Knowledge Management at General Electric: A Technology Transfer Case Study

Knowledge management is the active transfer of knowledge throughout an organization. Such organizations may be corporations, nonprofit organizations, governments, or international agencies. It involves the capture, refinement, storage, and dissemination of knowledge. Essentially, the goal of knowledge management is to enable the successful transfer of the right knowledge to the right people, in the right format, at the right time. Methodologies for knowledge management can and should be utilized by international organizations. We describe how General Electric Corporation (GE) has implemented knowledge management to enable technology transfer in an international organization. GE has demonstrated that knowledge management systems can have an immediate impact, and financial benefit to international organizations that have a willingness to embrace a knowledge sharing culture. They were able to leverage their knowledge, in a global sense, to create significant returns. We conclude with an evaluation of how other firms can utilize the GE approach.