What is the concept of knowledge management and how do companies put it to practical use?
There is not yet a common consensus on the concept of knowledge management, however, the shared theme is that increasingly, knowledge in the minds of organizational members is of greatest value as the organizational resource. This organizational wealth of knowledge is referred by various labels such as knowledge capital, knowledge assets, intangible assets, intellectual capital, and so on. The notion of the `organizational stock of knowledge’ is often extended to also include intellectual property such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, etc. Couple of years ago, while in India, I observed that a major Indian business magazine cover story considered organizational knowledge assets primarily in terms of such intellectual property. However, in the western world, despite the recent boom in outsourcing and downsizing activities, we are observing that organizations are becoming more aware of the value of knowledge that resides in peoples’ heads. On one hand, one observes greater thrust by t
