Knowledge Management

Abstract

What are the world’s most common complaints about knowledge management? ‘Where are the benefits?’ has to be one of them, along with ‘we’ve invested millions of dollars in knowledge management, but we still don’t seem to have cracked how we leverage the really valuable knowledge — the stuff that goes on in people’s heads’. Knowledge management — five years ago the panacea for every management ill — hasn’t yet lived up to its considerable promise. For all the literature on the theory of knowledge management, there’s been very little written on its successful implementation. We understand more than we did before about the obstacles to effective knowledge sharing, but we’re apparently no nearer to coming up with a solution.

[The strategic consultancies] are investing very heavily in …. knowledge management and sharing — which mean that these firms will be able to field the type of in-depth, cross-function and cross-industry knowledge for which clients are prepared to pay premium fee rates. The competition here will be all about finding the right business model — one that enables the firm to invest and reap the rewards of that investment very effectively.

David Pecaut, iFormation Group