Developments in Practice XIV: Marketing KM to the Organization

Abstract

KM is experiencing the steep downward slope of the "hype cycle" and some organizations are rushing to abandon KM as quickly as they rushed to adopt it. Unfortunately, much of our understanding of what KM can do for organizations is still limited to academic treatises and small pilot studies. Managers therefore realize they must market KM more effectively in order to communicate its potential and build a coalition of support while KM matures and evolves. To explore this issue, the authors convened a focus group of practicing knowledge managers. After examining how KM groups currently market themselves, this paper constructs a framework for marketing KM in an organization that integrates the experiences of KM managers with basic marketing principles. It concludes that KM faces many marketing challenges, including lack of understanding of the need, lack of brand awareness, and a negative brand attitude. It recommends that knowledge managers must see themselves as internal entrepreneurs, first building a market for their product and then developing an effective marketing strategy. It also suggests there is a hierarchy of knowledge needs in organizations that must be addressed sequentially in order to develop trust and credibility among general business managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]Copyright of Communications of AIS is the property of Association for Information Systems and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)