Using "knowledge champions" to facilitate knowledge management

Executives and strategists have long recognized the value of knowledge as a primary driving source for a firm’s sustainable competitive advantage – hence the creation by many firms of a position called the chief knowledge officer (CKO). However, many people have proposed differing perspectives and models relating to the concept of knowledge management. In this paper differing knowledge management viewpoints are examined, by examining and integrating theories relating to the diffusion of innovations and change agents. The roles of change agents, innovators, and opinion leaders, such as CKOs, are explored in terms of effective knowledge management strategies and techniques. A model and strategies are proposed that can serve as a framework for CKOs and other knowledge management change agents to effectively facilitate the acquisition and use of knowledge in the firm by effectively using an organizational memory system.

[1]  Melissa M. Appleyard,et al.  HOW DOES KNOWLEDGE FLOW? INTERFIRM PATTERNS IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY , 1996 .

[2]  Melissa A. Schilling.  Technological Lockout: An Integrative Model of the Economic and Strategic Factors Driving Technology Success and Failure , 1998 .

[3]  E. Rogers.  Diffusion of Innovations , 1962 .

[4]  I. Cockburn,et al.  Measuring competence?: exploring firm effects in pharmaceutical research , 1994 .

[5]  David A. Nadler,et al.  Competing By Design , 1997 .

[6]  Leon A.G. Oerlemans,et al.  Does technology and innovation management improve market position? Empirical evidence from innovating firms in South Africa , 2005 .

[7]  Jay Stuller.  Chief of Corporate Smarts. , 1998 .

[8]  Karen Edge.  Powerful public sector knowledge management: a school district example , 2005, J. Knowl. Manag..

[9]  W. Richard Scott.  Organizations: Rational, Natural, and Open Systems , 1981 .

[10]  Charles C. Manz,et al.  An Organizational Memory Approach to Information Management , 1998 .

[11]  D. Teece.  Capturing Value from Knowledge Assets: The New Economy, Markets for Know-How, and Intangible Assets , 1998 .

[12]  Marianna Makri.  Exploring the dynamics of learning alliances , 1999 .

[13]  Chun Wei Choo,et al.  The knowing organization , 2005 .

[14]  Robert E. Hoskisson,et al.  Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization , 1994 .

[15]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[16]  Shan Ling Pan,et al.  A Socio-Technical View of Knowledge Sharing at Buckman Laboratories , 1998, J. Knowl. Manag..

[17]  I. Nonaka,et al.  Organizational Capabilities in Product Development of Japanese Firms: a Conceptual Framework and Empirical Findings , 1998 .

[18]  Melissie C. Rumizen.  Report on the Second Comparative Study of Knowledge Creation Conference , 1998, J. Knowl. Manag..

[19]  Peter J. Lane,et al.  Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning , 1998 .

[20]  S. Pan,et al.  Knowledge Management in Practice: An Exploratory Case Study , 1999 .

[21]  Toufic Mezher,et al.  Knowledge management in mechanical and industrial engineering consulting: A case study , 2005 .