Report from the presentation of the first Teleos MAKE Awards.

The industrial revolution has brought an enormous change in today’s global business environment. The fact that such countries as Finland, Hong Kong and the Netherlands have been included in the list of top ten world economies confirms the importance of knowledge and industrial advancement. Asia’s competitiveness is growing, especially in developing countries.

According to the 2002 survey, Korea was ranked 27th in the world. Knowledge-intensive industries are becoming extremely important. In terms of market capitalization, the asset allocation in the industrial age and in the age of the knowledge economy has changed tremendously. If in the industrial age, the ratio was 75% for tangible and 25% for intangible assets, now the situation is exactly the opposite.

Success in the global knowledge-based business environment is directly rooted in the skills and knowledge of every company and its employees. Developing knowledge-based services is as necessary for a company as systematic training for an Olympic athlete. Knowledge is the key competitive advantage leading to superior performance. That is why it is important to be able to deliver knowledge-based services.

Eight knowledge performance dimensions were defined:
l Success in establishing an enterprise knowledge culture
l Top management support for managing enterprise knowledge
l Ability to develop and deliver knowledge-based goods/services/solutions
l Success in maximizing the value of the enterprise’s intellectual capital
l Effectiveness in creating an environment of enterprise knowledge sharing
l Success in establishing a culture of organizational learning
l Effectiveness in managing customer knowledge to increase loyalty and value

List of winners include the following:
2002 Asian MAKE Winners
Best Practice (in alphabetical order)
l Asahi Breweries (Japan)
l Fuji Xerox (Japan)
l Infosys Technologies (India)
l Kao (Japan)
l NTT Data (Japan)
l PCCW Ltd. (Hong Kong)
l Samsung SDS (Korea)
l Sony (Japan)
l Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company – TSMS (Taiwan)
l Toyota (Japan)

1. Knowledge Management at Samsung SDS
Dr. June S. Park, CTO/CKO
Samsung SDS
The knowledge management strategy of Samsung SDS consists of three elements:
l Community-oriented Knowledge Management
- aimed at promoting a knowledge-sharing culture among all employees.
l Process-oriented KM
- aimed at improving productivity and output quality of the workgroup.
l Asset-oriented KM
- building knowledge assets as the company’s core competence.

SDS business areas include consulting, business integration, EC & Internet services, data center services, application solutions and education. SDS is a very knowledge-intensive company with a big share of certified professionals. Out of the total 6700 employees, there are 4,736 certified professionals. SDS has a widespread net of global operations all over the world. It has many additional facilities such as educational centers and e-commerce divisions. SDS has acquired great recognition. The company was chosen Best Employer in Korea (Hewitt associates 2001.9), Most admired Knowledge Enterprise in Asia (Teleos 2002.10), and Capability Maturity model (CMM) level 3 (SEI 2001.12). SDS is number one in systems integration and the largest IT service company in Korea (4th largest IT service provider in the Asia/Pacific (Gartner 2002.2). The company was also ranked 45th among the world’s top 500 software companies (Software Company magazine).

One of the company’s strategies is that it heavily emphasizes employee contribution. It provides a large scope of evaluation and compensation instruments. The facilities for a knowledge community include the enterprise knowledge portal ARISAM, which includes an enterprise-wide knowledge community operated by KMG and voluntary communities. In order to make the company’s operations efficient, new analysis and design models were introduced to avoid overlapping and eliminate non-performing programs.

2. “K” Revolution
by Taro Sengoku
Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd.
In our company, we prefer to call the ‘K strategy’ a “Knowledge initiative,” since knowledge cannot be managed. Knowledge is very important and can only be found in people. The core of our company’s strategy consists of thought leadership, knowledge lancer ship, “Ba” designer ship and trust-based partnership.

As a meeting place for entrepreneurs to exchange their knowledge, Z-EIS or Zen’ in Sekkei, which means “designed for everyone,” is a very effective tool of interaction between employees.

The virtual Hollywood program is another comprehensive tool for enhancing the company’s performance. It fosters team spirit, trust, consideration, a pioneer spirit and customer satisfaction. Achieving mutual benefits is the goal and knowledge is the means. The company’s initiative dynamic has evolved from the reuse of existing knowledge (1988) to problem solving (1995) and is leading to innovation and creating future benefits by establishing new communities of practice.

3. Knowledge Management Journey: The Case of a Manufacturing Firm in India.
By Dr. K. Momaya
Companies have to transform into knowledge-intensive companies in order to compete in today’s dynamic global environment. Knowledge management trends can be demonstrated in the following case study: Sona Koyo Steering Systems Ltd. (SKSSL). Sona is an auto components producing company. Established in 1985, the company adopted technology from Koyo (Japan) and specializes at manufacturing steering systems, propeller shafts and axles. It supplies such big companies as Maruti-Suzuki, Toyota, Hyundai, etc.

As a leader in the world market occupying 50% of the global steering systems market in 1996-97, Sona has shown great improvements in sales since 1991—thanks to the introduction of the TQM program in 1996. Recently, the company introduced ERP (2001) and formal Knowledge Management Intervention (2001) systems.