Customer knowledge management (CKM): Customers as external knowledge assets in small-to-medium-sized software enterprises (SMEs)

SMEs operating in high-tech sectors are typically reliant on specialist knowledge to help them build the right product with the objective of meeting customer needs. The nature of niche software markets means that products must be closely informed by customer requirements for the software product to be a success. The importance of understanding how smaller organisations manage knowledge has become vital to their success; however, there remains a dearth of empirical research in SMEs in the area of IS research. Using a qualitative analysis approach in five Irish software SMEs, this chapter identifies how this type of organisation leverages their customers as external knowledge resources, with particular emphasis on knowledge acquisition, a Knowledge Activity (KA) in which customers play a significant part. Through the establishment of KAs a firm can develop an approach to Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) to build value-creating relationships with a reliable customer base.