Knowledge Management Practices in the Indian Steel Industry (A Comprehensive Analysis of Public Sector Units)

Abstract

Knowledge is recognised as a strategic resource and companies have started managing organisational knowledge to gain sustainable competitive advantage. Considerable efforts and investments have been made by organisations on knowledge management (KM) initiatives to achieve business excellence. The objective of KM is to create, store, extract, disseminate and make the requisite knowledge available for intelligent business-related decision-making. Extensive literature promoting KM exists, which focuses on KM factors in isolation. Empirical studies showing the interconnection between KM factors and organisational outcomes are still rare. This paper is the result of industry-specific empirical research conducted in India. Public sector units are dominant in the Indian steel sector, led by the Steel Authority of India (SAIL), which operates five integrated steel plants, and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RNIL) operating one plant. Respondents have been selected from the Bhilai Steel Plant, a unit of SAIL and Vizag Steel Plant, the only unit of RNIL. Both units are almost contemporary in introducing KM initiatives in their organisations, circa 2002. The paper proposes a research model of KM comprising of different KM factors (enablers, processes, practices and organisational outcomes) identified from the extant literature. These are hypothesised to impact organisational performance and creativity of the firm. Hypotheses have then been tested with structural equation modelling (SEM) by using a survey. Findings of this study reveal that some KM factors have a significant impact on organisational performance and organisational creativity.