Knowledge Management Case Book: Siemens Best Practises

by Thomas H. Davenport (Editor), Gilbert J. B. Probst, Heinrich Von Pierer (Foreword)

This book provides a perspective on knowledge management at Siemens - an internationally recognised benchmark - by presenting the reader with the best of the corporation's practical applications and experiences. Tom Davenport and Gilbert Probst bring together instructive case studies from different areas that reflect the rich insights gained from years of experience in practising knowledge management.
Most of the cases have been updated for the second edition. New cases have been added.
The Knowledge Management Case Book provides a comprehensive account of how organisational knowledge assets can be managed effectively. Specific emphasis is given to the development of generic lessons that can be learned from Siemens' experience. The book also offers a roadmap to building a "mature knowledge enterprise", thereby enhancing our understanding of the steps that need to be taken in order to sustain competitive dominance in the knowledge economy.
Presenting applications from very different areas, this practice-orientated book is really outstanding in the broad field of KM literature.

"Perhaps the most revealing - and interesting - part of the cases in this book is not the analysis of the various knowledge management tools and processes, but the description of their development, of how they come about, of how commitment was gained, of how implementation was led."

Yves Doz, The Timken Chaired Professor of Global Technology and Innovation at INSEAD, Fontainebleau


"This case book brings insights how our most valuable resource makes those tools happen. I found this book exciting reading, because it is, to my knowledge, the only book where a single company with a wide variety of knowledge management approaches accumulates years of experiences and lessons learned. Edited by two of the leading thinkers in the field of knowledge management, this book will show the way you practise knowledge management in your company."

Heinz Fischer, Global Head of HR, Deutsche Bank AG


"This book is a rare and valuable description of a single company's knowledge management journey. Siemens has made impressive advances in becoming a knowledge-driven firm, and this volume details many of its directions and waystations."

Laurence Prusak, Executive Director, IBM Institute for Knowledge Management


"Though there are many books on Knowledge Management, this is a unique one on a sense that it provides practical application of KM rather than the jargon."

Sushil, Modi Foundation Chair Professor and Group Chair, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi

336 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2000

About the author

Tom Davenport holds the President's Chair in Information Technology and Management at Babson College. His books and articles on business process reengineering, knowledge management, attention management, knowledge worker productivity, and analytical competition helped to establish each of those business ideas. Over many years he's authored or co-authored nine books for Harvard Business Press, most recently Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning (2007) and Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results (2010). His byline has also appeared for publications such as Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Financial Times, Information Week, CIO, and many others.

Davenport has an extensive background in research and has led research centers at Ernst & Young, McKinsey & Company, CSC Index, and the Accenture Institute of Strategic Change. Davenport holds a B.A. in sociology from Trinity University and M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University. For more from Tom Davenport, visit his website and follow his regular HBR blog.