Strategic knowledge management: creating comparative advantages

Knowledge management can be seen as an important precondition to build dynamic capabilities and comparative advantages (Teece et al., 1997). In this article we look at the interdependencies among knowledge management, the market segment chosen, and the strategy of multinational companies. Based on the theoretical literature about dynamic capabilities and competition, we will build a model on the relationship of knowledge management and strategic management. We support the theoretical results with the findings of four cases involving multinational companies. We differentiate among four settings of knowledge management and corporate strategy, depending on the dynamics of the market (external focus), the rate of innovation (internal focus), and the dominant kind of knowledge used in an industry. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.