KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND THE ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY OF SMALL BUSINESSES: A QUALITATIVE CASE STUDY

The presentation shares the results of in-depth interviews on how 11 business owners utilize knowledge processes with social media for competitive advantage and organizational sustainability. The goal was to understand how organizational leaders link the practice of strategy formulation and knowledge processes with social media to advance the organization’s, competitive position. The first finding was that organizational leaders performed research by filtering and validating, and experience. The second, engaging in communications aided in leaders’ knowledge processes. The third, performing revenue-generating activities such as having more than one social media account and utilizing various technology tools for generating leads. Organizational leaders believed having a social media presence on the Internet either through a Facebook account, a website, or both was a necessary and a crucial factor for their organizational success. Researching techniques through various methods, as well as, absorbing that information quickly, helped leaders grow in their field of expertise and improve their organization\u27s performance. Eight out of eleven leaders were intentionally using social media to identify and leverage data and acquired knowledge to meet their business objectives. Engaging in social media is vital to their competitive posture. Having a structured social media content program leveraged knowledge for increased organizational performance