This article focuses on two interrelated management concepts that are used broadly and successfully by modern organizations in their effort to enhance organizational performance, competitiveness and corporate social responsibility.

Knowledge Management

Increasingly concerned with the sharing of knowledge across functions and departments within the organization and the integration of the processes of managing and sharing knowledge, Knowledge Management utilizes existing organizational knowledge to discover new business opportunities. As organizations progress and face multidimensional challenges, Knowledge Management is a source of innovation and creativity. Being a conscious policy of getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right moment, it attains organizational competence through the proficient and continual exchange of knowledge, it produces agile organizations and it contributes to socio-economic growth.

Knowledge Management recognizes human capital as a key strategic asset for organizational performance. In this context, organizations use information and exchange knowledge in order to better understand customer needs and behaviors and offer customer-specific products and services. This knowledge-enhancing process creates action-oriented use leading to effective customer relationship management.

To be effective, Knowledge Management necessitates the development of a learning organizational culture. Learning organizations develop and maintain an environment that stimulates the power of learning in all organizational members, allowing organizational flexibility and adaptability. The power of learning produces the maximum benefit for the organization, while conveying to the workforce that the key factor for organizational achievement is not the accumulated knowledge, but the ability to develop new learning opportunities at a hasty pace.

Customer Relationship Management

Organizations invest heavily on Customer Relationship Management aiming to build strong customer relationships. Focusing on the development of suitable relationships with key customer segments to deliver superior shareholder value, Customer Relationship Management binds the potential of relationship marketing strategies with information technology. In doing so, it creates profitable, long-term, and mutually beneficial relationships with customers, employees and shareholders.

Customer Relationship Management uses customer knowledge in order to construct long-term relationships with the right customers and employ a deep interest in their needs and requirements. Similarly like Knowledge Management, Customer Relationship Management recognizes human capital as a key strategic asset for organizational performance. Only, in this case the human capital is not only the people that are employed by the organization, but also the customer base that has specific goals to meet and expects/demands the organization to assist in meeting those goals through lifetime customer relationships.

To be effective, Customer Relationship Management necessitates a supporting environment that would promote continuous learning and knowledge sharing as an inherent part of organizational culture. To achieve that, the organization needs to be led democratically, employees need to be trained adequately and well established professionals need to undertake the risk of organizing, controlling and maximizing production, while directing the organization towards the proper development and empowerment of the human capital.

Learn more about this author, Christina Pomoni.
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