A discussion with Dr Yogesh Malhotra about why, sometimes, merely possessing knowledge isn't enough; application, he argues, is everything.

Includes: What is knowledge management? The difference between information and knowledge Applying effective strategies

What are the key ideas influencing the current global business scenario?

YM. The key ideas that influence the current global business scenario can be summed up simply in one phrase: radical discontinuous change. Ideas such as change management, learning and unlearning, adaptation, agility and flexibility have been popular over past few years. However, in the post-1990s era, the rapidity and radical nature of change has assumed unprecedented proportions that defy the past logic based on pre-determination and pre-definition. This has put a premium on thinking beyond benchmarking and best practices, and developing innovative business models that self-obsolete marginal value propositions and processes before competition does so.

From a business strategic perspective, knowledge management is about obsolescing what you know before others do, and profiting by creating the challenges and opportunities others haven't even thought about. In the bigger picture, the focus of knowledge management is on the ever-changing environment in which societies, organisations and individuals live, work, learn, adapt and survive.

Many of the 'key ideas' relevant to the above issues have been propagated through the BRINT Institute portals and its global community network - recognised as being among the key drivers for worldwide dissemination of research and practices on these ideas. Among the key ideas that have been disseminated through these portals and applied worldwide are organisational learning, knowledge management, virtual corporations, business process reengineering, business process innovation, business technology management, knowledge management, radical discontinuous change, complex systems applications for business, self-adaptive systems, e-business and e-commerce, electronic markets, internet strategy, intellectual property rights, technology outsourcing, intranets, enterprise information portals and philosophy of science and technology.
Could you define knowledge management? How would a company put knowledge management into practice?

YM. Knowledge management (KM) can be best understood in terms of a discipline rather than a 'silver bullet' or a technological solution. KM became popular because 'programmed' and 'automatic' business models - built upon computational logic based on memory of the past - are not adequate any more. More problematic is their emphasis on inputs rather than processes and outcomes. As ICT becomes more of a commodity worldwide, processes and people form a more critical part of the KM-enabled business performance equation. This is all the more important as business processes and people are less and less captive to organisational or geographic boundaries. Accordingly, it is time that enterprises realised that KM caters to the critical issues of organisational adaptation, survival and competence in the face of increasingly radical discontinuous change. To thrive in this environment, businesses need to rely not only on the data processing capacity of IT but also on creativity and innovation of people - both inside and outside the organisation. The key is to constantly assess and reassess routines embedded in business processes to surface and correct assumptions that may inhibit continuous learning and innovation.

In a recent article, you described knowledge management as "doing the right thing" instead of "doing things right." Could you explain the difference between these two concepts?

YM. While 'doing the right thing' emphasises effectiveness, 'doing things right' emphasises efficiency. Being efficient without being effective certainly leads to business failure - as in the case of the ultra-efficient buggy whip companies that disappeared into oblivion along with horse-drawn carriages. However, companies that can more readily adapt to radical discontinuous change by rethinking their business models, best practices and business value propositions are ahead in the game of 'doing the right thing'. As this is a very critical concept, let me explain in further detail.

Some have defined KM as getting the right information to the right person at the right time. However, in a world of radical discontinuous change, there are no programmable systems that can predict in advance what the right information, right person or the right time will be at any given point in the future. This can also help understand the key distinction between 'doing the right thing' and 'doing things right'. The relatively stable and unchanging environment of the past allowed the luxury of predicting, pre-defining and pre-determining the future based on past data. Businesses could once define their business models, business practices and business value propositions - thereafter, the key challenge remained that of optimisation for increased efficiencies: of 'doing things right'.

However, changing customer trends, competitive products and services and changing societal and governmental pressures make the existing business models, business practices and business value propositions obsolete. Over the past decade, the pace of such changes impacting business enterprises has become more fickle and more rapid than at anytime in the past. Most of us are aware of the bloodbath in the desktop computer industry that eliminated many companies competing for business worldwide. However, some companies realised that the only performance outcomes that matter are the ones the customers really care about. They have been savvy in tailoring and growing their customer value propositions around what the customers really needed rather than what they wanted to sell to customers. Dell has been an agile player that has been able to refine and play the game of 'doing the right thing' again and again, first in desktops and later in web hosting, printers, PDAs and storage. In the longer run, companies that can figure out the 'next right thing' and prepare well in advance to ride the next wave will be more effective in the longer run. However, it goes without saying that 'doing the thing right' also matters once you have figured out the what the next cash cow will be.

Economics and business theorists have alluded to knowledge as the ultimate competitive advantage for the modern firm. How would adopting a knowledge management approach to business benefit a company?

YM. Knowledge is the ultimate competitive advantage only if understood from an action-oriented perspective. All the information technologies and data cannot assure competitive advantage in the long-term, nor do decisions that are made - if made at all - drawing upon insights hidden in information and data. Only translating information and decisions into actionable value propositions can assure competitive advantage. Hence, in this perspective, knowledge lies in action: in effective utilisation of data and information resources for actionable decisions and, most importantly, in execution. As elaborated earlier, business managers need to define and continuously refine their business value propositions to ensure that they are not marginalised by radical discontinuous change. Therefore, this knowledge management strategy and its execution with the aid of information, communication and collaboration technologies can provide a greater chance at being 'great' than is otherwise possible.

What, in your opinion, will drive growth in knowledge management in the Asia Pacific region over the coming 18 months?

YM. In my earlier response about trends in Asia, I have tried to draw some comparisons in the evolution of KM in various countries in the Asia Pacific region. The key drivers that are expected to drive growth of KM in Asia Pacific are related to increasingly inter-connected global markets, speedy innovation and less expensive execution. The transition of worldwide economies to information-based and knowledge-based economies is resulting in the fundamental transformation of business models and the way work gets done. Asia Pacific is home to a large percentage of highly educated and industrious knowledge workers and professionals who are recognised for innovation. As the focus of business performance shifts from the land, labour and capital-oriented industrial economy to a knowledge-based economy, we expect to see strong growth in Asia Pacific compared with other countries. However, for most countries in this region, what will most critically drive growth in KM and its performance is the alignment of government, the public sector and the private sector in policy-making and execution.

As the economies of the developed world demonstrate increasingly greater growth based on knowledge-based goods and services, Asia Pacific can play a vital role as a collaborator, as well as a leader in its own right. One may expect diverse trends of growth as evident from current fragmentation and variances in KM practices in the South East Asian region, the South Asian region and the Middle-East region. Key challenges in terms of education, literacy, poverty and political stability would affect the future growth trajectories of KM and economic progress. As ICT-enabled work gets done everywhere and the world's largest reservoir of brainpower overcomes the limitations of financial capital, one may expect to see tremendous growth in this region.

Dr Yogesh Malhotra is the founding Chairman and Chief Knowledge Architect of the BRINT Institute, LLC, the New York based research, advisory and e-learning company internationally recognised as a pioneer of leading edge research, practice and thought leadership on knowledge management and strategic business technology innovation.
From an interview BMA had with Dr.Malhotra.

Prof.Laksman Madurasinghe