Knowledge Management: From Brain to Business (PDF 5.5 - Asian ...

its customers want. If its customers are citizens, for example, a website can be built to
provide them with information on taxes or education, and thought has to be given to how
the citizens use the system. All these factors are still applicable to a non-profit organization.
The emphasis is on creating effective, efficient government units that deliver improved
standards of living to their citizens.
Question: The knowledge management trend is quite strong in recent years but do
you think it will last and what will come next?
Rory Chase: That is a very interesting question because when I decided to get involved with
knowledge management over 10 years ago, I said to myself that I wanted to do something
that would last me the rest of my life, and I personally believe that competing on knowledge
is going to be essential during the 21st century.
Many of the successful Japanese companies such as Toyota, Sony, Canon and Honda, or
companies such as Google or Microsoft, have these activities built in. They do not necessarily
have formal knowledge management programs; it is the way they do business. For many
companies though, they have to work very hard at knowledge management. My experience
based on 30 years in business is that we sometimes forget more than we learn, so that some
of the business management tools that were used in the 1980s and 1990s almost have to be
re-learned. So I think there will always be a reason to have knowledge management tools
and techniques. I think that organizations need to work at continuing to improve and
innovate and if they do not they will slide. There were a number of organizations that were
MAKE winners but are no longer MAKE winners; they have actually either gone out of
business, have been acquired by other companies or are no longer leaders in their fields. So
unless one continuously practices collaboration, innovation and learning, I am afraid that in
this very competitive global world one will lose out. The question is not whether knowledge
management will last but how well one continues to do it.
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