A review of knowledge management and its application in the contemporary business environment

The quest for a better way of enhancing firm performance has led to the discovery of knowledge as a unique and firm-specific resource for achieving competitive advantage. Knowledge management has gained the attention of practitioners and scholars in recent times. Knowledge management involves obtaining the right set of information and making them available to the right people, at the right time. When an adequate knowledge management system is in place, employees can create, share and re-use knowledge. Existing literature shows that knowledge management is still evolving and factors like intellectual capital, innovation and knowledge application play a significant mediating role in its effect on firm performance. Also, knowledge management processes ought to be followed by effective knowledge management implementation strategies to avoid knowledge proliferation and structuration. Modern businesses are gradually evolving from document-based knowledge management systems towards people-based knowledge management systems as a result of higher capacity for improvement and alignment of knowledge management strategies. Modern businesses also try to foster the effectiveness of their knowledge management process through gamification. Several challenges and limitations to knowledge management like organizational culture, lack of knowledge sharing incentive, cultural differences, lack of proper information structures and change management issues were also identified. Key words: Knowledge management, tacit knowledge, implied knowledge, knowledge management theory, knowledge management system, knowledge sharing.