The Complete Guide to Knowledge Management: A Strategic Plan to Leverage Your Company's Intellectual Capital

Chapter 3. The Importance of Strategy in Knowledge Management

In this chapter you will:

Learn about devising a knowledge management strategy that derives from and supports the overall business strategy.

Learn that a shared organizational strategy (outlining the vision, core values, and core competencies to achieve it) is a prerequisite for solid knowledge management.

Learn that a business strategy should link an organization's competencies with the needs of its environment.

Understand how knowledge management serves the strategic management process, by drawing upon the knowledge of a company's workers, and leads to the attainment of strategic goals.

A well-planned knowledge management system serves the overall business strategy. It also addresses the fact that knowledge management (KM) requires a strategy of its own. Successful knowledge management does not occur through isolated interventions but through a systematic and comprehensive plan that outlines the specific competencies that a company intends to develop. Ultimately, a knowledge strategy should be tailored to the specific needs and characteristics of an organization.

The following example about Arkia details how a company's look at strategic management essentially became a plan for its knowledge management. At all levels, from strategic management to day-to-day problem solving, Arkia was managed with the aim of taking the most advantage of the knowledge available within the organization and putting it toward achieving strategic ...