A Strategic Knowledge Management Model for the Financial Services Industry

The management of knowledge is still marked by a general plurality of perspectives, leading to a multitude of different definitions of knowledge as well as different proposals for models and frameworks, all of which are intertwined with and influenced by a vast collection of academic disciplines. Thus, leaving the isolated usage of single knowledge management methods such as best practices or lessons learned aside, it is almost impossible for practitioners to easily take any existing scientific knowledge management model, transform it in accordance with the single firm's conditions and then align it with its overall strategic management. This overall state of knowledge management within the literature, as well as the rather confused state amongst practitioners, highly influenced this study. Additionally, given the sometimes fundamental differences between certain industries as well as cultures, it is doubtful that a knowledge management model that claims to be designed for practice can account for all idiosyncrasies in all industries while at the same time spanning cultural differences. Consequently, the research question has to be narrowed down to a single industry (in the case of this study, the financial services sector) as well as a certain region (in the case of this study, German-speaking countries) and is formulated as follows: How can a financial services industry-specific knowledge management model be developed for German-speaking firms and aligned with the overall strategic management that accounts for ever-present market and/or regulatory - and hence strategic - changes?