The Development of a Two-Stage Knowledge Management System for Electronic and Electrical Engineering Manufacturers (2008)

The effective management of knowledge provides business wuith a competitic advantage, especially in the current business world. This paper examines how knowledge is managed by electronic and electrical manufacturers with ISO9001 quality standard certification. In an investigation of how knowledge management (KM) is affected by the three factors of amount of assets, number of employees and period of establishment, we found that KM divides itself into two stages, those of installation and of maintainence. KM was found to be affected by amount of assets, but not by length of establishment. It is argued that firms should pay careful attention to how they manage knowledge, more so when they are growing than when they are not. A number of suggestions are made for electronic and electrical manufacturers to develop developing effective KM systems. Introduction It is generally accepted that effective knowledge management often gives businesses their core competitive advantage. Drucker (1999) and Devenport and Short (1990) argue that 'knowledge' will replace land, labor, machine and equipment assets as the most important production factor. In fact, since the conceptual work on tacit and explicit knowledge by Nonaka (1990, 1991), it is arguable that 'resource basic theory' has been replaced by 'knowledge-based competition' in strategy management as providing a better basis for businesses to compete successfully in me marketplace. Despite this however due to variations in industries and methods of operations, significant differences remain in how knowledge should effectively be managed in different firms. Many of the differences have been reduced and in some cases removed through the use of quality standards such ISO9001 which has been widely accepted by many countries since its inception in 1987-principally because it standardizes the 'business flows' that emanate from the management of knowledge. For instance, in Taiwan more than ten thousand factories have acquired ISO9001 certification, starting in traditional manufacturing industries and then in service and construction industries and finally even in educational institutions. In order to develop generalizations with the widest applicability, our research concerns centers on the kind of explicit knowledge that forms the basis of ISO9001. We also analyze the 'auditing activity' that forms part of the ISO9001 certification process. Background to the Study Adopting a so-called 'process perspective' Tan (2001) argued that knowledge should be stored using or by means of specific methods and that all knowledge management activities be fit or are consistent with the culture of the particular business. Wu (2001) thought that knowledge management should be combined with organizational strategy. However, whether a business can acquire and apply organizational knowledge effectively depends on the 'business flows' that flow from or are consequences of how it manages knowledge. The priority is thus to have such business flows that 'connect well' with knowledge management. (Davenport et al, 1998). Nonaka and Taketichi (1995) divided knowledge into tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge, as listed in Tab. 2.1. Tacit knowledge stands for subjective experiential knowledge and analog knowledge. It can not be recognized directly and is stored in the human brain. Tacit knowledge includes the two elements of recognition and skill ability. Recognition emphasizes beliefs and perception. Explicit knowledge stands for objective knowledge and digital knowledge. It can be recognized easily and is stored in specific places. It can be delivered in standardized and systematic forms, through writing or spoken language. It lends itself directly to copying and independent learning. The characteristics of explicit knowledge can be extracted, repeatedly used and shared. Nonaka and Taketichi have also developed a 'knowledge spiral' model to explain how knowledge is acquired and disseminated. …