Knowledge Strategy: An Integrated Approach for Managing Uncertainty

Knowledge strategy is a new semantic construct that reflects the integration process of Knowledge Management and Strategic Management. It is a construct aiming at creating new value by considering knowledge as a strategic resource in managerial decision making. The way knowledge strategy and its planning can be seen is affected by the consideration of uncertainty and environmental turbulence. In a highly predictable environment, knowledge strategy can be seen as a rational approach, where knowledge resources and the processes to achieve and manage them can be set and planned in advance. However, in a turbulent business environment and continuous struggle for achieving a competitive advantage, strategic thinking and planning implies different approaches. Strategic thinking and organizational knowledge integrated in a powerful vision can help managers and business leaders in defining a spectrum of possible futures and transforming some of them into probable and desirable futures. Then, choosing one of these desirable futures managers work out knowledge strategies to achieve some strategic objectives. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on these issues and to provide an updated survey of strategy thinking by presenting knowledge strategies as an integrated approach to manage uncertainty and to create desirable futures in business environments. Our research questions are the following: a) What is the definition of knowledge strategy, and how can this term be related to the more general issue of strategic thinking and strategic planning in organizations? b) What are limitations of a rational approach to knowledge strategy in turbulent environments and under uncertainty? c) What are the models that can be applied to formulate knowledge strategies based on a consideration of uncertainty and knowledge dynamics? For dealing with these questions we based our approach on an extensive search and analysis of the existing literature in both fields of knowledge management and strategic management, and on conceptual modeling of knowledge strategies.