A Research Model for Knowledge Management

Knowledge has been identified as the key issue to gaining competitive advantage in any business. A successful company is one that can create new knowledge, disseminate it through its organization, and embody it in its products and services. All this is possible by careful planning and building a culture for creating and sharing knowledge. In this chapter, a research model for KM is suggested. The various components of KM are described in detail so as to explain the process of KM. Then, using the research model as a reference, two case studies, one of Buckman’s laboratories and the other of the Nippon Steel- British Steel alliance, are analyzed to study the process of KM.