KM capability for software development: a case study of the Indian software firms

Abstract

Organisational knowledge management (KM) capability is developed to allow companies to share, create and disseminate their organisational knowledge resources. The paradigm shift from traditional business to information communication technology (ICT) enabled business, brought fundamental changes in business environment. Rapidly changing technology is a key feature of software industry and it may be easier for organisations to manage these changes if they develop their KM capability. However, this is not easy since most organisations in the Indian software industry compete for the same customers with knowledge worker from the same pool. In this paper, a generic model of a KM capability is proposed. This framework is used to analyse the KM capability in Indian software firms. The case study illustrates and highlights the benefits and advantages of establishing a KM capability. The results from the case study showed that KM capability is an imperative for software development. The study also suggests few recommendations that may be used to guide the development of KM capability elsewhere. This study's limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.