Entrepreneurial Businesses In The Past- And Post-Millennial Knowledge Management Eras: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The paper is a comparative study of the entrepreneurial phenomenon in the eighties versus entrepreneurialism in the post-millennial knowledge management era. For this reason, it first concentrates on the historic evolution of the entrepreneurial phenomenon of the eighties and then, by shifting away to more practical issues on small business studies, the paper examines a number of personal, sociological, and environmental factors that have influenced small businesses. Ending the retrospective analysis of the eighties, the paper examines a number of questions that were then considered as the reference points in small business studies and juxtapose the influence they have had in the post-millennium era.

Approaching the issue from a knowledge management perspective, the paper investigates ways by which small businesses can be assisted to adapt to today’s knowledge economy. It takes a speculative look into questions like: “How should innovative entrepreneurs use knowledge?”; “Should they be capable of using knowledge management at strategic, tactical or operational level?” or “Could knowledge management instruments per se assist them to acquire, develop and share knowledge?” Upon answering these questions, the paper proposes a knowledge organisation philosophy which may affect the way in which innovative small businesses work in today’s global economy.