Earl and Scott (1998) suggest that these critical success factors lead firms to create structured knowledge management programs with executive leadership. Their research identifies five reasons why CKO positions are created:
(1) Corporate knowledge capital (the sum of human, customer, and structural capital) is neither being explicitly or effectively managed.
(2) Corporate resources are seen as a key to corporate growth and profitability.
(3) There is a realization that long-term prosperity depends upon management's ability to leverage the hidden value of corporate knowledge.
(4) There is a clear appreciation that people in the organization are ignoring past mistakes, making the same mistakes over and over, and wasting time that could be saved by making better use of the collective knowledge that exists in the organization.
(5) Having recognized the value of employee empowerment, the organization now realizes that they are not making good use of employee knowledge.