K Knowledge, It, and the Firm

No company has ever existed or will ever exist without knowledge. Still, it was only recently that knowledge started being heralded as the way forward (Drucker, 1993; Itami, 1987; Toffler, 1990). This may explain why in the business world, knowledge management (KM) is still perceived in two substantially different senses: (a) as synonymous to information management (e.g., Dempsey, 1999; Vernon, 1999) and (b) as a distinct area of study and practice dealing with the management of knowledge (e.g., Newing, 1999; Zack, 2003). In contrast, the academic world sees knowledge and information as related but fundamentally distinct. Furthermore, the vast majority of both of these communities has focused on the managerial or social aspect of KM (see, for example, Birkinshaw & Sheehan, 2002; Davenport & Glaser, 2002; Davenport, Thomas, & Cantrell, 2002; Gupta & Govindarjan, 2000). The nature of knowledge and its implications for management have been largely ignored. The limited work considering knowledge issues falls into the four categories below.