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Article
Publication date: 1 July 2006

Leila A. Halawi, Richard V. McCarthy and Jay E. Aronson

Knowledge management (KM) has emerged as a strategy to improve organizational competitiveness. Our purpose is to identify the relationship between KM and the firm's competitive…

12811

Abstract

Purpose

Knowledge management (KM) has emerged as a strategy to improve organizational competitiveness. Our purpose is to identify the relationship between KM and the firm's competitive advantage.

Design/methodology/approach

We review the existing literature on KM and strategy formulation. We utilize the resource‐based view approach as a lens for fitting KM with strategic planning. The concept of strategy and KM integration is introduced.

Findings

We relate KM strategies to business strategy through a thorough review of the literature.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should investigate the circumstances under which KM can create a sustainable competitive advantage within the framework of the RBV. Another area involves the investigation of the degree of integration between the competitive strategy and KM strategy.

Practical implications

A very useful source of information for practitioners to refine their thinking about KM and the firm strategic resources. It offers the practitioner a framework for understanding strategy concepts while illustrating how we can derive business results from KM.

Originality/value

This paper offers practical help for corporate executives and practitioners embarking in a KM initiative or program.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 13 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 July 2008

Silva Karkoulian, Leila A. Halawi and Richard V. McCarthy

As businesses continue to forge ahead in the twenty‐first century, knowledge management (KM) has materialized as a significant differentiator. The process of creating new…

3919

Abstract

Purpose

As businesses continue to forge ahead in the twenty‐first century, knowledge management (KM) has materialized as a significant differentiator. The process of creating new knowledge, sharing, and preserving such knowledge, is crucial for achieving competitive advantage. To gain maximum benefit from new knowledge, it must be efficiently integrated into the organization within a continuous knowledge life cycle. In this respect, mentoring is becoming ever more effective as a means to facilitate knowledge creation and sharing and build intellectual capital. This study aims to examine how both formal and informal mentoring enhances KM in the Lebanese banking sector.

Design/methodology/approach

Professionals in the Lebanese banking sector were surveyed to measure their perception of the impact of mentoring on their willingness to share information within the organization on both a formal and informal basis. A Pearson correlation was conducted to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Results suggest that informal mentoring is highly correlated with KM; whereby the more employees practice mentoring willingly the more knowledge will be shared, preserved, and used within the organization. However, there was little support for formal mentoring.

Practical implications

The results suggest that management should be highly supportive of informal mentoring as a means to capture and retain organizational knowledge. They should design and reward informal mentoring processes within the organization.

Originality/value

This paper adds to the existing mentoring literature by empirically testing the relationship between mentoring and KM.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 15 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 July 2013

Silva Karkoulian, Leila Canaan Messarra and Richard McCarthy

The goal of this research is to empirically assess whether knowledge management (KM) and learning organizations (LO) are distinct concepts and if so, to test whether KM enhances

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Abstract

Purpose

The goal of this research is to empirically assess whether knowledge management (KM) and learning organizations (LO) are distinct concepts and if so, to test whether KM enhances LO more or vice versa.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors propose an approach by which they first empirically assess the independence of those two concepts, then KM's fundamental processes, being knowledge acquisition, sharing, and utilization, are hypothesized to have a positive relationship with the different LO dimensions. Retail business employees working in organizations in Lebanon were surveyed. KM processes were first designated as dependent variables and then as independent variables. Bartlett's test, Pearson correlation, factor analysis, and regression analysis were used to test the hypothesis.

Findings

The results indicated that the two dimensions LO and KM are distinct and that KM enhances LO more than LO enhances KM.

Practical implications

This research extends the impact of knowledge management to include informal processes. It provides empirical evidence that managers should seek to implement formal and informal knowledge management processes into their organizational culture to enable a dynamic learning environment.

Originality/value

This research is significant in that up to this point the relationship between KM and LO has been posited and supported through anecdotal evidence and observation. This research provides empirical evidence of the relationship and forms the basis for further study in this area.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 17 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

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