© 2000 CRC Press Chief Knowledge Officer: Critical Success Factors for Knowledge Management Richard T. Herschel and Hamid R. Nemati This article examines attributes of the CKO position and the backgrounds of the people who fill it. Variations in the prescribed role for the CKO are reviewed, as are CKO critical success factors. One critical knowledge management issue, implicit-to-explicit knowledge conversion, is investigated in some depth to reveal the unique nature of issues confronting the CKO position. Finally, the arguments for potentially not implementing a CKO function are discussed. he Chief Knowledge Office (CKO) is a recent phenomenon created to help manage a unique organizational asset — intellectual capital. The CKO and the concept of knowledge management have come to the forefront of management thinking only within the past few years, yet major firms such as BankBoston, Coca- Cola, Ernst & Young, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Monsanto, and Price- waterhouseCoopers already have CKOs and knowledge management programs. Compa- nies are becoming serious about imple- menting learning and knowledge management programs, and they are paying serious money to the people who oversee these initiatives. Typically, the CKO is a senior-level position, commanding an annual salary ranging from $200,000 to $350,000 per year. Why is this happening? Basically, the CKO concept is rooted in the realization that companies can no longer expect that the products and services that made them suc- cessful in the past will keep them viable in the future. Instead, companies will differen- tiate themselves on the basis of what they know and their ability to know how to do new things well and quickly. The changes and pressures of a rapidly changing global, information-based economy make knowl- edge vital to organizations. The “intangibles” that add value to most products and services are knowledge-based — technical know-how, product design, marketing presentation, understanding the customer, personal creativity, and innova- tion. Critical success factors for organiza- tions today — the need for speed, management of complexity, a sense of his- tory and context, effective judgment, and organizational flexibility — are all related to and dependent on organizational knowledge. To meet these challenges, firms must recog- nize that long-term prosperity depends on management’s ability to leverage the hidden value of corporate knowledge. They must understand and appreciate that people in T Dr. Richard Herschel is Associate Professor of Infor- mation Systems at St. Joseph’s University, where he teaches and conducts research in E-business and knowl- edge management. He may be reached at her- schel@mailhost.sju.edu. Dr. Hamid R. Nemati is an assistant professor of Information Systems at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he teaches and conducts research in data and knowledge.