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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China account for about 70% of the total number of enterprises, providing 75% of urban employment opportunities. Thus, SMEs play an irreplaceable role in economic system reform, thus promoting economic growth, solving employment problems, and maintaining social stability. However, due to the disadvantages of SMEs, such as small scale, shortage of funds, information asymmetry, and lack of talents, their ability to cope with risks is significantly lower than that of large and medium-sized enterprises. Studies have shown that up to 60% of crises in a company occur in the start-up and growth stages. Since the 21st century, the human science and technology revolution has accelerated the development of human society. At the same time, natural disasters and public crises have occurred from time to time, while international competition is becoming increasingly fierce. Due to these factors, SMEs face various challenges in ensuring their growth and survival (Dai, 2019). Unfortunately, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has worsened this problem (Clampit et al., 2022). The challenges brought on by rapid scientific and technological development and the challenges brought on by multiple crises have resulted in a turbulent and uncertain environment. Amidst this complex background, SMEs need to improve their organizational adaptability and reliability and ensure sustainable growth through knowledge acquisition, knowledge creation, and knowledge utilization.
The growth of an enterprise refers to the expansion of scale and the increase of operating income. Meanwhile, the perspective of the sources of corporate growth power includes external and internal growth theories. Internal growth theory is represented by Penrose's resource-based view (RBV)(Penrose,1959), Maris's managerial enterprise model, and Chandler's theory of enterprise expansion. Under the analysis framework of “corporate resources-corporate capabilities-corporate growth,” relevant studies have shown that corporate growth impetus include entrepreneurial talent and leadership behavior (Waldman et al., 2001; Xu et al., 2020), heterogeneous resources (Dang et al., 2010), innovation (Love, 2015), corporate culture (Qin et al., 2015), and so on. However, many of the elements described as “resources” and “capabilities” are the results of the acquisition, accumulation, and utilization of knowledge to varying degrees.
Previous studies have shown similar findings regarding the positive effects of knowledge management capabilities (KMC) on corporate performance (Altinay et al., 2016; Wong & Wong, 2011). However, due to the complex connotations of KMC, relevant research tends to focus on large-scale enterprises or technology-based companies. Moreover, studies on SMEs tend to focus on financing, policy support, market competition, and other external environmental issues (Wang & Xu, 2019; Li & Zhang, 2021). However, with the arrival of the knowledge economy era, the vast majority of employees in today's modern organizations are knowledge-based staff. Entrepreneurship activities have gradually entered a stage of high-quality development, and certain issues, such as the quality improvement and development of SMEs, entrepreneurial learning, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge utilization, have received increasing research attention (Wang & Chugh, 2014; Zhang & Xu, 2019; Yang et al., 2020). However, whether and how the KMC of SMEs can promote the growth of SMEs remains a question that needs further empirical research.