Knowledge management in global technology markets - Applying theory to practice

Knowledge management has become one of the most widely promoted management ideas of all time. It is perhaps more than a passing fad, suggesting a real convergence of theoretical and practical ideas about the firm. ideas devel oped to explain strategic success are being used to design strategies which improve the firm's ability to capture more of the potential value from the knowledge which they and their members have or can acquire. This article p rovides an outline of the theory of knowledge in business and describes and analyses two matched but contrasting examples of knowledge management acti vities that illustrate the impact of theory on practice. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.