Study the following scenario of failure in implementation of Knowledge Management initiative and then attempt the question that follows: - (Source: Chua, A. and Lam, W., Why KM projects fail: a multi-case analysis, Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 9, no. 3 (2005)) A European manufacturing company that had more than 60 production units in some 30 countries implemented three distinct KM projects, namely, Production Project, Supply Chain Project and Design Project. The focus of Production was on capturing, documenting and sharing knowledge about production methods such as machine maintenance methods and safety prevention. The main aim was to cut production costs. Supply was intended to improve and distribute knowledge about offered products in downstream supply chain. The aim was to enhance product functionality and better understand the effects of product design on the economics of transport and warehousing. The objective of Design was to improve structural product design so that designers could construct prototypes with minimal raw materials. Two years after implementation, Production was able to capture and transfer knowledge to the plant that needed it, but its aim to promote the application of the new knowledge resulted in a mixed level of success. Supply was a codification of knowledge culled from customers, warehouse delivery centres, transporters and end-consumers. However, it was under-utilised. Design was a highly sophisticated software system, but it was largely neglected by designers and became obsolete after a while. The main reasons for the failure of KM at the manufacturing company were as follows: In Production, out of 40 plants studied, ten plants did not apply the new knowledge largely because they did not perceive a production performance gap in their plants. They were unconvinced of the value created from applying the new knowledge. It was later discovered that the rest of the plants which applied the new knowledge actually saw a significant improvement in their production performance. When Supply was launched, it was under-utilised because users found that the software merely provided them with information they already possessed. Moreover, Supply neither resulted in increased sales volume for sales staff nor helped create better products for designers. Design was perceived to be too cumbersome and difficult to be understood. In addition, it did not reduce the raw material costs or the amounts of prototypes as intended. Since design was largely neglected by designers, it was not updated and after a while became obsolete.

c) Assume that you got the contract of implementation of knowledge management then discuss about what strategy you will apply and how would you implement the KM projects, Production Project, Supply Chain Project and Design Project by applying relevant capturing , codification and sharing techniques. Also, discuss and suggest which latest tools and techniques you would apply for the successfully doing the capturing, codification and sharing of the knowledge.

Ans these question by assuming above senario .