KM & competitive advantage

There are some well-recognized KM strategies which can be applied to gain or leverage competitive advantage. Which one you choose, depends on your firm's competencies, the market niche, competitors and finding an internal champion. Here are some examples:

1) Information transfer: The capture and distribution of explicit information via groupware, file sharing, intranets, or building a corporate repository. Have a process in place to validate and abstract the case histories, connect to people as well as content, provide feedback.

2) Custom knowledge focus: establish a single integrated profile and interface, capture contact information, combine staff insights, extend the enterprise boundaries to include direct customer interaction e.g. virtual product design labs.

3) Measure & market intellectual capital & knowledge assets: mine transaction data streams for patterns and useful business rules, establish a database to sequence and manage all forms of intellectual capital (patents, trademarks, copyright, brand value), allocate value to intangibles and monitor ROI.

4) Competitive intelligence: gather and increase awareness of markets, environment and competitors, establish single target profiles and encourage all staff to contribute, push items to individuals depending on activities & roles e.g. info on competitors new product launch.

5) Community learning: establish and support communities of practice, monitor practice networks for excessive knowledge leaks, start a program of intentional knowledge communities to help with learning and agility.

6) A total knowledge focus: extend best practices to customers and suppliers, use relationship audits to target possible alliances, search for knowledge related opportunities in products, services and supply chain, involve all stakeholders in your knowledge strategy.

Competitive advantage may come from or through faster learning, sustained innovation, reduced cycle times, improved sensitivity and co-evolution with markets or your unique blend of technology and practice. KM can play a central role in all these aspects. The key is having a shared understanding within the firm of exactly what aspects of knowledge are important, opening communications to take advantage of news and insights and having a culture that allows failure, learns from mistakes and appreciates the fundamental role of knowledge as a strategic driver in the current economy.

Hope this helps!

Source: Brint post

Comments

[David Locke]

Most of what you are calling knowledge is information.

And, best practices actually diminishes the competitiveness of those who practice them. They may have created value once upon a time, but once they become a norm, their ability to differentiate disappears. Whatever is best practiced can and should be outsourced, maybe offshored. And, I am no fan of offshoring.

You profit from knowledge by packaging it in its implicit form as a product. In the software world, we call these products APIs. But, it isn't the code or the documentation that makes them knowledge. It is the implicit stuff that isn't apparent. Implicit knowledge can be packaged without explicating it. And, these packages become working capital.

[Stuart H.]

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