How knowledge companies succeed

The purpose of the paper is to review issues and concepts related to the use of knowledge in business for the purpose of generating profit, and show their application in relation to the author's own company, Ricardo. As far as possible, both the conditions common to other knowledge companies, and those unique to Ricardo, are identified, with a view to furthering the management of knowledge by others.

The paper approaches the topic of knowledge management from a case‐study angle, with a view to identifying the knowledge inputs into the company's work, its processing of those inputs, and the generation of outputs in the form of profitable knowledge products and services.

The paper finds that knowledge is presented as a differentiated concept with various levels and functions. Following a description of how the various types of knowledge are used by the author's company, some of the lessons to be learned are listed.

The paper offers, both explicitly and by implication, some useful guidelines for KM practitioners.

The paper reveals how far theoretical concepts, such as tacit and explicit knowledge, knowledge bases and knowledge or learning communities, are reflected in the real world situation of Ricardo.