The identification and application of knowledge capital within small firms

Research has shown that employers in small businesses may not provide, or fund, off-the-job training for reasons including that they believe that no training was considered necessary in their business. The research reported in this paper aims to focus on a study of software-related companies that form part of an important sector for potential growth. A number of factors were hindering the development of managerial talent in the sample. These included their small size, a lack of resources and availability of personnel for release to undertake development programmes as well as a shortage of specialist human resource management (HRM) expertise.