Posted by Andrew Alexander on December 04, 2001 at 02:10:59:

In Reply to: Re: Hai Riva, sorry, I do not understand what you say! posted by Riva Gianluca on December 03, 2001 at 13:22:10:

I have found many successful KM projects, some which perform the difficult tacit to explicit transfer others that simply provide the relevant information to enable accurate decision making.
Riva, you seem to have believe this field should be perfect and that everyone should understand the multiple benefits and implement them. We do not live in a perfect world though.
No organisation is able to do everything perfectly, they each have their strengths and weaknesses. But they deal with the reality that most cant afford to do everything perfectly and so allocate resources according to their perdeption of what is going to provide the best return. Then they can tackle the next issue, in this regard the value proposition provides the only valid method of judgement.
It seems that your comments reflect the perceptions of a "born again christian" who's perception of the world is coloured in either black or white. I hope not to try and curb your enthusiasm but channel it to understand the many shades of grey that incorporate the business environment.
Eg. Many academics espouse that a company must be innovative in order to survive. (suported by numerous theories). However in one case a manufacturer had a niche market product which provided them with a small monopoly. They were told that their business systems had to be replaced as they were over 15 years old and inefficient. Their manufacturing processes were also out of date and causing a loss of potential profit.
Company directors opted to change the company to the new systems. They encountered the following issues:-
The majority of staff were over 40 and found it difficult to change to the computerised accounts system.
Debtors went from 14 days to 60 days
Creditors put them on stop supply
Customers didnt receive the right orders at the right time and cancelled.
Sales dropped to less than half of normal
Staff left because they didnt like the new systems and were stressed.
Customers who dealt with the company because of their old fashioned service found alternatives.
Imlementation costs doubled
The company closed its doors after 40 years in less than 18 mths after installing the systems designed to make them innovative.

I believe this was not the fault of the new systems as they worked very well elsewhere but the fault of the management who didnt consider all aspect of their business before they decided to change their systems.

Hence a new way of doing something does not allways represent value to an organisation nor is theory the answer to all solutions. The trouble with theory is that it doesnt allways come with a crystal ball and so we temper it with practical experience and the understanding that the customer is allways right. (even if he is wrong)
Andrew

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