Value Creation from E-Business Models

7

Knowledge management and e-Commerce: when self-service is not the sensible solution

Sue Newell and Jimmy Huang

7.1 Introduction

Contemporary accounts of organizations stress the importance of knowledge for sustainable competitive advantage (Drucker, 1988; Grant, 1996). Whether treated as a resource (knowledge) or as an activity (knowing), the effective creation and use of knowledge to develop and support products and services are crucial. This has led to a large body of literature on ‘knowledge management’ that both highlights the central importance of knowledge for organizational survival and examines ways in which organizations can better explore (create) and exploit (use) knowledge (March, 1991). And while ‘knowledge management’ as a ...