Knowledge exploitation
Knowledge exploitation is the most vital KM
category in terms of sustainable competitive
advantage, because the exploitation of
knowledge gained is the economic
justification for the existence of any
commercial organisation. It is the view of
this article, however, that organisations are
often not sufficiently imaginative when
formulating methods to deploy the
knowledge they posses. For example,
manufacturing organisations typically
embody their knowledge in a product;
however, a better source of competitive
advantage may actually be in providing
design consultancy services to external
customers.
Thus the knowledge held by an
organisation may be exploited internally, via
manufacture of a product or provision of a
service, or externally by, for example,
licensing patents or providing consultancy
services. Processes by which an organisation
brings knowledge to market are fundamental
to present and future performance. In that
respect, exploitation strategy includes both
innovation and continuous improvement.