EN
Knowledge management becomes one of the most critical success factors in the company. An understanding of the knowledge management processes and its challenges is the first step of gaining of the competitive advantage. The Slovak companies have to transform their activities to the knowledge-based business and follow the challenges of the knowledge economy, especially if they want to succeed on the competitive European market. Most of the knowledge management projects have to make knowledge visible and show the role of the knowledge in the organization, to develop a knowledge-intensive culture by encouraging behaviours such as knowledge sharing, seeking and offering knowledge and to build the knowledge infrastructure. These processes will contribute to the effective implementation of the knowledge management in the Slovak companies. The aim of the paper is to present the theoretical insight of the knowledge management conception and its challenges for the Slovak enterprises. It also presents the results of a survey of the knowledge management practice and application, which was performed in the construction industry in Slovakia.