Executive's Guide to Knowledge Management: The Last Competitive Advantage

258 Pages·2002·0.7 MB·English

by  James J. Stapleton

E ’
XECUTIVE S
G
UIDE TO
K
NOWLEDGE
M
ANAGEMENT
THE LAST COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
James J.Stapleton
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
9607_Stapleton_fm.r.qxd 10/11/02 3:21PM Pageii
9607_Stapleton_fm.r.qxd 10/11/02 3:21PM Pagei
E ’
XECUTIVE S
G
UIDE TO
K
NOWLEDGE
M
ANAGEMENT
9607_Stapleton_fm.r.qxd 10/11/02 3:21PM Pageii
9607_Stapleton_fm.r.qxd 10/11/02 3:21PM Pageiii
E ’
XECUTIVE S
G
UIDE TO
K
NOWLEDGE
M
ANAGEMENT
THE LAST COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
James J.Stapleton
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
9607_Stapleton_fm.r.qxd 10/11/02 3:21PM Pageiv
This book is printed on acid-free paper. (cid:1)∞
Copyright © 2003 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Stapleton, James J.
Executive’s guide to knowledge management : the last competitive
advantage / James J. Stapleton.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-471-22925-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Knowledge management. 2. Information resources management.
3. Customer services. I. Title.
HD30.2.S782 2003
658.4'038--dc21
2002011164
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface ix
Chapter 1 Infomentality 1
Your Infomentality 2
Intelligence-Gathering Mentality 2
Elements of the Intelligence-Gathering
Mentality 9
Your Intelligence-Gathering Plan 14
Fear Accepted Wisdom 21
The Trap of Mundane Tasks 21
Conclusion 21
Chapter 2 InfoGoals 23
Simple Information Request 23
Understand the Source Information 30
Synthesize the Data 30
Disseminate the Knowledge 33
Act on the Knowledge 33
v
Contents
Update the Knowledge 34
What Businesses Need 34
Risks 38
The Ultimate Goal 39
Conclusion 40
Chapter 3 Building Knowledge 41
Choose Your Parameters Carefully 42
The Knowledge Advantage 42
The 10-Step Process for Building
Useful Knowledge 43
Information Basics 52
Conclusion 57
Chapter 4 Intelligence Gathering 59
Why Information Gathering Is Important
to Sales 59
Information Gathering as a Basic Skill 61
External Information Sources 62
Opinions 64
Aim of the Knowledge Management
Program: Getting and Keeping
New Clients 65
Basic Elements of Successful Information
Gathering 67
What Does a Buyer Look For? 68
Why Does a Buyer Seek a Particular
Product or Service? 68
When Does a Buyer Make Those
Purchases? 75
How Does a Prospective Buyer Choose
Among Sources? 80
Where Can You Find Contact Information? 85
vi
Contents
Who Should You Speak With? 88
Conclusion 94
Chapter 5 Competitor Information 97
Your Competition: Colleagues or
Enemies? 97
Gathering Information on Your
Competitors 98
Sources of Competitor Information 99
What You Should Know About Your
Competition 107
Keep a Central Database 116
Conclusion 116
Chapter 6 Customer Relations 119
What Constitutes Good Service? 119
What Do Customers Want? 120
Communication 128
Surveys 132
Exit Interviews 138
Entry Interviews 140
Information Sources 140
Customer Base 144
Competing Through Knowledge 149
Misinformation 150
Conclusion 153
Chapter 7 Referral Source Information 155
The Art of Networking 155
The Right Knowledge 159
Successful Relations with Information
Sources 173
Conclusion 174
vii
Contents
Chapter 8 Infoplan 175
Why We Gather Information 175
Why You Must Plan 177
The Planning Process 178
Why Information-Gathering Plans Fail 208
Conclusion 211
Conclusion 213
The Future of Knowledge Management 213
The Last Competitive Advantage 213
Where to Find Additional Information 214
Appendix A Information Associations 215
Appendix B Sources of Information and Analyses 217
Index 232
viii