Linking web technologies with customer response in the spanish telecommunications industry

Knowledge codification involves converting knowledge into machine-readable forms and storing them for future use. It has been recognized that web technologies are the main infrastructure supporting knowledge codifying and collaboration among employees, customers and/or suppliers. Through the deployment of the internet, groupware and collective systems, organizations can have the means to generate ongoing improvements in accuracy and timeliness to meet dynamic customer demands and sustain their competitive edges. This study examines crucial links between organizational learning and the existence and enhancement of web technologies and customer response in SMEs. A structural equation model, validated by the factor analysis of 130 SMEs in the Spanish telecommunications sector is presented. Our findings suggest that although web technologies may help SMEs to direct their efforts to provide a better and competitive service to their customers though exploitation activities, too much emphasis on technology without incorporating the learning process could easily result in a failed system. Web technologies should be supportive of a learning process so that people can put forward ideas in a way that enables all team members to be included in the codification process. Therefore, the important managerial implications of this paper are that organizational learning provides the context for implementing web technologies which, in turn, are shown to have a significant impact on customer response. Our findings also suggest that the provision of direct, persistent, and interactive technologies which enable customers to have low cost access to knowledge at low cost may have the effect of improving organizational performance. The internet, groupware and collective systems are important means of communication for customers so managers should take steps to insure a prompt response to customers' inquiries. In doing so, managers should provide adequate resources to optimize internal and external collaboration with customers Finally, our sample of Spanish SMEs in the telecommunications industry may not be representative of all SMEs. Therefore, our study provides an opportunity to review how other SME industry sectors in other countries are developing their technological capabilities and, in particular, how organizational learning could contribute to such development.