An exploratory study on the knowledge management process, tools, and technologies in the context of small restaurant businesses in Thailand

Abstract

In Thailand, entrepreneurs can easily open a restaurant, although they often lack the necessary business management knowledge and experience, resulting in failure. As a consequence of the current situation and existing problems, restaurant business entrepreneurs require appropriate and specific knowledge management (KM). There are many existing research studies on KM, but these are not appropriate in the context of small restaurant business entrepreneurs. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are 1) to describe the current situation of the KM process in general; and 2) to study the current KM tools and technologies available to small restaurant entrepreneurs in Thailand. This study uses the qualitative approach by conducting in-depth interviews with nine small business entrepreneurs well-diversified by demographics in terms of age, and number of years' experience in the restaurant business. The researchers have chosen content analysis to analyse the interview transcripts. The results from the exploratory study indicate some interesting findings as evidenced by four main KM processes. The results also show that entrepreneurs of small restaurants lack the appropriate KM tools and technologies for each KM activity. Moreover, the appropriate use of offline and online KM tools can be essential for facilitating KM.