The Emerging Challenge of Knowledge Management Ecosystems: A Silicon Valley High Tech Company Signals the Future

Abstract

A Silicon Valley case study serves as a leading indicator of knowledge management challenges emerging in high-tech knowledge economies. Though a leader in technology innovation, this multi-billion-dollar semiconductor company struggles with traditional knowledge management efforts in technical support owing to the sheer complexity and dynamism of their intellectual property. Add to this the back-end knowledge linkages to suppliers and customer-driven knowledge channels sprouting like weeds and a managed ecosystem perspective emerges. Implications of these emerging phenomena for knowledge management theory and practice are discussed.

Keywords:

• knowledge management
• communities of practice
• social networking
• technology management