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The resources and skills required to develop a KM strategy depend on the size and
complexity of the organizational unit and on the depth of information gathering and
analysis. The ideal mix of skills on the KM strategy team would be a KM expert, access
to people who are knowledgeable about the organization, and a KM advocate who
will “ sell ” the strategy to the senior member of management who mandated the
strategy development.

Developing a Knowledge Management Strategy

A KM strategy is a general, issue-based approach to deﬁ ning operational strategy and
objectives with specialized KM principles and approaches ( Srikantajah and Koenig
2000 ). The result is a way of identifying how the organization can best leverage its
knowledge resources. Once this fundamental KM strategy is deﬁ ned, baselining and
technology options may be explored. A KM strategy helps address the following
questions:
• Which KM approach, or set of KM approaches, will bring the most value to the
organization?
• How can the organization prioritize alternatives when any one or several of the
alternatives are appealing and resources are limited?

Once the KM strategy is deﬁ ned, the organization will have a road map that can
be used to identify and prioritize KM initiatives, tools, and approaches in such a way
as to support long-term business objectives. The strategy is used to deﬁ ne a plan of
action by undertaking a gap analysis. The gap analysis involves establishing the
current and desired states of knowledge resources and KM levers. Speciﬁ c projects are
then deﬁ ned in order to address speciﬁ c gaps that were identiﬁ ed and agreed upon as
being high priority areas.
A good KM strategy is composed of the following components:
1. An articulated business strategy and objectives
a. Products or services
b. Target customers
c. Preferred distribution or delivery channels
d. Characterization of regulatory environment
e. Mission or vision statement
2. A description of knowledge-based business issues
a. Need for collaboration

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