitive advantage
Greiner et al. (2007) Type of knowledge (tacit/explicit) Codification – Personalisation Focus Case Cross-industry
Type of task (routine/non-routine) studies
Business strategy (innovation/efficiency)
Shackelford and Type of knowledge (tacit/explicit) Codification – Personalisation Integration Case Building material supplier
Sun (2009) Organisation level (manager/staff ) study SME
Ng et al. (2012) Type of knowledge (tacit/explicit) Codification – Personalisation Integration None –
Ravasan et al. (2013) Goal priority (innovation along with Relation – Substitution Focus Case Production company and
efficiency/efficiency along with studies technology transfer company
innovation)
Type of knowledge (tacit/explicit)
Mladkova (2014) Type of knowledge (tacit/explicit) Codification – Personalisation Focus Case University
study
Kim et al. (2014) Type of knowledge (tacit/explicit) Internal codification – External Codification, Focus Survey Cross-industry
Sources of knowledge (external/internal) Internal personalisation – External personalisation
Proposed research Type of task (routine/non-routine) Human tacit, human explicit, system tacit, system Integration Case Fashion industry
Interaction (individual/group) explicit studies
Organisational growth stage
(entrepreneurial, growth, expansion,
collaboration)
strategy
Knowledge

1477
management

Previous research in
Table I.

management strategy
knowledge
BPMJ personalisation, which are determined based on several dimensions, namely, type of task,
25,7 type of knowledge, business strategy and organisation level. Codification strategy is used if
the organisation uses efficiency strategy or cost leadership strategy, which is dominated by
explicit knowledge, whereas the personalisation strategy is used if the organisation uses the
innovation strategy or differentiation strategy, with tacit knowledge as the ultimate
resource for enhancing competitiveness.
1478 Choi and Lee (2002) focussed on the type of knowledge with a human-system strategy. In
this study, they described a strategy that is widely used in previous research, namely,
codification and personalisation, and can be used for both types of knowledge. Codification
strategy, called the system strategy in the study by Choi and Lee (2002), determined that
explicit knowledge could be achieved by doing a codification of knowledge using information
technology with an emphasis on person-to-documentation, while tacit knowledge could be
carried out by building networks through information technology such as video conference.
On the other hand, Choi and Lee (2002) referred to the personalisation strategy as the human
strategy. They found that for tacit knowledge, knowledge management can be made through
a Community of Practice (CoP) or a discussion group, with an emphasis on person-to-person
interaction, whereas explicit knowledge is achieved by writing down the details of the concept
expressed in face-to-face meetings.
Gottschalk (2005) classified the knowledge management strategy into three, namely,
stock, flow and growth strategy. The strategy selection is based on the current
business characteristics, which depend on the type of problem encountered, the type of
problem-solving method and the competitive advantage. If organisations are facing new and
complex issues, they will require a new problem-solving method anyway and if the
company’s competitive advantage is innovation, then the organisations are categorised as
an expert-driven business. To that end, the organisation advised using the growth strategy,
which is focussed on developing new knowledge and emphasised access to a network of
experts and learning environments.
Furthermore, if the organisation is facing a new problem, but it can be solved using the
existing problem-solving method, organisations are categorised as an experience-driven
business with a competitive advantage on effective adaptation of problem-solving
methodologies and techniques. In this category, the organisation should use flow strategy,
the knowledge management strategy that is focussed on collecting and storing knowledge
in an information database within the organisation with an emphasis on access to
knowledge space. If organisations face repetitive problems, by using the same problem-
solving method, they can be categorised as an efficiency-driven business, with a competitive
advantage at a low price. To that end, the organisation recommended using stock strategy,
which is focussed on collecting and storing all knowledge in an organisation database and
emphasised on the access to databases and information systems.
Other research focussed on adding two new strategies, namely, the relation strategy and
substitution strategy, as an intermediary to personalisation and codification strategy
(Ravasan et al., 2013). This is included to overcome weaknesses that occur with the
codification and personalisation strategies. Relation strategy is a knowledge management
strategy that is focussed on the relationships between individuals to be able to share and
increase innovation through the creation of new knowledge. This strategy is used if the
organisation places more priority on the creation of innovation, in line with the increased
efficiency in the creation of the innovation.
On the other hand, substitution strategy is a knowledge management strategy that is
focussed on the utilisation of information and communication infrastructure as a back-up of
knowledge possessed by the experts. This approach is used if the organisation is prioritised
on efficiency by utilising existing knowledge or new knowledge, in line with the creation of
innovation in organisations.
 Similar to some previous studies, Kim et al. (2014) also used the codification–personalisation Knowledge
strategy. However, the research focussed on the knowledge management strategy formulation management
based on the type of knowledge and sources of knowledge. To that end, the strategies used have strategy
more detail, consisting of four types of strategy, namely, the external codification, internal
codification, internal personalisation and external personalisation.

KM strategy implementation 1479

Concerning the strategy implementation, there are two research groups with a different
implementation process, i.e., focussed on one strategy or a combination of several strategies.
Several studies such as Hansen et al. (1999), Gottschalk (2005), Greiner et al. (2007), Ravasan
et al. (2013), Mladkova (2014) and Kim et al. (2014) stated that the implementation of the
knowledge management strategy should focus on one strategy, in accordance with the
dimensions that are used to identify the business characteristics in the organisation.
Supporting facilities and infrastructure needs are more easily identified and prepared if
organisations focus on one strategy.
On the other hand, there are some research studies, namely, Donoghue et al. (1999), Bhatt
(2002), Choi and Lee (2002), Shackelford and Sun (2009) and Ng et al. (2012), which state that
the knowledge management strategy application could be performed in an integrated
manner, i.e., a combination of several strategies that are appropriate to the business
characteristics, although it allows for the domination of one strategy. This integration is
used because if the dimensions of the task, type of interaction, the kind of knowledge and
organisation level allows for two or more knowledge management strategies in order to run
simultaneously. In this study, implementation of knowledge management strategy is also
carried out in an integrated manner, i.e., using a combination of human-tacit, human-explicit,
system-tacit and system-explicit methods.

Methodology
Research method
This study aims to formulate a knowledge management strategy based on organisational
growth stages and business process characteristics. Study of the previous literature shows
that similar research has not been found, so this research is an exploratory research. To that
end, the chosen research method is a qualitative method to explore the corporates
phenomenon to support this research goal. Yin (2014) explained that the case-study method
focussed on phenomena that occur at this time, do not describe the phenomena in the past,
while the historical methods focus on the past phenomenon, and do not represent the current
state. In this study, there was a need to describe a phenomenon in the past and present, to
illustrate the growth of the organisation and the business processes development. To that
end, the research was done by a historical case studies method, which is a combination of
the case-study method and the historical method.
The objects in this research were enterprises in the fashion industry which are derived
from micro scale and successfully grow through several stages of growth. In addition, it
specified a characteristic which in the three cases is using a differentiation strategy, so that
the product design and sales directly to the consumer become the competitive advantage of
these cases.
Data collection was conducted by in-depth interviews with some respondents, i.e.,
owners, managers and staff with the longest working period. The tool used was a
semi-structured interview, which consisted of two parts, namely, the identification of the
organisation growth stages as well as identifying business processes and their
characteristics. Based on the data of both parts, the knowledge management strategy
was formulated accordingly. Furthermore, the data processing was done by thematic
analysis method, while the conclusion was drawn using cross-case analysis method.
BPMJ Research model
25,7 This research was conducted in four stages, as shown in Figure 1, which are growth stage
identification, business process mapping at each growth stage, business process
characteristics identification and knowledge management strategy identification for each
growth stage. Each stage will be explained as follows.
Growth stage identification. Growth stage identification was achieved using five
1480 variables, namely, organisational goal, product–market variation, organisation structure,
top management style and major investment, based on the studies of Andriani et al. (2018).
Table II describes these five variables.
Business process mapping. Once the growth stage of the company was identified,
business processes at each growth stage were mapped. Table III describes the list of
business processes identified in this study. The business processes from Andriani et al.
(2018) have been adapted to the fashion industry.
Business process characteristics identification and knowledge management strategy
formulation. The conceptual model used in this study was adopted from Tiwana (2000).
Tiwana (2000) explains that the knowledge management strategy will be determined based
on the strategic context within an organisation, including product and services, markets,
customers, and resource allocation, which is formulated by taking into account the aspects
of the environment. Next, the knowledge management strategy will determine the needs of
knowledge management technology within organisations. In this research, model
development was performed using the point of view of organisation development, as
shown in Figure 2, where the strategic context is a dynamic concept in line with the growth

STAGE 1 STAGE 2 STAGE 3

Business Process Characteristics

Figure 1. Growth Stage Identification Business Process Mapping Identification and Knowledge
Research stages Management Strategy Identification

Characteristics Entrepreneurial Growth Expansion Collaboration

Organisation goal Survival Growth Internal stability, Reputation,

(Daft, 2004) market expansion complete
organisation
Product–market Single line and Broadened but Extended range, Contained lines,
variation (Scott and limited channels limited line, single increased markets multiple markets
Bruce, 1987; Daft, and market market, multiple and channels and channels
2004) channels
Organisation structure Informal, one Mostly informal, Formal procedures, Teamwork within
(Daft, 2004) person show some procedures division of labour, bureaucracy, small-
new specialties company thinking
added
Top management style Individualistic Directive Delegative Participative
(Greiner, 1998) and
entrepreneurial
Major investment Plant and Working capital, New operating units Maintenance of
Table II. (Scott and Bruce, 1987) equipment, extended plant plant and market
Organisational growth working capital position
stage characteristics Source: Andriani et al. (2018)
Business process
Knowledge
management
1.1 Identify business opportunities strategy
1.2 Develop vision and strategy
1.3 Formulate realisation plans of product and services
2.1 Formulate products/services specification
2.2 Evaluate products performance
2.3 Manage design data master 1481
2.4 Determine the number of design articles and product quantities
2.5 Design products
2.6 Produce samples
2.7 Test samples
3.1 Develop marketing strategy and plan
3.2 Develop sales strategy and plan
3.3 Monitor sales
3.4 Manage key customers
4.1 Plan production schedule
4.2 Select material suppliers
4.3 Select production vendors
4.4 Manage quality control Table III.
5.1 Manage customer complaints and needs List of business
5.2 Follow-up customer complaints and needs process in the fashion
Source: Adapted from Andriani et al. (2018) industry

ORGANISATIONAL LIFE CYCLE

STRATEGIC
ENVIRONMENT CONTEXT

Porter (1985)

BUSINESS
PROCESS

Bhatt (2002)

KM STRATEGY KM TECHNOLOGY

Figure 2.
Research model
Source: Adopted from Tiwana (2000)

of the organisation. For that, growth stages in the organisational life cycle were used in
determining the strategic context within the organisation.
The model development was also completed by adding the characteristics of business
processes, as a tool for outlining the strategic context to the operational level (Porter, 1985).
This modification was used to simplify the identification of knowledge needs and knowledge
management strategy, where Bhatt (2002), Corso et al. (2006) and Teng et al. (2014) concluded
BPMJ that the characteristic of the business activity is an important part in determining the
25,7 knowledge management strategy.
The development model of knowledge management strategy in this research, as shown
in Figure 3, was accomplished by adopting the model of Bhatt (2002) using two dimensions
to define the knowledge management strategy that is described in Figure 3(a), namely:
(1) Type of tasks: Greiner et al. (2007) described routine activities in the organisation,
1482 which require more explicit knowledge. Employees can use explicit knowledge
efficiently to complete routine and patterned tasks. On the other hand, non-routine
tasks require more tacit knowledge, which requires unique skills of the employees.
(2) Level of interaction: Dalkir (2005) explained that the individual knowledge in the
organisation relies on the expertise of the person as a member of the organisation,
whereas the organisational knowledge depends on the knowledge that is already
systemised. The system referred to the mechanism or tools that can be used to
standardise knowledge in the organisation. To that end, the system is not only
related to the use of information technology but also other standardisation
mechanisms such as procedures and policies. Therefore, it can be concluded that
tasks with a low level of interaction between individuals depend on the knowledge of
peoples involved in the decision-making process, while the duties with a high degree
of interaction depend on the system to standardised knowledge.

(a) (b)
Explicit Knowledge Tacit Knowledge
SE ST
Organisation Organisation • Periodic procedure • Routine meeting
System

review (discussion, video

SE ST conference)
• KM System
• Intranet network
Interaction
Interaction

• Training logbook • CoP, discussion group,

help task
Human

• Internship
HE HT
Individual Individual
ME MT
Routine Type of task Non-Routine Routine Type of Task Non-Routine

(c)
Entrepreneurial Growth Expansion Collaboration
O
SE ST
O
SE ST HE HT
Organisation Age

I
R NR
O HE HT
SE ST I
R NR

O HE HT
SE ST I
R NR
Figure 3.
Knowledge HE HT
management I
R NR
strategy model
Organisational Growth Stages
Based on the discussion, the characteristics of each cell in Figure 3(b) can be explained Knowledge
as follows: management
• Cell 1 (ME): Cell 1 is a routine task with a low level of interaction, i.e., individual or strategy
between individuals in one function. Activities in this cell required explicit
knowledge focussed on the human. To that end, the knowledge management
strategy in this cell is focussed on the employees’ empowerment, as well as
providing training-related business processes and documenting the training 1483
material to the training log-book.
• Cell 2 (MT): Cell 2 describes non-routine tasks with low interaction. In this cell, there
is a requirement for tacit knowledge focussed on the human. To that end, the
knowledge management strategy should be achieved by motivating employees with
special skills to balance the utilisation of their expertise and creativity to create new
knowledge. The mechanism used may include discussion groups and the CoP.
• Cell 3 (ST): Cell 3 describes non-routine tasks with a high level of interaction, i.e.,
involving cross-function. In this cell, the needs are focussed more on tacit knowledge
and are focussed on the system. The knowledge management strategy that should
be used in this condition is improving collaboration among employees. Mechanisms
that can be utilised is to establish regular meetings, such as meetings or discussions,
and use information technologies such as video conferencing, online communities
and the intranet to communicate.
• Cell 4 (SE): Cell 4 describes routine tasks with a high level of interaction. Knowledge
needed for this cell is focussed more on explicit knowledge of the system. In this
condition, the knowledge management strategy suggested is the formulation of rules,
policies and procedures for maintaining standard processes that are followed by a
review process of the rules, policies and procedures periodically. Furthermore, the
strategy in this cell is continued by using the codification of knowledge stored in a
database or in knowledge management systems.
The characteristics of business processes mapping and cell classification in determining the
required knowledge management strategy were done by filling in Table IV.
Furthermore, the knowledge management strategy model for each growth stage was
built, as illustrated in Figure 3(c). The difference in the characteristics of the organisational
growth stage causes changes in the characteristics of the business processes, which impact
the shift from one cell to the others (Bhatt, 2002). Therefore, formulating the knowledge
management strategy at different growth stages of the organisation is needed.

Result and discussion

Company profile of the three cases is shown in Table V. Case 1 was established in 1989,
with Moslem wear as its main product. Today the company has around 1,400 employees,
and already has subsidiaries. Case 2 is a company with main products apparel and has
about 200 employees. The company was established in 1996 and currently has several

Type of task Level of interaction

Business process Growth stage R NR I O Cell classification
Table IV.
1.1 Identify business opportunities Entrepreneurial Business process
Growth characteristics
Expansion identification and cell
Collaboration classification
BPMJ business units. Case 3 is a company that was established in 2010, with shoes as its main
25,7 product. The company currently has about 100 employees and several business units.
Based on five variables of growth stage characteristics (organisational goals,
product–market variation, top management style, organisation structure and major
investments), growth stages, characteristics of business processes and the knowledge
management strategy of the three cases were identified and are as follows.
1484
Entrepreneurial stage
This stage is the initial stage of the establishment of the organisation. Cases 1–3 have the
same goal at this stage, namely, maintaining business continuity with the creation of the
market. The main focus at this stage is to introduce a new brand that was created so that a
major investment at this stage is on marketing activities and business capital. Products
offered by these three cases are focussed on one product type, namely, clothing in Cases 1
and 2, as well as shoes in Case 3. All three cases offer its products to a known group or
community, as these were the particular market segments they were aiming for.
Table VI shows a result example of business process characteristics identification and
cell classification in Case 1. At the entrepreneurial stage, the process of identifying business
opportunities was done directly by the founder and has not been scheduled regularly;
therefore, this process was classified in HT cell. Furthermore, at the growth stage, this
process was run by the marketing division that has been formed. This process is still in
the HT cell. Entering the expansion stage, the company considered the process to be done
routinely. At the end of year, the marketing division with the directors evaluate the
performance and ability of the company as a basis in determining the business
opportunities that may be taken by the company, while in the collaboration stage, the
process is more intensive, i.e., monthly, and involves several functions, namely, marketing
division, sales division and business development division. Based on those information, the
process of identifying business opportunities at the expansion stage is classified in HE cell
and at the collaboration stage it is classified in SE cell.
Overall, at this stage, almost the entire business activity was carried out by the founder
due to limited capital to recruit employees. Thus, almost the whole business process

Year of establishment Number of employee Main product Organisation Growth stage

Case 1 1989 ±1,400 Moslem wear Subsidiary Collaboration

Table V. Case 2 1996 ±200 Apparel Business unit Expansion
Companies profile Case 3 2010 ±100 Shoes Business unit Expansion

Type of task Level of interaction Cell

Business process Growth stage R NR I O classification

1.1 Identify Entrepreneurial Unscheduled Owner HT

business Growth Unscheduled Marketing HT
opportunities division
Expansion Yearly Marketing HE
division
Table VI. Collaboration Monthly Marketing division, SE
Business process sales division,
characteristics business
identification and cell development
classification in Case 1 division
involves only one individual. From the period of the implementation process term, most of Knowledge
the business processes were still not scheduled, but there were some process-like designing management
products and monitoring of sales which were already scheduled and performed routinely. strategy
Figure 4(a) shows the details of each business process characteristics at this stage.
Based on the growth stage and business process characteristics at this stage, the
knowledge management strategy used is focussed on human, both to the explicit or tacit
knowledge, i.e., cell HT and HE. For knowledge management, tacit knowledge can be 1485
accomplished by participating in a CoP from the external company and through group
discussions with the other founders and from external sources that have the knowledge and
experience needed. For explicit knowledge, the knowledge management process can be
achieved by participating in training and by writing a training log-book.
The focus of knowledge management at this stage is on the acquisition of knowledge
needed. Acquisition of knowledge can be accomplished by utilising the owner’s network,
following the community or similar industry associations (e.g. Association of Indonesian
Fashion in the fashion industry), participating in training that was held by external parties
followed by making a note of the training results, as well as hiring particular expertise
as needed.

Growth stage
At the growth stage, all three cases already have different goals from the previous stage,
and now need to focus on growing and expanding their business. Therefore, the three
companies need to determine the market segments targeted to explore market needs, which
will be described in the products and services offered. The company has already started to
determine the core value offered based on its capabilities and targeted market segment.
Major investment in Cases 1 and 2 are in the retail infrastructure, which is built in order to
extend the market reach. However, in Case 3, the main investment at this stage is human
resources development. This difference occurs because 90 per cent of its marketing channels
is achieved using digital technology.
Entering the growth stage, the implementation of business processes is no longer
entirely dependent on the owner. With the induction of new officers, owners educate
the officers and allow them to carry out some of the business processes. In Figure 4(b), it can
be seen that there is a shifting characteristic of the business process from the previous
phase. In the previous phase, most processes are in cells HT and HE, while at this stage,
most of the processes are in cell HE and SE.
This occurs because more business processes are already scheduled and involve
several individuals from different areas in the decision-making process. Thus, several
processes such as monitoring sales, production planning and quality control, which
involve several functions, require explicit knowledge to standardise the knowledge in
performing the process.
Knowledge management focus at this stage is sharing knowledge with the newly
recruited officers, due to the increasing needs of human resources in the organisation.
Besides, the turnover rate in SMEs is quite high, so standardisation of knowledge becomes
important. Moreover, the necessary process in this stage is transforming tacit knowledge
into explicit knowledge, especially regarding the scheduled and repetitive processes.

Expansion stage
This stage is marked by a new market segment targeted by the company. In all three cases,
the expansion of the market is due to a stagnancy in sales growth. To be able to maintain
the sustainability of the organisation, the company should continue to expand its market.
For this to occur, regarding organisational structure, the company should begin to form the
business units that will eventually become a subsidiary. Also, depending on the breadth of
 25,7
BPMJ

1486

Figure 4.

knowledge
business process
characteristics and
Cross-case analysis

management strategy
(a) Entrepreneurial Stage
Case 1 CV SI PT BGI Conclusion
O SE ST O SE ST O SE ST O SE ST

HE HT HE HT HE HT HE HT
5.1 5.2 5.1 5.2 4.2 4.3 4.4
3.2 3.3 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 5.2 5.1 5.2
3.2 3.3 4.1
2.2 2.3 1.1 2.5 4.1 2.6 2.7 3.1 3.2 2.5 5.1 3.1 2.1 3.2 3.3 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4
2.6 2.7
2.4 3.3
1.2 2.4 3.1 1.1 1.2 2.2 2.5 2.2 2.3 2.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 1.1 1.2 2.5 3.1
I I I I
R NR R NR R NR R NR

(b) Growth Stage

Shafco CV SI PT BGI Conclusion
O SE ST O SE ST O SE ST O SE ST

4.1 4.4
2.2 2.6 4.1 4.1 4.4
3.1 3.2 3.3 3.1 4.4
2.1 2.4 3.3 2.4 3.1 3.3
2.4 2.7

HE HT HE HT HE HT HE HT
5.1 5.2 4.2 4.3 5.1 5.2 5.1 5.2
4.3 5.1 5.2 3.2 3.4 4.1
4.2 4.3 4.4 3.4 4.2 4.3
2.6 3.3 4.2 2.5 2.6 2.7 1.1
3.1 3.2 3.4 2.1 2.5 2.6 3.2
1.1 1.2 2.2 2.3 2.4
2.2 2.3 2.5 1.1 1.2
1.3 2.3 2.5 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.3 2.1 1.3 2.2 2.3
I I I I
R NR R NR R NR R NR

(c) Expansion Stage

Shafco CV SI PT BGI Conclusion
O SE ST O 5.2 SE ST O SE ST O SE ST
4.4 5.2 5.1 5.2
4.2 4.3 4.4 5.1
2.3 2.7 4.3 3.1 3.2 3.3 4.4 5.1 3.3 4.1 4.3 4.4
3.3 4.1
2.2 2.6 4.1 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.5 2.7 3.1 2.5 2.6 2.7 3.1
2.1 2.4 3.3 1.3 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4
HE HT HE HT HE HT HE HT
5.2 4.3
3.4 4.2 5.1 3.4 4.1 4.2 Validity =
3.1 3.2 2.5 2.4 2.6 3.2 3.2 3.4 4.2 100%
1.1 1.2
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.1 1.2 1.3
I I I I Validity =
R NR R NR R NR R NR 66,67%
scope of work and the range of the market, the necessary delegates will be needed to Knowledge
complete various business processes. management
At this stage, more business processes are in the SE cell, which have shifted from the strategy
cells of ME, as shown in Figure 4(c). Due to the large number of market segments targeted,
an increasingly complex environment composed of competitors, suppliers, vendors and
customers causes the decision-making and implementation processes to be cross-functional.
When a new market segment is targeted, the focus of knowledge management at this 1487
stage is the codification and replication of knowledge on the same activity to the new
market. For example, in the process of designing the product (2.5), at this point, it shifts from
cell HE and becomes SE. This is because the creation of a new brand aims for a different
market segment, so the designers of both brands must have a mutual understanding of the
difference in values so that the design will not be overlapping. Thus, the company devised a
written document describing the vision, tag line and the characteristic of each brand. Also in
that document, the company described the materials, colours and other design attributes
that would become the hallmark of every brand. It is reviewed each year to ensure
compliance with the company’s vision and mission.

Collaboration stage
Based on the variables that are used to identify the growth stage, only Case 1 is already in
the collaboration stage. Because of this, inferences at this stage are inconclusive. However,
Case 1 determined that the emphasis of knowledge management at this time should be
placed on sharing knowledge with partners and protecting the knowledge related to the core
business which is the organisation’s competitive advantage. This focus occurs because at
this stage, the company already imposes a form of organisation network. To that end,
standardisation knowledge with partners, such as suppliers, vendors and clients, is
important to achieve the process performance standards.
Based on the translation of knowledge management strategy at each growth stage, a
description of the characteristics of the business process and the knowledge management
strategy in the fashion industry has been displayed in Figure 5.
Based on Figure 5, it can be seen that knowledge management systems need to be
developed when the organisation entered the expansion stage. The mechanism of the
system is a mechanism to standardise the process implementation. However, not all
processes can fully rely on mechanisms. For example, in the process of designing a product,
at the expansion stage, the organisation needs to formulate a document that regulates the
product specifications for each brand, to avoid an overlap design. However, in the product

Entrepreneurial Growth Expansion Collaboration

O
SE ST
O
SE ST HE HT
Organisation Age

I
R NR
O HE HT
SE ST I
R NR

O
Figure 5.
HE HT
SE ST Knowledge
I
R NR management strategy
based on
HE HT
organisational growth
I
R NR stage in the fashion
industry
Organisational Growth Stages
BPMJ designing process itself, human creativity is still needed to generate the design ideas that
25,7 correspond to the framework that has been established by the organisation.
A knowledge management strategy based on organisational growth stage, as described
in Figure 5, is specific to the fashion industry. Research in other industries allows for
the distinction of knowledge management strategy at each growth stage. This happens
because of the characteristics of the business process in other industries may be different in
1488 the fashion industry. However, the method of formulation for the knowledge management
strategies based on organisational growth stage and business process characteristics can be
determined in other sectors. Teng et al. (2014) surveyed three large-scale enterprises in
Europe to identify the fit model between the characteristics of the activity and the
knowledge management strategy. The activity characteristics used are the task variety
and task analysability. Based on obtained research, for routine activities, tacit knowledge
should be transformed into explicit knowledge, whereas if the strategy is also applied to
non-routine activities, then the strategy will not be effective anymore.
In line with Teng et al. (2014), Corso et al. (2006) also examined the influence of activity
characteristics in the organisation against the knowledge management strategy of the
company, i.e., the service companies, public utilities, consultancy and networking. Corso
et al. (2006) concluded that the procedures, operation manuals and codification are effective
ways to manage knowledge, but only in routine situations.
The proposed model is also in line with previous research conducted by Tam and Gray
(2016), which examines the organisational learning process at every stage of organisational
growth. Tam and Gray (2016) use three stages of growth, namely, inception, high-growth and
maturity. Based on the characteristics used, the maturity stage in Tam and Gray’s research
includes the expansion stage and the collaboration stage. The learning process used includes
four levels, namely, individual, group, organisation and inter-organisation. The findings of the
study indicate that at the inception stage, learning processes in major organisations occur at
the individual level. Furthermore, at the high-growth stage, the learning process takes place at
the group level and begins to involve the organisational level. Entering the maturity stage,
some of the learning processes are at the organisational level. Learning at the inter-
organisational level occurs from the inception stage up to the maturity stage.
Align with this result, another research, which was done by Hartono et al. (2017), also reviewed
the correlation between knowledge management strategy and organisational performance, with
firm size, which is measured by the number of employees, as a moderating variable. The result
showed that large organisations using codification strategy have a higher performance rather
than organisation using personalisation strategy. But it is needs more detail research to prove
that small organisations with personalisation strategy have a higher performance.

Conclusion
Based on this study, it can be concluded that the growth stage and business process
characteristics are the variables that need to be considered in determining the knowledge
management strategy in order to increase an organisation’s sustainability. By using this
model, the company owners can determine the right strategy in managing knowledge and
identifying priorities for strategy implementation.
At the entrepreneurial stage, which is the initial stage of the organisation, the focus of the
knowledge management strategy is on people, such as following the CoP, group discussion
and training from external parties. Entering the growth stage, there is some knowledge that
should be explicit, such as knowledge in monitoring sales and in determining the production
quantity for each design article. Knowledge management strategy is no longer focussed on
the person, but rather has begun to rely on a system and other written documents.
Furthermore, at the expansion stage, the knowledge management strategy focusses on the
system, because of the increasing number of parties involved in decision making and
execution of various business processes. In this study, the organisation began developing a Knowledge
knowledge management system if the organisation was at the expansion stage. management
This research is considered an early exploration stage by using case studies to identify strategy
the knowledge management strategy for the fashion industry. Research on different
industries allows for delivering different knowledge management strategies for each growth
stage, due to the difference in the characteristics of the business processes. However, the
method of knowledge management strategy identification based on growth stages and the 1489
business process characteristics can be applied to other industries as well.
In addition, this research did not focus on the environmental factors, whereas it is
important for the organisation to understand the environmental factors that can affect it at
each growth stage. By knowing the environmental factors and their effects, organisations
will be able to anticipate changes and reduce uncertainty in its environment.
For further research, several topics can be examined in more detail to get better results,
namely, perform similar studies in other industries to get a more general model; identify
more detailed business process characteristics by using the task variety and task
analysability dimensions, to have more accurate business processes characteristics; and
identify environmental factors and their effects at each stage of growth and determine what
technology is needed for the knowledge management strategy used.

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Corresponding author
Made Andriani can be contacted at: mdandriani@mail.ti.itb.ac.id

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