Towards a Framework for Knowledge Management Strategies: Process-Orientation as a New Strategic Starting Point

Along which basic lines could an organization which plans to invest in knowledge management proceed? What general initiatives can be suggested for knowledge management? First, an array of knowledge management goals and strategies is presented taken from theoretical and empirical studies which are then related to each other in the light of what we call a strategic intervention into an organization’s way of handling knowledge. Additionally, we make the case for the integration of process orientation into a comprehensive multi-dimensional framework for knowledge management strategies. Process-oriented knowledge management initiatives are aimed to provide employees with task-related knowledge in the organization’s operative business processes. We argue that with this framework the resulting processoriented knowledge management strategies address the integration of the resource-based view of an organization – which is the main focus of knowledge management – with the market-oriented view – which is implicitly brought about by process orientation.