{"id":227185,"date":"2014-12-16T13:04:57","date_gmt":"2014-12-16T15:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/impaktconsult.com\/knowledge-is-the-business\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T09:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T12:22:13","slug":"knowledge-is-the-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/impaktconsult.com\/en\/knowledge-is-the-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowledge is the Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Could you tell if your organization is managing what truly makes a difference in its business results? To answer this question, you need to be clear about what makes a difference in your outcomes. Talent, processes, technology, and innovation are some of the factors that usually come to mind. But what is the factor truly capable of setting your organization apart? <\/p>\n

Knowledge-driven performance<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let’s say that in your business, talent is what makes the difference: how does your organization identify, attract, and develop the best talent? If your competitive advantage comes from your points of sale and facilities, what path did you take to extract value from these facilities and how do you manage them? When value generation comes from effective processes: how does your organization structure these processes? How do you generate your business strategy, make innovation happen, or identify and develop more effective technologies? How does your organization generate results and evolve? <\/p>\n

This “how” is knowledge. This is nothing new: Peter Drucker, back in the 1990s, stated that knowledge is “the” factor of production, “alongside capital and labor, in our post-capitalist society.” It is the factor that makes it possible to generate value from all other assets, both tangible and intangible. It is the asset with the greatest power to impact the results and the future of any business, across all sectors. Your business, in fact, is driven by knowledge. This brings us to the second part of the question: are you managing what truly makes a difference in your business results\u2014knowledge? <\/p>\n

Managing what matters<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let’s be honest: most of your organization’s energy and resources are invested in managing tangible assets. Any organization knows how to quantify and describe in detail everything that comes in and goes out in the form of supplies, equipment, materials, and financial resources. Most of them rely on a structure, strategy, processes, and teams to handle tangible assets. <\/p>\n

The same goes for people management, as they are seen as the “carriers” of knowledge: the company or organization knows how many there are, how much they earn, who walked through the door today (or didn’t), and how many minutes of delay they accumulated this month. But what about the knowledge used to manage these tangibles? And the knowledge that came in and went out “in the heads” of these people? Does your organization usually quantify and manage it? I would venture to say that, at best, it can state how many hours each person dedicated to training\u2014which is far from being an effective measure for managing knowledge, especially when we know that educational efforts are often poorly oriented, or not oriented at all, towards practical application and value generation. <\/p>\n

Not to mention other types and forms of intellectual capital, which usually receive even less attention. The cruel conclusion: practically all of your organization’s attention and resources are focused on tangible assets, while the intangible ones\u2014and particularly knowledge, which has an immensely greater impact on business results and organizational differentiation\u2014receive little energy and a management approach that is barely, if at all, structured. It is literally a fabulous treasure being wasted by companies and organizations. Do not blame yourself; there are numerous probable causes for this distortion: <\/p>\n