Managing your mission-critical knowledge

Abstract

The article looks at management of the knowledge resources of corporations. It notes that while much attention is currently paid to big data, it is only one of the many strategically important knowledge assets a company typically possesses, and suggests that companies can benefit from systematically inventorying all of such assets, including intellectual property and employee talent and expertise. It offers an approach to mapping knowledge assets along two dimensions--tacit versus explicit and proprietary versus widespread--to facilitate determining how to maximize their value. The use of the approach at aerospace company Boeing and at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).