Knowledge Management and the Construction Industry

Every day, companies generate new knowledge about their products, their customers and their processes, but in general this knowledge is lost because there are no appropriate mechanisms to capture, store and share this knowledge. Because of that, knowledge management appears as an approach that gives to these organizations a systematic and structured process for managing their knowledge and experience. For the construction industry, highly intensive in knowledge, this approach can be a very effective tool for increasing productivity and performance in their projects. Thus, the proper management of this resource becomes vital, especially in the current environment characterized by high competitiveness. This discipline has been implemented in various parts of the world for several years, but has not yet been widely disseminated in Chile. To help disseminate the main concepts of this approach and its implications for the construction industry, this article presents a summary of the state of the art, which includes a review of the theoretical aspects of the discipline and its relationship and impact in the construction industry.