The Business Value of Knowledge Management

Knowledge has been recognized as a critical competitive asset and research about knowledge management (KM) has received increasing attention. However, knowledge has also been viewed not only as an asset, but as a process that includes acquiring, organizing, and communicating the knowledge of organizational members. Additionally, organizational culture has been shown to influence the behaviors central to knowledge creation and transfer, and therefore it is proposed that these two contextual factors will have a positive relationship to business value. Using a survey of IT executives, this study empirically tests these relationships and shows a significant relationship exists between KM process implementation and business value as well as between organizational culture and business value. Practical and research implications are discussed

Differentiating KMS Strategy from Business Strategy, KM Strategy and IS/IT Strategy

The era of the new millennium has witnessed a wide range of the revolutionized technology that affects our lives and the way an organization is conducted. The contemporary business sectors start to recognize the potential use of knowledge management in the new organizational processes. As a result, increasing numbers of organizations pay attention to the creative value of leveraging knowledge as one of their potential assets. Therefore, organizations start to focus on knowledge as one of the important elements in competitive advantage that needs to be utilized efficiently and effectively. They have shown a great attention of knowledge management in their business strategy incorporated with technology. The role of technological tools and applications is essential in supporting and enhancing knowledge management strategy. There has been a transition from traditional information system to new a concept of knowledge management system employed by organization to sustain competitive advantage in dynamic and unstable environment. Further, to shift the paradigm of knowledge management systems concept from business sectors, this study focused on the KMS applications and tools particularly in Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) environment. The purpose of this study is to (a) identify the relationship of business strategy, knowledge management (KM) Strategy, knowledge management systems (KMS) strategy, information system (IS) strategy and information technology (IT) strategy, particularly in the context of IHE, (b) describe those strategies and their relationship based on the context of IHE. This will provide guidance and effective methods for formulating the KMS strategy with the aim to align it with business strategies and ensuring success of its implementation

Value appropriation in business exchange: literature review and future research opportunities

Purpose – Value appropriation is a central, yet neglected aspect in business exchange research. The purpose of the paper is to generate an overview of research on active value appropriation in business exchange and provide the foundation for further research into value appropriation, as well as some initial guidance for managers. Design/methodology/approach – Literatures investigating value appropriation were identified by the means of a systematic review of the overall management literature. Findings – The authors provide an overview and comparison of the literatures and find that they apply diverse understandings of the value appropriation process and emphasize different mechanisms and outcomes of value appropriation. Research limitations/implications – Based on the literature comparison and discussion, in combination with inspiration from alternative business exchange literature, the authors propose four areas with high potential for future research into value appropriation: network position effects, appropriation acts and behaviors, buyer-seller relationship effects, and appropriation over time. Practical implications – Boundary spanning managers acting in industrial markets must master the difficult balance between value creation and appropriation. This review has provided an overview of the many managerial options for value appropriation and created knowledge on the effects of the various appropriation mechanisms enabling managers to secure company rents while not jeopardizing value creation. Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this paper represents the first attempt at reviewing the management literature on value appropriation in business exchange. The authors provide overview, details, comparisons, and frame a research agenda as a first step towards establishing value appropriation as a key phenomenon in business exchange research.Chris Ellegaard, Christopher J. Medlin, Jens Geersbr

KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY – THE NEW BUSINESS TREND

The main trend of today's economy is a rapid transition from the production to a knowledge economy. The phenomenon has many implications on different levels: national economy level, single firm level and also personal level of any employ. Knowledge assets predominate the traditional assets such as land, capital and work. In that context the structure and organization of any firm is have been changing. Knowledge management is becoming a dominant part of a firm's management and thus it is the bases of managing a new knowledge economy. The new economy principles need a new business and market strategies to be followed by. Strategy of value innovation is taking leading role from still actual, and in certain cases successful, strategies such as cost depreciation and differentiation. Creating a radically new value and the mass-market occupation are the bases of a firm's profitable growth today. Any firm, any business activity has to be adapted to a new knowledge economy conditions if it is aiming to be successful today and in the future.knowledge economy, knowledge asset, knowledge management, value innovation

The Influence of Knowledge Management on Business Value in IT Projects: A Theoretical Model

This paper develops a theoretical model to explain the relationships between knowledge management and business value in IT-enabled business projects. It draws upon a wide range of literatures including project management, management information systems, software engineering, organization and management theory, organizational behaviour and strategy. The overall model comprises two sub-models. The first shows how the alignment of three project-based knowledges directly influences business value. The second shows how four knowledge-based concepts, knowledge management, knowledge stock, enabling environment, and knowledge practices, combine to create the project-based knowledges. Together these two sub-models provide an overall model of the causal system through which knowledge management influences business value. This research makes contributions to the research into IT Projects by (1) integrating fragmented literatures which connect knowledge management and project success; and (2) proposing for discussion a predictive model in which knowledge management influences business value. It has the potential when further developed to clarify what project managers can do to manage knowledge in a systematic way

Knowledge Management and TQM: An Integrated Approach to Management

Knowledge management (KM) is the name given to the set of systematic and disciplined actions that an organisation can take to obtain the greatest value from the knowledge available to it. Knowledge management has received increasing attention from 1990. For a few years, it was the next big thing after business process reengineering and total quality management. This paper describes and compares concepts of KM and TQM. At the end, it concludes that KM and TQM are complementary and to be successful, it is necessary to take an integrated approach to management

Enterprise engineering using semantic technologies

Modern Enterprises are facing unprecedented challenges in every aspect of their businesses: from marketing research, invention of products, prototyping, production, sales to billing. Innovation is the key to enhancing enterprise performances and knowledge is the main driving force in creating innovation. The identification and effective management of valuable knowledge, however, remains an illusive topic. Knowledge management (KM) techniques, such as enterprise process modelling, have long been recognised for their value and practiced as part of normal business. There are plentiful of KM techniques. However, what is still lacking is a holistic KM approach that enables one to fully connect KM efforts with existing business knowledge and practices already in IT systems, such as organisational memories. To address this problem, we present an integrated three-dimensional KM approach that supports innovative semantics technologies. Its automated formal methods allow us to tap into modern business practices and capitalise on existing knowledge. It closes the knowledge management cycle with user feedback loops. Since we are making use of reliable existing knowledge and methods, new knowledge can be extracted with less effort comparing with another method where new information has to be created from scratch

Cultivating knowledge sharing through the relationship management maturity model

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present the development of the relationship management maturity model (RMMM), the output of an initiative aimed at bridging the gap between business units and the IT organisation. It does this through improving and assessing knowledge sharing between business and IT staff in Finco, a large financial services organisation. Design/methodology/approach - The objectives were achieved by undertaking ethnographic research with the relationship managers (RMs) as they carried out their activities, and developing the RMMM by visualizing the development of a community of practice (CoP) between business and IT. Findings - The RMMM demonstrates a learning mechanism to bridge the business/IT gap through an interpretive approach to knowledge sharing by defining knowledge sharing processes between business and IT and defining the tasks of the relationship managers as facilitators of knowledge sharing. Research limitations/implications - More research is necessary to determine whether the RMMM is a useful tool on which Finco can base the development of RM over the next few years. Practical implications - The RMMM acts as a practical knowledge management tool, and will act as a future reference for the RMs as they attempt to further develop the business/IT relationship. Originality/value - The findings provide an initial endorsement of the knowledge sharing perspective to understand the business/IT relationship. Also, the RMMM can be used to identify problematic issues and develop processes to address them

Providing value to a business using a lightweight design system to support knowledge reuse by designers

This paper describes an alternative approach to knowledge based systems in engineering than traditional geometry or explicit knowledge focused systems. Past systems have supported product optimisation rather than creative solutions and provide little benefit to businesses for bespoke and low volume products or products which do not benefit from optimisation. The approach here addresses this by supporting the creativity of designers through codified tacit knowledge and encouraging knowledge reuse for bespoke product development, in particular for small to medium sized enterprises. The implementation and evaluation of the approach is described within a company producing bespoke fixtures and tooling in shorter than average lead times. The active support of knowledge management in the company is intended to add value to the business by further reducing the lead times of the designs and creating a positive impact to business processes. The evaluation demonstrates a viable alternative framework to the traditional management of knowledge in engineering, which could be implemented by other small to medium enterprises

The contribution of organizational intelligence in creating value in companies: the case of European Airlines

Organizational knowledge management distinguishes organizations management within the field of business process management, aiming to sustain knowledge and intelligence towards value creation. The presented research aims to verify if the application of knowledge management within a European airline results in Organizational Intelligence and leads towards value creation, applied via effective and efficient business process management. The approach considers a conceptual reference framework towards Organizational Intelligence creation. The results of the applied methodology sustain a case study approach focusing on the 2014 project portfolio within the IT department of ABC-airline. The executed survey conducts information with specific reference to the present executed projects, applying further methodologies, presented within the conceptual reference framework. A case study approach, aligned with a survey implementation, questions the integration of knowledge management, the creation of value and with reference to business processes, defines the maturity levels – such as ad hoc, defined, standardized, measured, controlled and continuous improvement – within the organization. The survey accesses the degree of process maturity, leading towards a strategic recommendation grounded on the results, which indicate the internal implementation level of knowledge management and business process management. The results stress the importance of knowledge management contribution towards the creation of Organizational Intelligence, based on business process maturity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio