Sloan Management Review,
Summer 2004 KM Articles
KM Process, Experience, and
Experiments
 Global Knowledge Innovation
 KM Technologies in E-Businesses
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Why Don’t We Know More
about Knowledge
Outline
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Introduction
Focus on Process (Michael Hammer)
Seek Out “Deep Smarts” (Dorothy Leonard)
Learn from Experiments (Thomas Davenport)
Introduction
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For 15 years, to increase workers' productivity,
companies have invested large sums in
databases, content repositories, mobile
technologies ...
However, some helped, much a waste of
resources.
the knowledge-worker era: companies still
have much to learn about what makes such
workers tick.
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Views from three leading management thinkers
Focus on the Process
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The dichotomy between manual and
knowledge workers: not meaningful.
"How do we increase knowledge-worker
productivity?“: the wrong question.
Focus on process instead of isolated
individuals.
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The key: eliminate non-value-adding work
Redesign
Remove the misconception: process specifies the
steps and requirements, but also keep the
freedom for how you do it.
Seek Out “Deep Smarts”
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Dilemma: technology improves access and
transmission, but creates no shortcuts to
most valuable knowledge
Manager mistakes: overlook “deep smarts”,
protect “shallow smarts”
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Deep smart (like a satellite): can grasp overall
situation and zoom in critical details and potential
problems
How to capture and transfer the wisdom of
deep smarts? – guided learning by experience.
Learn From Experiments
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Established consensus about knowledge work
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Definition of knowledge worker
Knowledge workers need to be segmented
Autonomy of knowledge work
Knowledge work is work practice
What we know and do not know
Learn by experiment
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Apply experiment design principles in
organizations
Discussions
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“IT-for-KM investment, some helped, much a
waste” Do you agree? Can you do without?
Productivity vs. process? How to improve
process? BPR all over again?
Learn from experience or experiments? What’s
the difference?
How to apply experiment design principles in
organizations? From small to large? Slow to fast?
Is Your Innovation Process
Global
Introduction
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Few companies have global innovation
processes
Global innovation process (metanational
innovation): sourcing and integrating
knowledge from dispersed geographic
locations
For companies, more innovations of
higher value and lower cost
The Strategic Advantages
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Motorola vs. Nokia
Being Co. vs. Airbus
CA vs. SAP AG
McDonald vs. Starbucks
Intel
metanational innovation: a decisive source of
competitive advantage
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Not only new product and services, but also
valuable business models, strategies and
capabilities
Harnessing the Potential of
Diversity
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Companies can improve flow of innovation by
assembling the best combinations of technical
know-how and market expertise
The probability of successful innovation
constrained by the weakest source of
knowledge
Therefore, accessing sufficient diversity of
knowledge is the key challenge
Relationships between
Geography and Knowledge
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The relationship is important but not
immediately evident (e.g. Finland,
Germany, Japan)
Innovation process globalization is an
important way for accessing the great
diversity of knowledge
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For example, pharmaceutical industry
Benefits
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A greater number of innovations of
higher value
Cost reduction
How to reap the benefits?
Tapping Into the Benefits
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Prospecting: find the relevant pockets of
knowledge from around the world
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Know where, how and what (e.g. Shiseido Co. Ltd.
from Japan)
Keep an open mind
Assessing: decide on the optimal "footprint"
for a particular innovation
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Similar as in trade-off in global supply chain
Keys: necessity, company strategy, history …
Tapping Into the Benefits
(Cont’d)
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Mobilizing: use cost-effective
mechanisms to move distant knowledge
without degrading it
Two types of knowledge: technological
and market
Mobile strategies
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Classify by type (simple versus complex)
and nature (technical versus market)
Mobilizing Knowledge
A New Imperative
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New organizational forms such as
virtual teams
Metanational innovator view diversity as
opportunity, not problem
Discussions
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How to develop Global Innovation Chain,
akin to Global Supply Chain? Technologies,
culture, and process?
As a knowledge worker, how to leverage
the global innovation opportunity?
Oversea assignment? Local learning?
International experience? Language and
cultural challenge and opportunity?
Learning From the Internet
Giants
Introduction
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The problem: lost productivity as
employees fail to find knowledge and
waste time on searching or recreate
knowledge
Challenge: help employees find what
they want and need
Opportunities: Google, eBay and
Amazon provide experiences that can
be learned
Frustrated Employees
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Three common frustrations
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Finding: multiple repositories, time consuming
Browsing: incomparable formats
Qualifying knowledge: redundant and outdated
content
To overcome the problems: three actions
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One stop access to content
Dynamic classification approach and consistent
content formats
Entice employees to easily find the knowledge
One-Stop Access to Content
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Google: simple one-stop search
functionality & existing experiences on
using Google
An integrated repository and one single
portal
Content meta-data and tags help search
too
Dynamic Classification,
Consistent Formats
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Good taxonomy and classification are
important
Ebay
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Dynamic navigational taxonomy
Classification system based on what
customers want to buy and sell
Standard and consistent formats
Organizations: identify common format
as first step
Comparative Techniques
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Amazon
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Proper tools (e.g. multiple search criteria and
product snapshot)
A lot of useful information (e.g. customer review)
Companies
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Should provide tools & categorizations to help
employees determine the relevance and quality of
the knowledge
E.g. Relevance rating, quality rating, display of
first few sentences, snapshot, links
In Summary
Discussions
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Do Amazon, Google, and EBay succeed
because of IT or fancy search techniques?
Business models and first-mover effect
What are other new technology
opportunities and how to apply them in
other killer-apps?