Knowledge management is seen as a metaphorical perspective on management where the managerial focus depends on the epistemological standpoint taken. An identi cation of three epistemological perspectives accommodates the main body of literature on knowledge management: an artifact oriented epistemology that focuses on explicit knowledge, a process oriented epistemology focusing on both tacit and explicit knowledge and the interaction of these types of knowledge and an autopoietic epistemology where knowledge basically always has a tacit dimension. Based on a study of knowledge management in the Danish company Crisplant, the paper shows how the three epistemologies bring different aspects of managerial practice forward. By comparing the characteristics of knowledge, the nature of knowledge management activities, how knowledge is created and shared it is concluded that awareness of the implications of epistemological perspectives could enhance managerial analysis and conduct with respect to the management of knowledge as well as enrich research in the area.
In many firms and in many industrialised countries, innovation is regarded as fundamental to growth and wealth creation. However, it is not easy to define a measure of innovation that is a leading indicator for value creation. This would imply a linear model of knowledge as a simple input to value‐creating processes. Instead, intellectual capital is suggested as an alternative, employing a (non‐linear) narrative of how knowledge works. This is illustrated by the case of a medium‐sized Danish firm which accounts for the relationship between knowledge and innovation by using a network of a knowledge narrative, management challenges, efforts and numbers.
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