Fashion in the Management of Knowledge.

'Knowledge management' (KM) figures among the most popular recent conceptual innovations in business management. In this article, we analyze the recent surge of KM from a fashion perpective. We present an analysis of the emerging discourses building on the term 'knowledge management ; ' in management in periodicals throughout the 1975-1998 period and use our findings to challenge some of the currently held assumptions regarding the nature, triggers and rethorics of management fashion.