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Case Study: Microsoft Sharing Knowledge |
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By Vadim Kotelnikov, Inventor, Author & Founder, Ten3 BUSINESS e-COACH – Innovation Unlimited, 1000ventures.com
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"Knowledge management is a fancy term for a simple idea. You're managing data, documents, and people efforts." – Bill Gates |
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Shared Knowledge as a Sustainable Competitive Advantage Microsoft hires the brightest and best of the new university graduates. Bill Gates seeks not just the smart, but the "super smart". Bill Gates is clear however that high individual knowledge is not enough in today's dynamic markets. A company also needs a high corporate IQ – intelligence, knowledge, and expertise of the company – which hinges on the facility to share information widely and enable staff members "to build on each other's ideas". This is partly a matter of storing the past, partly of exchanging current knowledge. "We read, ask questions, explore, go to lectures, compare notes and findings... consult experts, daydream, brainstorm, formulate and test hypotheses, build models and simulations, communicate what we're learning, and practice new skills," writes Bill Gates.1 As individuals learn, their knowledge adds to the corporate store. What matters most is quality, not quantity; how effectively that store of knowledge is mobilized by collaborative working. "The ultimate goal is to have a team develop the best ideas from throughout an organization and then act with the same unity of purpose and focus that a single, well-motivated person would bring to bear on a situation." That way, the super-smart, articulate person becomes the organization writ large. Corporate Knowledge Management Culture It is the boss' role to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing, using not just exhortation but reward for the purpose. "Power comes not from knowledge kept, says Gates, but from knowledge shared" – and managed. He advocates setting up specific projects that share knowledge across the organization and making this sharing "an integral part of the work itself – not an add-on frill." Case in Point 7-Part Competitive Strategy of Microsoft Although Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft, built his empire on technological products, his business mastery is even more important than his technical skills, and his competitive urge is a huge driving force. The early success of Microsoft was founded on the company's 7-part competitive strategy... More
Creating a Knowledge Company... Learning from Failures... Microsoft's Concept of Network Externality...
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