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Introduction
"Everybody discusses knowledge management, but how can it be used and how can we successfully apply it?". This question from a company representative has its roots in a practical problem experienced by many organizations that are seeking to understand and deploy knowledge management (KM) for their business. Knowledge management has generated a lot of interest within the last years ([2] Alavi and Leidner, 2001). In the strategic management literature, the knowledge-based view of the firm shifts the focus on the resource knowledge and proposes that knowledge is the most important resource in creating a sustainable competitive advantage ([17] Kogut and Zander, 1992). However, not all knowledge management activities have been shown to positively influence business performance or to result in a competitive advantage. Many parameters and their interactions need to be considered for the successful application of knowledge management initiatives in an organization. For example, different knowledge management strategies and practices were proposed to be adequate for different types of knowledge. However, the selection of a suitable strategy not only depends on the type of knowledge to be shared but also on the organizational environment the organization operates in. Depending on the business strategy a different knowledge management strategy is more or less adequate and results in a positive business performance. Our objective is to study the nature of the relationship between business strategy and knowledge management strategy and its potential impact on competitive advantage.
A case study research in 11 German and Swiss companies (all non-consultant companies) was conducted in order to gain a deeper insight about the relationship between business strategy and KM strategy within a company. This paper presents selected cases and extracts of the case study research in order to support the relationship. The paper is composed as follows. First, we will discuss the basic concepts of KM that are important to our analysis and results. Second, the research methodology is presented. And third, the findings are discussed. Three cases are described in more detail in order to illustrate the proposition for a close relationship between KM strategy and business strategy.
Theoretical foundations
Since we want to discuss the relationship between business strategy and knowledge management strategy we first need to introduce basic terms that will be used in the...