Today, knowledge is considered the most strategically
important resource and learning the most strategically
important capability for business organizations.
However, many initiatives being undertaken to develop
and exploit organizational knowledge are not explicitly
linked to or framed by the organization’s business
strategy. In fact, most knowledge management initiatives
are viewed primarily as information systems projects.
While many managers intuitively believe that strategic
advantage can come from knowing more than competitors,
they are unable to explicitly articulate the link
between knowledge and strategy. This article, using
examples from several companies, provides a framework
for making that link and for assessing an organization’s
competitive position regarding its intellectual
resources and capabilities. It recommends that
organizations perform a knowledge-based SWOT (strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis,
comparing their knowledge to that of their competitors
and to the knowledge required to execute their own
strategy. It provides a framework for describing the
degree of aggressiveness of a knowledge strategy for
closing strategic knowledge gaps, and concludes with
several implications for competing on knowledge. 1998
