Summary

Many organizations are embracing knowledge management as a source of strategic advantage. But already people are asking: "what comes next?" Likewise almost every large organization is heavily involved in e-commerce and turning their organizations into e-businesses. At the moment most e-commerce is focused on selling traditional products and services through the new medium of the Internet. However, the more an organization evolves into an e-business, the more they can exploit knowledge flows between themselves and their marketplace. This book draws together the two strands of knowledge and e-business into the emerging field that this book has called k-business. A k-business is one that turns an organization's knowledge assets into knowledge products and services and uses the Internet to market and deliver them online. Despite its newness, the Delphi Group have forecast that within 5 years person-to-person information e-commerce (a major aspect of k-business) will be a $5 billion business leveraging $50 billion in sales of other products and services. Capitalizing on Knowledge aims to give professionals and managers early insights into how to develop successful k-businesses. It takes a critical and balanced view of the building blocks of a k-business including knowledge productizing, e-commerce enablers and Internet marketing. It draws on lessons from successes and failures in the dot.com landscape and of the early pioneers of knowledge markets. The writing style engenders interest and readability supported by diagrams, screen images, check lists and frameworks. There are 'points to ponder' to stimulate thinking and decision-making. Five case studies and over 50 illustrative examples provide insights into the application of the book's concepts. No other book brings all the elements of a k-business together in one place to provide a thought provoking yet practical companion for those who want to capitalize on their knowledge.