How does Knowledge Management Increase Profits of a Company? (Research Proposal Sample)

A Research Proposal
How does Knowledge Management increase profits of a company?
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Contents
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Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc295362397 \h
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Background of the study  PAGEREF _Toc295362398 \h
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Statement of the problem  PAGEREF _Toc295362399 \h
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Research objectives  PAGEREF _Toc295362400 \h
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Significance of the study  PAGEREF _Toc295362401 \h
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Literature Review  PAGEREF _Toc295362402 \h
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Methodology  PAGEREF _Toc295362403 \h
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Research design  PAGEREF _Toc295362404 \h
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Conceptual model  PAGEREF _Toc295362405 \h
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Sample size design  PAGEREF _Toc295362406 \h
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Data Collection  PAGEREF _Toc295362407 \h
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Data analysis  PAGEREF _Toc295362408 \h
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Limitations of the study  PAGEREF _Toc295362409 \h
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Ethical considerations  PAGEREF _Toc295362410 \h
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Time scale  PAGEREF _Toc295362411 \h
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Reference List  PAGEREF _Toc295362412 \h
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Introduction
Knowledge is integral in enhancing success and profitability of companies in the world markets with regard to ensuing competitive market and dynamic economic trends that is facing many countries. Knowledge is power and many firms are acknowledging the fact that leveraging the internal knowledge is pertinent to gain the edge over the looming competition. It is a growing trend that implementation of knowledge management system is integral and basic in success ( HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Bontis" \o "Nick Bontis" Bontis and Chun 2002, p.167). There is necessity to have formal management system of this intellectual capital, which is a fundamental process in business.
Background of the study
Manufacturing companies are the ideal focus for conducting this study. This is because the aspect of management and investment of intellectual capital occurring in businesses and companies. The study intends to find the insights in the profitability of manufacturing companies based on effective knowledge management practices. The firms or companies are essential places that entail daily functions and utilization of knowledge thus calls for further study to be undertaken
Statement of the problem
Improper management of the human capital may reduce the profitability of a company. Knowledge is indispensable in increasing profitability and surviving competition of companies in the market. However, internal company knowledge is crucial and fundamental basis for the success of the company (Andrus 2005, p.27). In essence, companies may have adequate knowledge to utilize but because of unsound management and harnessing this knowledge hinders the maximization of profits. Firms have the potential to realize the desired profits but due to poor management, there is a reduced profitability volume.
Research objectives
The study intends to find out how knowledge management improves profitability of the company. This is critical because after the study is completed the results are disseminated. It will trigger positive change and boost profitability hence economic development.
To find out the ideal knowledge and skills required and considered critical to profit and success of companies. This may include the ideal skills of the management like the human resource managers that are important in implementing proper knowledge management.
To provide insightful consideration on the best practices applicable to different levels of knowledge and skills in knowledge management. This gives the perception and close attention to pertinent knowledge and intellectual sectors that are crucial to success.
To understand the importance of proper knowledge management on economic challenges and competition in market share.
Significance of the study
The study is essential in enhancing the survival and competition among companies. The perceived competition will influence the proper use of internal knowledge of the company to provide quality goods and services. This promotes full use and exploitation of the knowledge because of the anticipated specialization in proper knowledge management. It is also critical in that there will be identification of knowledge gaps and shortcomings that require improvement or replacement. Through this study, it will be beneficial in that the needs on certain expertise will be identified. There will be ease of management because of specialization based on knowledge management hence clear channels of duties and responsibilities within departments and entire company. This is because of proper use of ideal knowledge in the ideal lines of duties. However, the improved quality derived from proper knowledge management is pertinent in enhancing competitiveness of a company in the market. When proper knowledge management is enhanced and profits realized there is broad basis of expanding the company beyond the scope of geographical operation (Ferguson 2005, p.46). Specialization also creates an aspect of diversification, which is indispensable in the survival of the company during all economic changes.
Literature Review
Creating a system of knowledge management is beneficial to companies because of the fact that knowledge is critical to business operations and strategies. This is often called corporate knowledge, which is any information relevant to the daily operations of a company (Addicott, McGivern and Ferlie 2006, p.87). The corporate knowledge can be found in management documents, company databases, and history files or even inside the minds of employees (Guba and Lincoln 2004, p.94). The knowledge in company employees is valuable if managed properly. In ideal situations, varied pieces of corporate knowledge is dispersed or scattered throughout the company in forms of unconnected databases (Katsicas 2009, p.605). The attempt to bringing these disparate and essential resources together creates the knowledge management systems. This is designed to collect, organize, and process corporate knowledge and skills to profitable or organized forms for company employees. The issue of knowledge management systems has been mostly used as a new Information Technology buzz phrase, but companies and businesses have been keen on knowledge for decades (Guba and Lincoln 2004, p.91). The corporate knowledge can be found by records kept in company databases or ledger books in individual departments or as a collection of whole information in the management of a company.The business processes improvement company serve production, manufacturing, and distribution enterprises (Baskerville 2001, p.78). These processes require continued innovations that can only be provided by a rich knowledge database of the company. Manufacturing companies have been using form of knowledge management related to its products (Freshwater, Sherwood, and Drury 2006, p.295).
The ideal method of maintaining accurate and up-to-date corporate knowledge is through the Engineering Change Order system commonly known as ECO. Many companies, to maintain information about products and manufacturing processes use it (Wright 2005, p.156). This helps in identifying the expertise within the companies and extra expertise needed thus bridging the gaps. Through this system, efficiency in knowledge management is realized (Andriessen 2004, p.393). Through the past decade, more than two-thirds of valuable benefits come from knowledge management initiatives that are building from programs focusing on proper use and sharing existing knowledge (Wright 2005, p.163).
There is an internal motivational benefit of this system in that every employee in a company has an access to corporate knowledge. This is essential in delineating roles and enhancing specialization in productivity. In addition, other benefits include using knowledge management systems to turn intangible corporate knowledge to actual business assets and subsequent productivity with eventual profits. For instance, a system can capture how a manufacturing company addresses a problem and package the solution process to a comprehensive document (Baskerville 2001, p.76). A different company can buy or license the document to address the same problems thus creating a revenue source for the first company. The research questions will be presented and seek answers to these questions: How does proper knowledge management improve profitability of the company and success of the company? What are the ideal skills and knowledge required and considered critical to profit, and success of companies? What are the considerations on practices applicable to different levels of knowledge and skills in knowledge management? In addition, what is the importance of proper knowledge management on economic challenges and competition in market share?
Methodology
Research design
The study is intended to take the approach and methodology of quantitative research design, which is a functional design in data analysis. This is because the attributes of the study are collected and analyzed in numerical terms. It is an ideal method because profitability and information databases are structured in numerical characters. This study attempts to establish the association and causality of the two variables thus essential for this study.
Conceptual model<...