Thesis (M.Ed.(Computer Integrated Education))-University of Pretoria, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, August 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-176).

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2000. / Thesis advisors, Mark E. Nissen, James M. Barnard. "December 2000." Includes bibliographical references (p.75-77). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / On title page: Master of Philosophy (Information and Knowledge Management). Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

M.Inf. / Enterprises are becoming more dependent on people than ever before and in the twenty first century, an enterprise's survival and success will highly depend on the ability to manage knowledge as a source for competitive advantage. This study is concerned with the establishment of a knowledge management program that will ensure sustainable competitive advantage within the enterprise. The main problem under investigation is to assess the importance of knowledge management within an enterprise and to ascertain how knowledge management can ensure sustained competitive advantage in an enterprise. In the first three chapters of the study a literature survey is done to get a better understanding of what knowledge management is, the importance of corporate culture when implementing a knowledge management program and how knowledge management can be a source for sustainable competitive advantage or business edge. The advancement in information technology has allowed enterprises to leverage people's knowledge onto higher competitive level by improving competencies and processes, reducing mistakes, etc. and the optimal application of knowledge in a knowledge-based environment is playing an ever-increasing role in enterprise success. The second part of the study was an empirical study where a qualitative research was conducted in the Eskom Transmission Group. The aim of the research was to investigate understanding of the knowledge management concept amongst business leaders, determine enablers and barriers to implementing a knowledge management, and to also determine whether knowledge is seen as a source for competitive advantage. Structured interviews were conducted with ten business leaders in the Eskom Transmission Group. The data obtained from the interviews were analysed and interpreted according to the grounded theory. It was found that although knowledge management is old but as a formalised concept in the business environment in South Africa it is new and there is no common definition or understanding of the concept. It is however evident that the need to manage knowledge is understood and its importance to the sustainability of the business. The majority of the respondents agree that people issues are critical to the success of knowledge management in an enterprise, as people own knowledge. It is suggested that enterprises should adopt a holistic and integrated approach when establishing a knowledge management program. The holistic approach together with the framework and guidelines as given in chapter six would afford enterprises the ability to manage and harness their knowledge for sustainable competitive advantage. Broad recommendations for establishing a knowledge management program that will be a source of sustainable competitive advantage are proposed.

M. Phil. (Information Management) / Customer relationship management has been exposed as a strategic failure, unveiling only customer dissatisfaction. A new method for managing customers is consequently required. The effect of the knowledge economy has brought about a change in global orientation, in the focus on customer wants and needs to increase satisfaction. There was then a shift in focus from information to knowledge. In such an economy, the customer knowledge management strategy, as a combination of information and knowledge management techniques, is one best suited to allow organisations to manage their customer knowledge effectively. The purpose of this study was thus on determining whether South African organisations manage customer knowledge within their organisations. A literature review was conducted to determine the reason for the failure of customer relationship management practices, and define customer knowledge management in the context of the knowledge economy. Traditional and electronic sources from which customer knowledge could be collected were identified and measured according to their advantages and disadvantages. Customer knowledge management techniques were discussed, along with the strategic requirements for the system’s success. These specifics were measured within South Africa’s developing economy. Knowledge practitioners in South Africa participated in a quantitative online questionnaire, administered on LinkedIn. Aspects such as education, years of exposure to knowledge management, information and communication technologies, social networking and customer knowledge applications and practices, were examined. The results revealed electronic knowledge-sharing practices in organisations, despite the lack of supportive forces. In conclusion, the collections of customer knowledge are being applied, but not yet formally managed in organisations. A second conclusion is that knowledge practitioners have limited understanding of the customer knowledge management concept, pressed upon by hindrances in external social factors. Taking this into consideration, recommendations are made to strategise the applications of customer knowledge in a number of industries further.

The aim of the study is to provide a theoretical background to knowledge management and related concepts and to determine the current situation with regard to knowledge management implementation in industry, specifically financial organisations. Organisations all over the world are realising that knowledge in the form of expertise and competence is the organisation’s most important asset and that its quality and availability affect all aspects of the organisation. More and more executives and managers realise that in modern organisations, all available work is centred on knowledge-intensive activities and the organisation’s success is directly related to the quality and relevance of these activities, particularly through knowledge workers’ willingness to use that knowledge to the advantage of the organisation. Knowledge management is seen as a business process, integrating knowledge, people, processes, strategies, techniques and technologies. It is the process through which organisations create and use their institutional or collective knowledge assets. Knowledge management is not only about managing these knowledge assets but also about managing the processes that act upon the assets. These processes include developing knowledge and preserving knowledge within organisations, including learning processes and the management of information systems. Knowledge management techniques and technologies play an important role in supporting knowledge management processes and activities. Technology and people related techniques bring to knowledge management the ability to carry out knowledge management processes quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively, making it an enabling solution. When implementing a knowledge management initiative the knowledge management strategy is closely linked to the overall business strategy. The study proposed a knowledge management implementation framework. The emphasis of the framework was on the management of the organisation, people, processes and infrastructure as well as the alignment of the knowledge management strategy to the overall business strategy of the organisation. Based on the theoretical background, three well-known financial organisations were used in a case study to investigate the current state of knowledge management implementation in industry. Finally conclusions, based on the literature survey and the case studies are given. From the conclusions, gaps in the literature have been identified and addressed in the discussion of possible further research possibilities. / Dissertation (M IS (Information Science))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Information Science / unrestricted

In the modern era, the developments in information technology have been dramatically shaping the ways people live as well as the ways in which organisations handle business in their professional domains. Implementing various kinds of information system, such as Enterprises Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Decision Support Systems (DSS) and Knowledge Management Systems (KMS), has been recognised as one of the necessary tasks organisations have to perform in order to survive (Alavi 2001). Despite the tremendous effort companies worldwide have devoted to the implementation of knowledge management systems, organisations in Libya are still suffering from the failure of Knowledge Management (KM) implementation. The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive investigation of factors that can help organisations to understand the context of KMS implementation. With accurate assessments, this can in turn help them to develop effective strategies or policies to maximise the probability of success in implementing KMS. Therefore, this research will address the development of a KM adoption framework to fill this gap and develop a model that serves as an instrument in adopting KMS in general and the Libyan oil sector in particular.

No description available.

No / This paper presents a practical methodology for developing a process-based knowledge management system (KMS) for supporting continuous improvement (CI) and asset management. An action research methodology was used to develop a KMS to support CI in a manufacturing company. The KMS is evaluated through application in the case study company. This methodology ensures a consistent approach to carrying out all improvement initiatives. The final part of the methodology addresses the construction of an intranet-based knowledge warehouse. This contains several searchable areas such as existing information on assets, new knowledge generated from projects, details of expertise in the business and links to the key business drivers through the corporate intranet. The KMS is shown to support CI initiatives through the utilization of available data already held within the company's management databases (production, quality and maintenance) including consideration of corporate strategic plans. Process models trigger the application of improvement tools and projects in a true CI environment. This methodology acknowledges both tacit and explicit knowledge within the company, and it represents an appropriate environment to promote and develop a true learning organization. The system developed is shown to be flexible and has been implemented in a manufacturing environment. Financial benefits are presented.