University Dortmund

The submitted paper covers two topics which are essential for SMEs and their competitive-ness: management control and knowledge management. On the basis of an empirical survey among producing SMEs in Central-Germany the authors investigated knowledge deficits concerning the domain of management control. German SMEs show numerous weaknesses especially when it comes to prediction-oriented instruments of management control, e.g. SWOT-, Scenario-Analysis or dynamic investment procedures. The authors developed a suitable computer-aided learning tool to overcome these knowledge deficits and designed a knowledge management concept to collectivize individually learned knowledge. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The authors understand knowledge management as a concept of control in which an enter-prise generates relevant knowledge collectively in order to be able to call it up individually when decisions have to be made. On this basis a scientific approach to knowledge manage-ment in SMEs is started by investigating empirically. The knowledge management case focuses on the domain of management control and its employment in SMEs. The following questions are in the starting line: Which knowledge about management control is relevant fo