Investigating the Management of Knowledge for Competitive Advantage : A Strategic Cost Management Perspective

The purpose of the paper is to develop and apply a framework that examines the effectiveness and efficiency of managing knowledge in organizations for competitive advantage. The paper reviews knowledge management and strategic cost management literatures to identify key elements that determine and facilitate the enhancement of competitive advantage. It then develops a cost-knowledge management (CKM) framework that integrates these elements and enables the analysis of how knowledge utilization in organizational activities can be made more effective and efficient. The CKM framework is applied to a sample of four Italian firms operating in the mechanical industry. Both the results of applying the CKM framework and the insights that are generated are discussed