The knowledge management is the concept that has become very popular recently. In a time when the information flows directly and free of charge to those who request it, some knowledge, that is very unique and valuable, costs a lot. Companies which possess knowledge use it as an asset and thus can sell more of their products at the best price. Especially if this knowledge refers to technology or electronics sectors where costs are now relatively low but the profits can be sky-high.
Margaret Rouse (2013) defines knowledge management as “a concept in which an enterprise consciously and comprehensively gathers, organizes, shares and analyzes its knowledge in terms of resources, documents, and people skills.” Its form and practice have changed a lot as the technological developments shacked the world; ”many enterprises now have some kind of knowledge management framework in place” (Rouse, 2013). In any industry, especially in hi-tech ones, the key idea and goal of the knowledge management is to provide managers with the ability to organize and place relevant content to make certain business tasks and priorities achievable.
When the knowledge management system analyses the relationship between content, activity, people, and topics, it gives some kind of a roadmap which dictates what are the exact needs and desires of a particular person. Thus it grants individual approach and kind of attention to every customer and provides an opportunity to make more money. William King stated that “it is generally believed that if an organization can increase its effective knowledge utilization by only a small percentage, great benefits will result” (p. 1).
Knowledge management deals with one of the most difficult problems of explicating tacit knowledge and making is available for all the people. It requires lots of continuing improvements in the spheres of organizing, planning, motivating and controlling people who are engaged in these activities as well as processes and systems that ensure the improvement of knowledge-related assets.
Companies in the hi-tech industry depend on knowledge management. They are obliged to organize and plan more than companies in any other industry. “Most of the firms emphasized the acquisition phase of knowledge management more and stressed integration and commercialization less” (Lau et al., 2002) which means that benefits from new opportunities outweigh costs of interaction. Knowledge management allows building comparative advantages. The interactions between companies and research institutions have become more popular recently because hi-tech giants are constantly in a search for innovations.
Google as one of the leading companies in terms of innovation creation and implementation also is a perfect example of knowledge management can be effective. It has become a technology leader in internet business by connecting the demands of those who search with the supply of those who offer. Google built its knowledge management on four pillars – content providers, consumers, advertisers and innovators. All of them make possible multidimensional development of the internet giant (Chari, 2014).
Cade Metz in his article wrote about Google as a giant which lacks one element of the system. Payment system created by Google did not live up to expectations. However, lots of experts in the field, including Jeff Jordan, believe that substituting Android Pay with another more successful system will turn into enormous competitive advantage. “Seamless commerce is a goal many companies are chasing” (Metz, 2015) and PayPal provides an opportunity for Google to become seamless in its trade. Moreover, it will “give Google more insight into what people are doing online – and that would allow the company to hone ads in ways it never has” (Metz, 2015). This all will feed search engine with the new information very well.
If Google acquires PayPal, it will receive its own payment platform that is completely online technology. It will provide the consumers with an opportunity to “track a product from ‘saw it’ to ‘bought it’, says Jordan (Metz, 2015). The payment system will function inside the Google platform and will comprise a new pillar. No intermediary will be required for buying from the search engine directly. Despite some warnings that PayPal does not suit the Google’s needs completely, some experts state that they both can be improved to the greater extent. No one thinks of Google as of a retail company, but PayPal can make it possible and then Google will become “Amazon’s most daunting competitor” (Matz, 2015).
Moreover, the biggest Google’s competitors have already implemented their own payment systems, for example Apple has Apple Pay. Some of the competitors would like to buy PayPal themselves. Microsoft is another potential suitor. It has already gotten Skype and PayPal can be the next in its list. Facebook and Twitter, which are developing very quickly, could potentially want to buy PayPal as well. The opportunities it offers for them are pretty similar to those which Google will gain in the end. However, Jordan says that “Google is the best fit” (Metz, 2015). Such acquisition can trigger other companies in the industry to develop or acquire their own payment systems in order not to be knocked out of the market. It will lead to further tightening of competition that can result in lower prices, better quality and wider range of products. Those companies, which fail to respond to such changes in the industry, will lose their market share and clients who always choose to be serviced as conveniently and easy as possible.
References
Chari, Archana. (2014). Google and Knowledge Management. SlideShare [Presentation]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/ArchanaKC/google-and-knowledge-management
King, William. (n.d.). Knowledge Management and Organization Learning. Katz Graduate School of Business: University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved from http://www.uky.edu/~gmswan3/575/KM_and_OL.pdf
Lau, C. M., Lu, Y., Makino, S., Chen, X., Yeh, R. S. (2002). Knowledge Management of High-Tech Firms. The Management of Enterprises in the People's Republic of China, 183 – 210. Retrieved from
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN020318.pdf
Metz, Cade. (2015, January 7). One Way Google Really Take on Amazon: Buy Paypal. Wired. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/2015/07/one-way-google-really-take-amazon-buy-paypal/
Rouse, Margaret. (2013, February). Knowledge Management. SearchDomino. Retrieved from
http://searchdomino.techtarget.com/definition/knowledge-management
