A need for training: The chasm of knowledge and application of employment regulation within the small business sector

Effective knowledge management can be used to enhance efficiency and improve business performance. However, there is a sector of the business community where knowledge management will have very little impact at all. This is in the sector of very small and micro businesses employing fewer than 20 persons. Research by the authors has shown that invariably the HRM function in micro businesses with less than ten employees rests with the owner of the business. As well as coping with this function, the owner of the micro business has to deal with all the other aspects of business management, not least the provision of the goods or services for which the business was established. This creates tensions and a need for priorities within the small firm and the sector could ignore what is perceived by the owners to be non‐essential activity. Yet the consequences of this could lead to serious business problems.