Knowledge Management Strategy for Apple

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Introduction
Knowledge management strategy can be defined as a plan that an organization comes up with in
order to manage its information and knowledge better. This will be of benefit to the organization
and to the stakeholders at large. A KM strategy that is good is that which goes hand in hand with
the overall strategy and objectives of the organization. A KM strategy can positively and also
significantly affect the innovation of the organization. For a company such as apple it has to
develop a KM strategy as they have to deal with the ever changing business environment.
Background
Apple is a leading phone company which has over the years continued to release various
products into the market. Its main objective is to be the trend setter in the market by introducing
something new and exciting to the world. They can achieve this through a team of developers
whose main work is to carry out strong research (Bratianu, and Bolisani, 2015). Also they strive to
lead in innovation and to constantly dictate the pace and the movement of technology in the
world. In order for them to achieve this, they must study the market on what the consumers need
at all times.
Apple has a hierarchical structure that is led by the CEO and the vice presidents. They are in
charge of addressing the business needs of the company. The second structure is one referred to
as the product based.it comprises of senior vice presidents who are in charge of advancing the
specific products in the market (Donate, and de Pablo, 2015). The last structure is one known as
the weak functional matrix that ensures interaction among various components of the
organization. The structure mainly deals with innovation process which goes a long way in
supporting development of the brands and pricing strategies.( Nonaka, and Toyama, 2015.)
Approach used in Developing KM strategy
The organization can decide to use an internal approach whereby they will look into the
strategies that they have and formulate based on the same. This is a more reliable approach as the
organization will have first-hand information on the strategies and objectives they have and thus
is easier to develop and align the KM strategy with that of the company. Also they can decide to
go for external sources by observing the changing market behavior which will inform their

strategy or through data publications of various strategies employed by other organizations.
( Donate, and de Pablo, 2015.)
Knowledge gap analysis
This is the process by which the organization critically analyses the knowledge resource that it
possesses and also those that it doesn’t have. By undertaking this process, the organization is
able to understand better on what it requires to do to achieve its goals (Inkinen, 2016). Also,
through the knowledge gap analysis, the organization recognizes the knowledge that they do
have and work on improving or enriching it more for the benefit of the company.in terms of the
knowledge that is lacking in the organization, the company is able to formulate strategies and
policies that will go towards achieving them in order to make the company competitive (Hislop,
Bosua, and Helms, 2018).
In looking at this and in reference to Apple as a company, we will analyse the same in three main
categories which are:
 Operation infrastructure
 Technological infrastructure
 Cultural infrastructure
Operation infrastructure
Apple has to look into its operations and try to find out the gaps that may be present. They have
to identify the knowledge that are missing and which might make them not achieve their targets.
This may be on how the business is operated on a day to day basis, lack of adequate information
that is been disseminated to employees, gaps in the distribution process and several other
operation features. . The second structure is one referred to as the product based.it comprises of
senior vice presidents who are in charge of advancing the specific products in the market. The
last structure is one known as the weak functional matrix that ensures interaction among various
components of the organization.
For a gap such as in the distribution process, they will have to identify the weak link and gather
enough knowledge that will be used to correct the mistakes and thus make the process even
better.