Capitalizing on Knowledge: From E‐Business to K‐Business

Citation

Davenport, E. (2002), "Capitalizing on Knowledge: From E‐Business to K‐Business", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 58 No. 2, pp. 238-240. https://doi.org/10.1108/jd.2002.58.2.238.7

A “k‐business” is defined by Skyrme as “an online business that capitalizes on an organization’s knowledge and exploits the Internet as a means of marketing and delivering it” (p. xiii). He writes as a practitioner, and much of the material (his frameworks and models) is the result of personal experience and thinking. Indeed, the book emerged from a series of workshops commissioned by Aslib. It draws heavily on case studies (14 of them) and on “knowledge nuggets” or pithy mini‐scenarios that support the author’s line of argument at different points in the text. The material was up to date at the time of writing (October 2000), but the reader is advised to check Skyrme’s Web site for updates (http://www.skyrme.com/kcomm/index.htm).

In Chapter 1, Skyrme reviews developments in knowledge management (KM) since the publication of Nonaka and Takeuchi’s (1995) “groundbreaking” book. He suggests that KM has become a confusing catch‐all and “focus for many different methods, practices and tools” and offers the following definition: “the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge and its associated processes of creating, gathering, organizing, diffusion, use and exploitation in pursuit of organizational objectives” (p. 6). This definition aligns his text with the “information life cycle” approach that has prevailed for many years in information management. Two things, however, make KM different from IM: firstly, the inclusion of personal knowledge, or, as Skyrme puts it, “people knowledge” in addition to “object knowledge”, and secondly, the shift from an internal perspective to an external one, that recognises multiple opportunities for revenue generation from KM activities. These are described more fully in Chapter 2, which explores a five‐layer model for Internet business that embraces infrastructure, software, enabling services, applications/markets and user services. Each of these affords opportunities for the development of commercial services. Skyrme focuses on B2B (Business to Business) exchanges as an important innovation, giving only a cursory mention to P2P (Peer to Peer) in a “nugget” on Napster (p. 51).

In Chapter 3, Skyrme reviews a range of new markets and new models that characterise k‐business. A key question for managers is what role to play. A typology of “k‐suppliers” is provided: k‐creator, k‐mediary, k‐aggregator, k‐portal, k‐refiner, k‐packager (an important “emergent intermediary” role (p. 79)), k‐community, k‐broker, k‐publisher, k‐mall, k‐processor, k‐franchiser, “k‐anything”. Skyrme then addresses the issue of “fee or free” service, and the reader is referred to the Web site of Karl Sveiby (http://www.sveiby.com.au) where she or he will find a list of “fourteen ways to charge for knowledge” (p. 98). The discussion of economics is continued in Chapter 4, where examples are provided of new knowledge markets that have emerged in cyberspace. An extensive case study of iqport.com is offered (pp. 112‐16), a venture which failed because of problems with “usability and performance”. Skyrme discusses the attributes of a good knowledge market and provides an evaluative template in Appendix B.

In Chapter 5, he considers ways in which knowledge may be successfully “productized”. A characteristic of k‐business is the move from documents to “blocks” (p. 146), and these can be managed systematically, using approaches such as Horn’s information mapping (http://www.infomap.com), where a limited number of block types are specified (facts, principles, processes, concepts) and practical guidelines provided for creating each type. Skyrme reviews features that “add richness and usefulness to information” (p. 147), and concludes the chapter with a discussion of knowledge hybrids such as intelligent publications and e‐learning platforms. In Chapter 6, he suggests that a new competition framework is required to replace the prevailing Porter value chain (it must be noted that Porter (2001) has recently rebutted such claims) and explores the similarities and differences of conventional and cyberspace marketing. This theme is sustained in Chapter 7, which explores what Skyrme calls the “10 Ps” of Internet marketing: positioning, packaging, portals, pathways, pages, personalization, progression, payments, processes and performance. Chapter 8 offers a framework for developing a successful k‐business: Skyrme advocates that managers adopt a 100‐day cycle and operate on the basis of quarterly budgets to accommodate this, as a “k‐business should re‐invent itself every 100 days”. In the last chapter, he addresses some larger issues: the ownership of knowledge, knowledge markets in a global economy, the limitations of the role of governments, and concludes on a libertarian note: “societal knowledge networking initiatives, more than the development of commercial knowledge products and services, perhaps represent the true wealth creation opportunities of capitalizing on knowledge” (p. 259).

Is the text to be recommended? Though less well crafted than the author’s earlier Knowledge Networking: Creating the Collaborative Enterprise (Skyrme, 1999), the text’s focus on external exploitation makes it an important addition to the literature on KM. Skyrme differs from other prolific analysts of the KM concept (such as Larry Prusak) in treating KM and IM as a continuum, most notably in discussions of added value, and the text would benefit from more critical discussion of his own position on what is still contested ground. And Skyrme could offer more discussion of the knowledge that emerges in user/consumer peer to peer exchange, and the “co‐creation” of products and services. However, the “toolkit” elements work well. The case studies and nuggets, if somewhat partial, do provide good discussion material, and many of the summary and comparative tables are extremely useful. The four appendices provide checklists and templates that will certainly push managers who are new to k‐business in the right direction, and the glossary will assist them, where there is a language barrier, to negotiate with other appropriate players.

Such features will also make the book useful as an affordable academic text for honours and masters level students, though Skyrme takes pains to distance himself from academe. He states in the introduction that: “In my busy life as a consultant, I do not have time to apply academic rigour, nor to carry out extensive literature searches, I need practical tools that deliver results … Furthermore, in this period of fast change, I feel it preferable to get the ideas out quickly into the open where they can be tried and tested in practical situations” (p. xv). This is disingenuous. Skyrme himself has taken many of the concepts, principles and guidelines that drive his text from the academic literature. One of the book’s strengths is its bibliographies (referred to disingenuously as “Notes” at the ends of chapters), which, as indicated above, include useful URLs. In his introduction, Skyrme offers advice on how to read his text that conforms with standard academic pedagogic practice: “One way of getting a better learning experience from a book is to react as you read it. At the very least, you should make good use of coloured highlighters … to simulate active learning, I have posed a set of “points to ponder” at the end of each chapter” (p. xvii). His implied suggestion that academic knowledge is not pertinent to his theme raises an additional set of “points to ponder” on the place of the “academy” in a knowledge economy and explicit treatment of this would have enriched the text.