ABSTRACT

Did the KM paradigm originate during the 1990s from the observation of a symptom that was troubling organizations? Or was it an innovation aimed at curing the ailment from which organizations suffer? The proliferation of publications concerning “knowledge management” reflects the growing interest in this theme. Yet it remains to be seen what this concept encompasses, what its limits are, and how KM takes a concrete form in operational terms. This chapter attempts to clarify how an organization can gain by managing its knowledge and the risks it incurs by not doing so. It also describes an operational approach to implement a KM project within an organization. The approach and the examples cited originate from numerous KM projects initiated and implemented in a large French research and development center, and applied in companies with international reach.