KM systems are ineffective if they are not used. As pointed out by the chief information
officer (CIO) of grocery distributor and retailer Giant Eagle, the prevailing
competitive culture among managers in this organization acted as a barrier to knowledge
sharing and use of the KM systems, and this was an issue that had to be addressed
by showing them the benefits of using the system [68]. In a similar vein, other
evaluations [19, 72] of KM practices in a number of firms have shown that lack of
attention to social and cultural aspects may be impairing the effectiveness of purely
technological implementations. It is clear that the IT component (which is the KM
system) of the KM initiatives undertaken by a firm must be complemented by a set of
organizational mechanisms that encourage and promote the sharing/reuse of organizational
knowledge.