Real World Awareness via the Knowledge Modeling and Description Language

Introduction

Managers of companies have the ability to gain a competitive edge over their own informal networks. This capability emerged from a study by Sultanow and Sonnenborn (2013) which interviewed CEOs of large companies. Knowledge has strategic importance; it is relevant for long-lasting decisions and becomes increasingly crucial for corporate competitiveness (Pfeifer, Freudenberg, & Hanel, 2001). The ability for successful entrepreneurship lies in the capability to notice changes in the market before others and to access expert experience and knowledge that has been built over many years. Automated information such as online services, RSS feeds or email subscriptions are problematic because extracting relevant information is time consuming. In the informal network, we encounter diffuse structures. For example, a manager maintains an informal network in order to obtain knowledge from a person in real-time (e.g. a submission to the FDA) then through contract with his lawyer he is informally notified of a problem (for example, another client has a similar product or a snag in their process) and he tells him how to circumvent the competitors product. In the financial sector – there are cluster groups in NYC, London, Geneva, Hong Kong and Shanghai that spread critical information to competitors – sometimes knowingly but often unknowingly.

This chapter describes a new method to create a globally mobile network between managers and key persons around them. Managers extend and maintain informal networks and retrieve decision-relevant information and knowledge in real-time. This provides a backdrop for them to see where information might be leaking (e.g. information about trades or market makers moves that have yet to happen). This advantage in knowledge and systematic networking through mobile technology overcomes the barrier that once dictated that experiential knowledge is strictly bound to persons. Due to the rapid delivery of knowledge to managers, strategists are thus able to anticipate and act according to developments or irregularities in the market.