Aligning Knowledge and Business Strategies within an Artificial Ba Context

Abstract

Knowledge is the capability to make decisions and the primary resource for all organizational transformations. It allows strategic decision making, the planning and control of organizational activities, the management of everyday business operations as well as our personal behaviour. Knowledge exists at various levels, not only at the personal level but also at group and organizational levels. Organizational knowledge is a special type of knowledge, ‘collective understanding’, that is valid in a specific organizational context. The focus and contribution of this chapter is first to provide a theoretical basis for a knowledge strategy called artificial Ba and, secondly, to develop a concrete, artificial Ba that supports the alignment of knowledge and business strategies. The proposed system is a complete ‘artifact’, a supportive environment in which knowledge accumulates and is shared, a system that is built to activate existing knowledge and to support the creation of valuable new knowledge in an organization.