Knowledge Management Strategy Formation

Bennet & Bennet, 2003) are intentionally concerned with making the best use of their knowledge resources and knowledge-processing skills in the interest of enhancing their productivity, agility, reputation, and innovation (Holsapple & Singh, 2001). A key question that confronts every knowledge-based organization is concerned with how to approach the task of forming a KM strategy. Beyond aligning KM strategy with an organization's vision and overall strategy for achieving its mission, how does the creator of a KM strategy proceed? How is the created (or adopted) KM strategy communicated and evalu-ated? What can be done to avoid blind spots, gaps, and flaws in the strategy? One way to begin to answer such questions is to study successful cases of organizational knowl-Such cases can give specific KM strategies to consider emulating or adapting. They can lead to an understanding of various issues to consider in the act of forming a KM strategy. Other cases can even identify dysfunctional elements to avoid during KM strategy formation and use (Malhotra, 2003). A complementary approach to answering such questions is to employ a general-purpose model as a guide for KM strategy formation. This can be used regardless of the nature of the organization or its particular circumstances. It guides the strategy formation process in the sense of providing a structure for identifying the KM activities that a strategy can or should address in its efforts to maximize performance. A KM director uses the model to assess where the organization presently stands with respect to each of the identified 863 Knowledge Management Strategy Formation activities, to consider new initiatives for each of the activities (customized to the organization's particular circumstances), and to furnish dimensions for evaluating competitive standing. Here, we examine the Knowledge Chain Model for guiding KM strategy formation. It is important to understand that this is not a process model that specifies some sequence of steps to be followed in devising KM strategies. Rather, it is a model that identifies key factors that need to be considered in the development of KM strategies. These factors are " key " in the sense that they are potential sources of greater competitiveness. They are areas of activity that, if performed better than competitors, will yield superior organizational performance through better productivity, agility , innovation, and/or reputation. Creators of KM strategies need to pay close attention to the techniques and technologies selected and deployed in each of …