Custom «Knowledge Management and Competitive Advantage» Essay Paper Sample

According to Rowley, Knowledge Management refers to the exploitation and management of the knowledge assets of an organization with the intent to further the organization’s goals and objectives.  For an organization to fully benefit from systems and structures, it is important to ensure proper management of their knowledge. It should be continuous rather than periodic so as to ensure sustainable result delivery. The focus is on the journal’s article named “Creating competitive advantage through knowledge management in customer relationship management” as discussed in the Vancouver Business and Management Consulting. This report seeks to explore the role of knowledge management and knowledge transfer in competitive advantage. The focus lay on the comprehension of business level strategies and the utilization of management systems to improve performance and gain competitive advantage. The report was drawn towards the application of knowledge management systems in accounting and engineering industries and the role of knowledge management in customer service. Considered as large industries, they were judged to offer great insights into how proper knowledge management would lead to competitive advantage in organizations.

Knowledge Management and the Auditing industry

Being a dynamic industry, the performance in the business field has to be in a positive continuum. For instance the article acknowledges that auditors have to progressively understand the dynamic nature of their environment in order to boost performance. However, Brewster noted that auditors exhibited difficulty in understanding the nature of the changes in the business world. This led him to develop a test to enable accountants and auditors conveniently detect misrepresentations in management and address any discrepancies accurately.  Prior research on the impact of knowledge management and competitive advantage in the business field indicated that auditor’s knowledge is substantially improved through feedback and increased effort (Earley, 2001). This on the contrary is hindered by the inability to offer the immediate feedback in auditing and the complexity involved in accounting procedures. In conclusion, it was agreed that there is a continuous need to create value of knowledge by putting skills in use and share available information to positively impact organization performance. This has been countered by the use of computers in nearly all organizations.

Knowledge Management and customer service

Legget acknowledges that knowledge is not useful unless the customer who is the user, totally benefits from the knowledge systems. He further advises that information should be available to the user.  Before the application of a new market idea, necessary changes must be implemented to suit the intended needs. Thorough consultations must be considered before implementing a knowledge management system so that the users not only find the information they need easily but also benefit from information they deem relevant and appropriate. Similarly, customers can benefit from knowledge management by conveniently purchasing goods or services through already established systems. For instance, an airline industry can enable customers to book their tickets in advance, avoiding long queues at airport counters.

Generally, the quality of customer service has been in a positive trend within the past few years especially in organizations that have enabled their customers to access needed information. It is therefore evident that such organizations gain a competitive edge over competitors.