Ranking the barriers of knowledge management adoption in supply chain using fuzzy AHP method

Abstract

Supply chain (SC) needs to develop knowledge to gain competitive advantage. However, mere possession of knowledge does not guarantee an edge in competition. Knowledge management (KM) plays an important role in SC to create, build, maintain and utilise knowledge to achieve competitive advantage. The aim of this paper is to identify and prioritise the barriers of KM adoption in SC. It helps organisations to concentrate on high rank barriers and develop strategies to tackle them on priority. To do so, fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method is proposed in this paper. Also empirical study presented to illustrate the proposed method and demonstrate its usefulness. A total of 28 barriers were identified through literature review and expert’s opinion. These barriers were categorised into five major criteria. The result of the study indicates that ‘lack of top management commitment’, ‘KM not integrated in business processes’ and ‘lack of proper organisational structure to create and share knowledge’ are the three most important barriers of KM adoption in SC. The case organisation should overcome these barriers with higher priority for effective KM adoption in SC.