One of the top issues often encountered in strategic management is developing a competitive advantage over competitors. This has led to a lot of research being conducted on this topic. The results found several theoretical perspectives. Out of them all, we’ll focus on a strong contender, knowledge sharing as your competitive advantage.
When it comes to strategic management, a resource-based understanding of the organization and implementing a knowledge-sharing platform are two valuable assets. These are strategies that show that the way companies approach the problem sets the course for the results they obtain.
How knowledge sharing impacts your bottom line
Using knowledge efficiently can significantly improve your competitive advantage. Not to mention, it also increases the overall organizational success.
Taking this into consideration, knowledge management becoming increasingly important over the past years, doesn’t come as a surprise. After all, we’re discussing a resource that provides the ability to innovate and simultaneously respond to fast-changing customer expectations.
To stay competitive, an organization should only have resources and assets. Possessing strong knowledge management capabilities is also a must for developing and supporting healthy work practices and routines.
We’ll be looking at some of the best tips on how an organization can efficiently use knowledge sharing as a competitive advantage.
How to use knowledge sharing to your advantage
A report from Harvard Business Review claims that in 2015, top US-based companies were losing a combined total of $31.5 billion annually. The report concluded this was a result of employees failing to share knowledge efficiently.
$31.5 billion annually. Let that sink in.
On the other side, numerous studies confirm that, in contrast, organizations can benefit from their employees’ knowledge in defining a serious competitive advantage. To be more specific, we’re referring to better positioning to innovate and develop new products, new services, and new approaches. Or, simply put, sparking innovation and change.Let’s get straight to the point. What should you do to use knowledge sharing as a competitive advantage in your organization?
1. Observe the situation in your team
First of all, you need to identify who retains what type of knowledge in your organization. Then you need to come up with ways to retain it for the whole team. However, this is just the beginning.
Not all knowledge is useful for the company, so the next step would be to determine what knowledge is critical, according to the top priorities. If you’d like to read more about types of knowledge, read our previous article on scalable learning and how to help employees create knowledge.