Industrial project management supported by KM methods. Empirical results from Polish enterprises

Organisations that customise products and services to meet individual customer needs, or offer new products to new and existing markets, implement operational processes according to project management standards. In a rapidly changing economic environment, knowledge is a key resource that provides companies with a competitive advantage. The shortening of product and service introduction cycles in many market segments means that orders are won on the basis of generic data and information. One of the symptoms in organisations is that employees perform a variety of tasks outside their area of specialisation. The research questions posed in this article are the following: Does the increased availability of data and information to support employee creativity and the increased use of knowledge management tools in this market group of companies foster an increased ability to carry out interdisciplinary projects? In this group of companies, is the increased use of tools supporting knowledge management accompanied by a positive increase in business development? These questions are part of a broader research project on Industry 4.0 and business opportunity theory, conducted at the Faculty of Engineering Management at Poznan University of Technology. The research was conducted among a group of 300 medium and large companies operating in 19 industries. It was carried out between November 2024 and February 2025 and involved 240 medium and 60 large companies. In the study sample, there is a small but clear linear correlation between an increase in the availability of data and information to support employee creativity and an increase in the ability to carry out interdisciplinary projects.