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Drucker (1988, p. 8) pointed out that “to remain competitive, maybe even to survive, businesses will have to convert themselves into organizations of knowledgeable specialists”. Banking is customer focused, therefore banks need to acquire and utilise customer knowledge and develop their products and services to meet customer expectations (Ping and Kebao, 2010; Ribiere and Chou, 2001; Shih et al., 2010). Banking is mainly analytic work based on complex tasks, problem-solving, learning new things and computer and internet use, rather than routine (Miles, 2011). Therefore, banks need to leverage this knowledge in their operations (Chatzoglou and Vraimaki, 2009; Lamb, 2001; Mizintseva and Gerbina, 2009). The banking industry also plays an important role in the development of the national and global economy, since the economic borders between separate countries are losing importance. The globalisation of financial markets is forcing bankers to become more efficient in managing knowledge in their banking operations, to preserve and leverage knowledge and to create and disseminate new knowledge and innovations.
Due to the importance of the banking sector and its dynamic changes in the global economy, there is a need for banking managers to become efficient in managing knowledge in banking operations. They should be aware of new products and services to support the constantly changing needs of customers and the rapidly changing market which requires the constant exchange and analysis of information from various sources, branches, and countries. As in many knowledge-intensive industries, the possibility to create competitive advantage is dependent on the ability to leverage knowledge (Chatzoglou and Vraimaki, 2009; Lamb, 2001; Mizintseva and Gerbina, 2009).
The application of KM in banks started at the World Bank in 1996 and was followed by banks in several developed countries such as: UK, Spain, Portugal, Germany, USA, Japan, and Canada, at the beginning of the last decade. However, this was still limited. Indeed, a survey conducted by the International Data Corporation across 600 banks in Western Europe in 2000 found only 20% of them applied a KM process. Subsequently, the European banking sector spent $155.4 million on KM systems in 2000 and planned to reach $511.4 million by 2004 (Blesio and Molignani, 2000, cited in Ribiere and Chou, 2001). In the middle of the last decade, the application of KM started in some developing countries’ banks such as Malaysia, Libya, Mauritius, Tunisia, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates, then extended to Egypt, South Africa, Pakistan, and Indonesia.
This present article aims to investigate the research has been done on knowledge management at the banking industry worldwide. The first section discusses the application of KM in the World Bank. Then, the paper investigates the literature has been made on KM in banking industry at both developed and developing countries. The last section is a discussion of the literature findings.