PRÁTICAS DA GESTÃO DO CONHECIMENTO PARA O CRESCIMENTO E COMPETITVIDADE DAS PEQUENAS EMPRESAS

Abstract

The small companies have significant importance in the country's economy and development. However, they present high mortality rate in the first five years of existence. Hence, in order to survive this critical period, these organizations need to develop skills to overcome new challenges in highly competitive and dynamic markets. Therefore, according to the specialized literature, in the search for the creation and maintenance of a sustainable competitive advantage, the small companies need to look beyond their products and services, and integrate into their routines new sources of knowledge. In view of the above, the objective of this work is to diagnose the knowledge management practices that can contribute to the competitiveness and development of small companies in the city of Imperatriz - MA. It is an exploratory and descriptive study, with a qualitative approach and based in the focal group technique. Thus, using as data collection tool the methodology of diagnosis, Growth Radar, and the concepts of dynamic capacities and knowledge management, it sought to know which knowledge management practices are used by the small companies in the city of Imperatriz – MA which survived the first five years of existence, to recognize opportunities, growth planning and implementation of recognized opportunities, as well as to the growth management. The result of this work showed that the companies which participated in the survey satisfactorily recognize the opportunities, but they have difficulties in planning the growth according to the recognized opportunities, as well as in implementing, in the organization, these opportunities, despite managing, with aplomb, the growth of the business. In this way, the main contribution of this work is to present how the small companies in the city of Imperatriz – MA, which survived the first five years of existence, embody in their routines the practices of knowledge management, as well as presenting what is the impact that these practices perform in the maintenance of the competitive advantage of these companies.