KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

This work examined knowledge management systems and organizational competitiveness of manufacturing firms in Rivers State. The study adopted exploratory survey research design. The population of this study consist five hundred and fifty (550) staff in the selected twenty-two (22) Manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The population of this study stated above was adopted the work of Opara (2018) whose population data was from Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria, Rivers State Chapter, Port Harcourt. The study adopted the taro yamen sampling formula  to arrive at a size of 232 top and middle level management staff. After validation by one expert in Office and Information Management and two experts in Measurement and Evaluation, a structured questionnaire titled “Knowledge Management Practices and Organizational Competitiveness Questionnaire” (KMPOCQ) was used as instrument for the collection of primary data. The instrument was constructed using a 4 point likert scale of Very Great Extent (VGE) 4; Great Extent (GE) 3; Moderate Extent (ME) 2; and Low Extent (LE) 1. Crombach alpha was used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument with the least Crombach alpha coefficient at 0.74. Out of 232 copies of the questionnaire distributed, 181 copies were retrieved. The test of hypotheses was done using Correlational Spearman Rank Order Correlation. Based on the analyses of data, the following findings were made: corporate intranet has a significant positive impact on the market share of manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt; corporate intranet has a significant positive impact on the profitability of manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt. The study concluded that innovative knowledge management systems usage enhances the organizational competitiveness of manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt in terms of market share, profitability, and strong brand reputation. The study recommended among other things that manufacturing firms should procure or upgrade their internal electronic communication infrastructures to promote easy sharing and access to relevant information and knowledge across departments and workers.