JournalofInformationTechnologyandApplicationinEducationVol.3Iss.2,June2014www.jitae.

org
doi:10.14355/jitae.2014.0302.04

UsingStrategicLearningforAchieving
GrowthinSMEs
IleanaHamburg*1,EmmaOBrien*2
IAT,WHGelsenkirchen,Germany

*1

Univ.ofLimerick,Limerick,Ireland

*2

hamburg@iat.eu;*2emma.obrien@ul.ie

*1

Received28December2013;Accepted14January2014;Published27May2014
2014ScienceandEngineeringPublishingCompany

Abstract

significantforthem.

It is important that small and medium sized companies

(SMEs)survive/remainsuccessfulandachievegrowbutthey
shouldfindnew,innovativewaysofdoingbusinesstoallow
them to access new markets. Often they have limited
resources,managersdonothavetimetolearnnewskillsbut
theindustryinwhichtheyoperatehasmovedon.Theuseof
new technologies for business and learning requires costs
andotherresourceswhichareoftenmissing.

However,resultsofstudiesshowthatlessthan25%of
SMEs staff participates in vocational training courses
and less than 60% of employers provide any type of
trainingfortheirstaff(www.oecdlibrary.org).

This paper will examine the use of Elearning and social

approachestolearningsuchasCommunitiesofPractice,So
cial media and mentoring in managerial learning at a stra
tegiclevel.Finallysomeexamplesofongoingdevelopments
in European projects that the authors have worked on are
given.
Keywords
SmallandMediumsizedEnterprises(SMEs);ELearning;CoP;
Mentoring

Introduction
SMEsrepresentabout99%oftheEuropeancompanies
andthenumberhasdramaticallyincreasedasaresult
of the expansion of EU. It is important to remain
successful, and SMEs should find new, innovative
ways of doing business to allow them to access new
markets. It is essential that they cut costs by
streamlining operations to allow them operate on a
global scale (ECORYS 2012). A crucial success factor
forthemistofillexistingknowledgegapsandexpand
the competences of their human resources. It is even
more important for SMEs to do this than larger
companies,aslargercompanieshavemorestaffandas
aresultabiggerpoolofskills,whichcanbedifficultto
competewith.WithinanSME,managersareexpected
to take on several roles, thus training is even more

ItisassumedthatmanagersofSMEsimmediatelyre
cognisetheproblemofaddressingcontinuoustraining
needsoftheirstaffandthepotentialroleofeLearning
and other forms like social and mobile learning in
meeting these needs (Ileana Hamburg etal. 2013).
However,managersinSMEsareoftenconcernedwith
the daily running of the business and survival rather
thanthestrategicneedsofthecompany.
Strategicknowledgeiskeytogrowthandthussustain
ing the competitive advantage of an organisation.
Strategic knowledge is the know how management
use when making key decisions about a companys
futuredirection.Strategicknowledgehastobespecific
andtothepointandmaycomefromawiderangeof
externalsourcesasoftenacompanysfuturedepends
on the market they operate in and events that take
place within the industry. These events are often
hinging on external parties such as competitors,
politicians, customers, suppliers and occurrences
beyond the companies control such as natural
disasters, economic stability and political and human
issues.In2004,GeorgeGrunewaldstatedthatstrategic
knowledge is a fusion of problem orientated and
actionguidedknowledgeinwhichsocietallearningis
a pre requisite. However, managers do not have the
luxuryoftakingtimeouttolearnnewskillsandoften
iftheydonottakethistime,theskillswillbeobsolete
andtheindustryinwhichtheyoperatehasmovedon.
There are several tools for strategic planning, namely

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www.jitae.orgJournalofInformationTechnologyandApplicationinEducationVol.3Iss.2,June2014

Thus, the social learning in small pieces is key to

develop strategic learning in managers. The next
section will investigate the use of elearning, social
learningandsocialmediainSMEsinthiscontext.

PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, porters value chain

and other such tools (Phillip Kotler 1998; Michael
Porter 1985). However, these tools do not allow
managers acquire the learning that they need at a
strategicleveltomakethecorrectdecisions.Alsothese
approaches do not enable managers to remain up to
date of events that may impact on the industry in
which they operate on that often occur on a regular
basis. (George von Krogh etal. 2001). In 2002, John
Boudreaux emphasised the importance of the
knowledge about the network in acquiring strategic
learningandthe need formanagers tolearnfrom the
best and also from their own past experiences and
errors(RethaSnymanetal.2004)

E-Learning, Social Media and Social

Learning in SMEs
Changing economic environments continue to pose
severechallengestoSMEs.Moreandmoretheyneed
to have sustainable, innovative business strategies
supported by flexible learning approaches and new
technologies in place. But acceptance and ability to
implement this are still very much absent in wide
circlesofSMEmanagement.

This paper will examine the use of elearning and

socialapproachestolearningsuchasCommunitiesof
Practice, Social media and mentoring in managerial
learning at a strategic level. These approaches allow
managers to develop up to date skills and external
knowledgefromotherexpertsinsmallchunkedpieces.
Finally, we will give some examples of ongoing
developments in European projects that the authors
haveworkedon.

ELearningthroughitsflexibilityandeaseofaccessis
seen as an enabler of lifelong learning with its
potentialtotransformhowandwhenemployeeslearn,
andasacatalystofchangeandintegration.ELearning
supports very well flexible and informal types of
learning, which are typically preferred by SMEs.
However,traininganddevelopment/usingnewforms
of elearning are still largely regarded as an expense
rather than an investment by SMEs managers. Some
barriers to training and eLearning have been
identified:

Acquiring Strategic Skills in SMEs

Itisestimatedthatmanagersspend25%oftheirtime
seeking knowledge. When managers are required to
make decisions quickly, time constraints are a major
issue and often skills and knowledge need to be
acquired immediately. Strategic knowledge comes
fromawiderangeofinternalandexternalsourcesand
mustbespecificandtothepoint.RethaSnymanetal.
(2004) emphasised that for companies to succeed at a
strategicleveltheyneedtobecomelearningorganisa
tionsandcompeteusinglearningstrategies.Hespeci
fiedthatcompaniesneedtolearnfasterthanthecom
petitionratherthantooutwitthem.

Lackofdeepanalysistoidentifyskillshortageand
learning needs of staff to achieve business
objectives;

JuanBouLlusaretal.(2006)highlightedthatinorder
forstrategicknowledgeandlearningtobecomeacom
petitiveadvantage,itmustbedifficulttoimitate,sub
stitute, cannot be mobile and have durability. Thus it
must be tacit, complex, specific and systemic. How
evertheseconditionsarenotfavourabletodisseminat
ing within the organisation. He emphasised the need
to increase communication processes in order to re
ducethesebarriers.Sociallearningisaprimemethod
ofsharingtacitknowledgeandfacilitatingsociallearn
ing. In addition, Manyola Kavakli (2003) investigated
theuseofchunkinginstrategicknowledgeandfound
that experts processed information in smaller pieces.

Lackofknowledgeorunderstandingofpoliciesof
communication and cooperation in research and
production;

78

Existinglearningculture;
Lackofmanagerknowledgeoftheeffectivenessof
newformsoflearning;
Insufficient financial possibilities to develop/train
fornewformsoflearningandtechnologies;
Lack of attractive training offers supporting
specificbusinessneeds;

Inefficient use of new methods and technologies

for sharing and creating knowledge and for
development(updating)ofinnovativeskills.
New opportunities for SMEs are opened up by the
concept of Web 2.0 (Tim O`Reilly 2005), which facili
tates a new level of interaction, information sharing
and collaboration. The use of social media, such as
blogging, social networks, web services, and new
generation eLearning related to these, further im

JournalofInformationTechnologyandApplicationinEducationVol.3Iss.2,June2014www.jitae.org

proves the ability of learners to socially interact with

thetechnologyused(communicationwithtechnology)
andlearningthroughitsuse.

workplace learning. (Catherine Monaghan 2011) In

additionCoPshavebeensuccessfulusedincompanies
suchasUnilevertocreatenewskillsandknowledgein
emerging areas within organisations with the main
objective to strike the balance between existing and
new knowledge (George von Krogh etal. 2001).
UnileveruseCoPsonfourdifferentlevels;toleverage
existing knowledge, expand on this, acquire new
external knowledge and evaluate its applicability to
thecompany.

Social media supports social learning; it allows em

ployees to learn by connecting with each other in a
wider circle than would be possible without techno
logy. Social learning (Albert Bandura 1977) means
learning by observing, conversing, asking in formal
and informal forms. It facilitates collaboration, and
communitybuilding within and across organizations.
These conditions make it favourable to acquire
strategicknowledge.

Furthermoreinterestingresearchhasbeencarriedout
in the field of organisational learning, in attempts to
explain how personal knowledge and skills become
shared in communities of practice or organisations,
and how new knowledge is developed (Georg von
Kroghetal.2001)

Social media based on Web 2.0 and 3.0 (Ileana

HamburgandEmmaOBrien2013)offerthepremises
for a fast acquisition of external knowledge and sup
portandfacilitatesociallearningwithinthecommuni
ties.Thetechnicalskillsneededtousesocialmediaare
ratherlow.

Thus, CoPs can be successfully used to acquire up to

date external knowledge from outside expertise. In
addition, with the widespread adoption of internet
and building of online communities, multiple
individuals across several time zones can benefit as
well allowing SMEs to acquire expertise on a global
scale.

TABLE1SOCIALLEARNING
SOURCE:(CLAUDIADEWITT,IAT)

Sociallearning

Characteristics

Participation;collaboration;
usergeneratedcontent

Didactic
potentials

Learninginsocialnetworksand
communities;informallearning;
collaborativelearning

Limitations

Traditionalcorporatecultures

Applications

Microblogging;socialnetworking;
socialtagging;wikis

Exchangescanbecapturedandreused.

Technologies

Communityplatforms;
microbloggingtools

Online CoPs allow more than just chat and online

forums. Today collaboration applications provide a
variety of tools that enable management and tagging
of documents, building of individual profiles, and
online ratings along with discussion boards and chat
functionality.

Two characteristics of online COPs are the following

(BrandonDean,2011):
Group members can access the information
wherever,whenever;

Communities of Practice (CoPs)

CoPs have a long history but recently formalized
methods guide the activities of these groups. CoPs
have benefits for the companies helping them beable
toeffectivelyandefficientlycompletetheirdailytasks,
because employees often seek knowledge and advice
from individuals or teams who have rather than
spendingalotoftimesearchingforthisinformationin
explicitform.

Some features of CoPs can be classified as following

(http://www.academia.edu/4499121/201105Creating_S
uccessful_Online_Communities_of_Practice):
Networking;
Seekingadviceandrequestinginformation;

A growing number of associations are seeking such

ways to focus on learning through reflection on
practice and knowledge achieving because they need
to offer highvalue learning activities, but SMEs still
hesitatetouseCoPs.

Seekingexpertadvice;

Forexample,CoPshavebeenwidelyusedinmanage
ment education to combine academic theory with

SomeadvantagesofonlineCoPsarethefollowing:

Creating knowledge repositories by capturing

tacitmknowledge;
Problemsolving.

Saves time: The information is structured and

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www.jitae.orgJournalofInformationTechnologyandApplicationinEducationVol.3Iss.2,June2014

Privatecloudshaveattractedcriticismbecause
usersstillhavetobuy,buildandmanagethem;

tagged in such a way as to allow members to

quickly search documents, links, and posts to
answertheirquestions;

2)PublicCloud

Reducesrework:Bysharingknowledgeinapublic
setting, content is reused without having to be
recreated;

AcloudiscalledaPubliccloudwhenthe
servicesarerenderedoveranetwork;
Thatisopenforpublicuse;

Due to the use of flexitime or telecommuting,

members can experience the benefits of their CoP
whenevertheneedarises,regardlessofthedayor
night;

Technicallylittleornodifferencebetween
publicandprivatecloudarchitecture,but
securityconsiderationmaybesubstantially
different;

Shortenslearningcurvefornewemployees:When
an organization takes the time to collect resources
in a single location, new employee induction time
isreduced;

Theusersdonothavetomanagethecloud
service.

Motivatesmembers.

Thehybridcloudisacompositionofapublic
andprivatecloud;

3)HybridCloud

ExperiencewithsomeCoPsshowssomecriticalstart
points:

Sensitiveapplicationsarehandledinaninternal
privatecloudwhileothersarepracticed;

Tohaveanengagingbusinessobjectivesothatthe
CoP has something concrete and is strategically
focused;

Inapubliccloud;
Aprimaryadvantageofahybridcloudmodelis
thatanorganizationonlypays;

To be clear about the nature: spontaneous or an

organizedCoP;
Carefully select
champions;

CoP

leaders,

Forextracomputeresourceswhentheyare
needed.

facilitators,

Topmanagementsupport.

The Cloud services can be divided into the three

specificlevelsofITservicesofferedtotheusers:

(www.linkedin.com/pub/frednicklas/0/357/199).

InfrastructureasaService(IaaS)
PlatformasaService(PaaS)

Itisimportantthatpotentialparticipantsareconfident
ofusing/participatinginCoP.Thereforesocialtraining
should be done by using a social platform, use
learningbydoing,bycollaboratingwithothertrainees.

SoftwareasaService(SaaS)
By using cloud computing in training, powerful
software and massive computing resources can be
usedwhereandwhentheyareneeded.

Cloud

Large companies are streamlining their services to

exploitthefullpotentialofthecloud.SMEshaveto
learn more about the cloud and should be
encouragedtousecloudservices.

Cloud computing describes computing concepts that

involves a large number of computers connected
through a network (Wikipedia). Some characteristics
are:

But before transforming a Learning system to the

cloud, the required services should be determined
and a service catalogue (list of services you will
provide to learners) should be developed. In
addition the parameters needed from service
provider should be identified. Recent research
papers categorize the cloud services as following
(AbuElAlaetal.2012):

Centralizedapplicationhostingordistribution
Securityandconfidentiality
Interoperability
1)PrivateCloud
Privatecloudiscloudinfrastructureoperated
solelyforasingleorganization;

ITServices;

Itismanagedinternallyorbyathirdpartyand
hostedinternallyorexternally;
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UserServices.

JournalofInformationTechnologyandApplicationinEducationVol.3Iss.2,June2014www.jitae.org

Mentoring

strongly focused, principled and able to develop em

pathy from the perspective of others. Social compe
tencesareofkeyimportanceformentors(particularly
showing interest, motivation, and awareness, verbal
and nonverbal communication, aptitude, and
empathy and engagement skills). The mentor should
beabletosolveconflicts.

Inaddition,theuseoftechnology,mentoringcanfaci
litate mentoring of managers in strategic skills. Men
toringisahumanresearchdevelopmentapproachand
avitalaspectofknowledgemanagementwhichneeds
to be looked by all organisations wishing to improve
their performance (Kathy Kram 1985). An existing
memberofstafforanexternalcollaboratorguidesless
experienced people in a task to develop professional
skills, attitudes and competencies. Also, people with
specialneedscanbehelpedbymentoringtointegrate
intoworklife.Recently,mentoringhasbeenprovenas
an efficient way to develop more productive workers
and so the approach has been adopted by many
organizations.

Mentors need skills that enable people to communi

cateverballyeffectivelywithoneandanother.Basicto
all communication is active listening and overcoming
barriers to communication. The mentor and the
mentee give feedback regarding his/her work and
effectiveness. A mentor should encourage reflective
practice to enable the mentee to learn from his/her
ownexperience
Anymentormustalsohaveprofessionalcompetencies.
A mentor should understand the principles of equal
opportunity and demonstrate best practice. Mentors
must also be able to develop own and the mentees
knowledge and practice across professional and
organizational boundaries. In Europe and elsewhere,
due to internationalization, intercultural competence
in social and employment settings has become more
and more essential. Intercultural competences of
mentors could be used for organizing learning
sequences within cultural events with the active
participation of people particularly with learning and
communicationdifficulties.

Mentoringcanbeimplementedformallyandinformal
ly. Informalmentoringiscreated by aspecialinterest
in the mentee by the mentor, for example, when the
menteehasbeenidentifiedaspotentialemployee.This
form of mentoring is particularly suitable for people
withspecialneeds.
Formalmentoringissupportedbytheorganizationin
a system ofmentoring,from which more participants
can benefit. Formal mentoring programs as a well
established way to retain and transfer knowledge
(http://www.knowledgemanagementtools.net/
mentoring.html). Companies should therefore con
sider implementing formal mentoring relationships
and mentor training as an investment in the future
knowledgestockoftheorganization.

Case Studies
One of the European projects was NetKnowing 2.0
aimed at improving learning in SMEs through
cooperationandnetworking.WithinthisprojectaCoP
has been developed, supported by a social platform.
(http://cop.netknowing.eu).TikiWikiCMSGroupware
has been used which supports Web 2.0 and social
media applications. The decision to use TikiWiki was
takenafterananalysisofsomeopensourcetools.

The goal of mentoring staff from SMEs is to improve

job performance by increasing employees capability
tomanagetheirownperformance,emphasizingtrust,
experience, and supervision, to facilitate performance
in the organization, to support retention and leader
shipdevelopment.
According to organizations practicing mentoring, so
cialmediaareusefulforcommunicationwithmentors.
Social media webplatforms support social learning;
forums,blogs,virtualmarketplaces,extendtraditional
facetoface mentoring by allowing mentoring to take
placeoverdistanceandindifferenttimeperiods.This
approach supports also formal mentoring processes,
which are more accepted by organizations, because
they see direct benefits and more mentees are men
toredsimultaneously.

By using the social platform, the CoP users can get

informationabouttheprojectaboutweb2.0,socialand
informallearning.IftheyregisterintheCoP,theycan
use Community services like Discussion forum, File
Gallery and particularly the Community Directory
withaddresses,competencesandinterestsofcommu
nitymembers.WithintheprojectNetKnowing2.0dis
cussions have been organised including SME mana
gers to discuss advantages of a mentoring program
andwaystoorganisementoringprocesses.Onepossi
ble approach is that experienced at the Virtual Aca
demy Brandenburg. The coaches and mentors are

Inadditiontoacorrespondingvocationalqualification
and field experience, the mentor should have special
competences. Mentors need to be social competent,

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www.jitae.orgJournalofInformationTechnologyandApplicationinEducationVol.3Iss.2,June2014

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

externalpeoplewhosupportthesustainabledevelop
ment and advancement of strategic competences of
SMEs through informal and organizational learning.
Potentiallearning consultants can be trained to actas
mentors. Other companies involved decided to use a
mentor fromthe company fora mentee with disabili
tieswhowillworkforthecompany.

This paper described work within the projects

ReadiSME, NetKnowing 2.0 and DIMENSAAI,
sponsoredbytheLLLprogramme.
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Dr.IleanaHamburgworkedasaprofessorforMathematics
and Computer Science at the University of Craiova for 20
years,asaresearcherwithintheFacultyofInformaticsatthe
UniversityofErlangen,Germany.Sheisaresearchfellowat
the Institute of Work and Technology, (IAT), Westflische
HochschuleGelsenkirchen.SheislecturerforInformaticsat
the Open University (FU) of Hagen. She works and
coordinates German and European projects in the field of
eLearningandknowledgemanagementDr.IleanaHamburg
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