Choosing the Right Strategy
Competitive strategy must drive knowledge management strategy. Executives must be able to articulate why customers buy a company’s products or services rather than those of its competitors. What value do customers expect from the company? How does knowledge that resides in the company add value for customers? If a company does not have clear answers to those questions, it should not attempt to choose a knowledge management strategy because it could easily make a bad choice.
Assuming the competitive strategy is clear, managers will want to consider three further questions that can help them choose a primary knowledge management strategy. Although the implications of the answers may seem obvious, it is important for managers to make the explicit connection between their company’s competitive strategy and how they use knowledge to support it.