All companies that wish to stay competitive have to develop their ability to maintain, improve, organise, use and reuse the employees' knowledge, tangible as well as intangible. Knowledge management has become a very important management tool. Although still open to several interpretations, it is possible to identify two main strategies for practicing knowledge management: codification and personalisation. Knowledge management is in this paper discussed from both perspectives in relation to case studies in small manufacturing firms. Results from this ongoing research project show that there are obstacles for using either of these strategies in small firms.