Cutting corners: CKOs and knowledge management

Purpose – Recently, the demise of the dot.com mania, coupled with slow economic growth has caused organizations to cut costs in an attempt to improve efficiency and the bottom line. Discontinuing or suspending knowledge management efforts and disbanding the chief knowledge officers' (CKOs) role is one common response from most organizations faced with these cost and efficiency pressures. The purpose of this paper is to describe why firms choose to cut knowledge management efforts and point to the deleterious long‐term effects of this course of action. Design/methodology/approach – The approach is based on discussions with executives. Findings – The paper highlights three common reasons why firms choose to cut knowledge management efforts, namely: knowledge management is seen as a luxury, not a necessity; knowledge management is subsumed under information technology methods; and investment in knowledge management does not offer immediate results. Moreover, the paper argues that cutting knowledge management efforts does more harm than good for a corporation in the long run. Originality/value – The paper describes techniques that CKOs should employ to gain support of their executive peers.