Many organizations are embracing knowledge management as a source of
strategic advantage. But already people are asking: "what comes next?" Likewise
almost every large organization is heavily involved in e-commerce and turning
their organizations into e-businesses. At the moment most e-commerce is focused
on selling traditional products and services through the new medium of the
Internet. However, the more an organization evolves into an e-business, the more
they can exploit knowledge flows between themselves and their marketplace. This
book draws together the two strands of knowledge and e-business into the
emerging field that this book has called k-business. A k-business is one that
turns an organization's knowledge assets into knowledge products and services
and uses the Internet to market and deliver them online. Despite its newness,
the Delphi Group have forecast that within 5 years person-to-person information
e-commerce (a major aspect of k-business) will be a $5 billion business
leveraging $50 billion in sales of other products and services.
Capitalizing on Knowledge aims to give professionals and managers early insights
into how to develop successful k-businesses. It takes a critical and balanced
view of the building blocks of a k-business including knowledge productizing,
e-commerce enablers and Internet marketing. It draws on lessons from successes
and failures in the dot.com landscape and of the early pioneers of knowledge
markets. The writing style engenders interest and readability supported by
diagrams, screen images, check lists and frameworks. There are 'points to
ponder' to stimulate thinking and decision-making. Five case studies and over 50
illustrative examples provide insights into the application of the book's
concepts. No other book brings all the elements of a k-business together in one
place to provide a thought provoking yet practical companion for those who want
to capitalize on their knowledge.