Today, most of the organizations realize the importance of learning and knowledge and have been adopting proper Knowledge Management (KM) practices so as to implement innovation in all respects to sustain competition. How the organizations develop, process, retain and grow knowledge on a continuous basis is central to their advancement and success. Discovery of knowledge related to people, products and processes and capturing it properly will be the most initial and important step in the KM process of organizations. Once such knowledge is captured and stored, it can be shared with the right people to enhance their knowledge. Knowledge sharing is the next important step in KM that requires proper flexibility and channels of flow. In order to grow with innovation and maintain competitive advantage, organizations should remove any hurdles that hinder the exchange of knowledge among different people and domains both internally and externally. Both public and private organizations have been taking keen interest in maintaining and managing knowledge in order to embed innovations in their business to attract customers and maintain competitive advantage.

Stating that KM in India is still at its infancy, the authors, S D Uma Mageswari, Chitra Sivasubramanian and T N Srikantha Dath, in their paper, “The Impact of Government Initiatives on Knowledge Management Processes: An Empirical Analysis”, have attempted to analyze the various initiatives taken up by the Government of India from the perspective of KM and their impact on KM processes in 251 manufacturing companies. They have reported that Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) lack awareness about the various government initiatives and hence suggested that the government should create wider awareness about such programs for the benefit of the organizations. Through data analysis, the authors have revealed the significant impact of Government Facilities (GF) on KM by interpreting that high GF users adopt KM to a higher extent. The authors have developed a research model linking GF and KM and used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Satisfactory convergent validity and discriminant validity are reported. They have also reported that the respondent firms should focus on gaining dynamic capabilities to enhance the flow of knowledge.

Focusing on banking sector, the authors, Deepa Ittimani Tholath and Gabriel Simon Thattil, in their paper, “Motivational Drivers of Knowledge Sharing in the Banking Sector of India”, have studied the four motivational factors of learning and personal growth, operational autonomy, job satisfaction and money that affect knowledge sharing in banks. They collected data from 400 employees of four different categories of banks in Chennai, India—public sector, old private sector, new private sector and foreign banks. From the analysis of data, it was reported that each of the banking categories has different motivational factor profiles from the perspective of sharing and dissemination of knowledge. The authors have also reported that operational autonomy was found to be the most important motivational factor in the case of public sector banks, job satisfaction in the case of old private sector banks, and money in the case of new private sector and foreign banks.

Intellectual capital and knowledge assets of an organization comprise its Intellectual Property (IP). In an organization, IP should be properly generated, protected and disseminated. KM and IP management strongly contribute to innovation and competitive advantage of an organization. In the paper, “Knowledge Management and Intellectual Property”, the author, Eduardo Gando Manuel, attempts to link both KM and IP. With the help of reports of the World Intellectual Property Organization, IP at regional blocs of the world and IP protection in some countries across the world, the author concludes that countries with weak protection of intellectual property rights should develop measures for promoting IP protection, as well as allowing for technological development to boost marketing, inventions and innovations.

-- Nasina Jigeesh
Consulting Editor