An Analysis of Knowledge Management at Apple Inc. Practices

This report examines the knowledge management (KM) strategies of Apple Inc. It begins by defining KM and its importance, highlighting the significance of sharing, creating, and managing knowledge within a company to enhance efficiency and profitability. The report then reviews relevant literature, emphasizing the role of KM in boosting decision-making, providing employees with access to expertise, and the potential risks of information leaks. The discussion section focuses on Apple's vision of innovation and its commitment to delivering high-quality products. It explores Apple's emphasis on employee knowledge, the establishment of its own university to provide training and information, and the benefits of these practices in terms of operational success, innovation, and employee skill development. The report concludes by summarizing the importance of KM for businesses and the specific strategies employed by Apple Inc., while also acknowledging the potential security concerns associated with KM and recommending careful management of sensitive information. The report uses the Techno-centric theory of KM which focuses on technology and process of designing technology to enable knowledge flow and storage of information.

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Introduction
Knowledge management (KM) is considered to be the method of sharing, creating, using
and also managing knowledge and necessary information of a company (Santoro et al 2018).
Knowledge management has become a huge priority in recent times and major companies are
seen to invest on knowledge management to operate efficiently to generate profits. However, one
of the key issues that knowledge management faces is security and confidentiality. This paper
will provide a small research on the company, Apple Inc. and will provide the vision, concepts
and activities undertaken by the company to ensure knowledge management.
Literature review
Knowledge management has gained importance in recent times and is considered to be
vital for organisations. Jyoti and Rani (2017) states KM helps in boosting the efficiency of the
ability of decision making of an organisation. According to scholars, KM helps in making sure
employees have proper access to the expertise that are within a firm and helps in creating a
smarter workforce (Carvalho 2018). However, according to scholars, providing access to
necessary information to employees can bring negative impacts as well as they can leak the
information that is detrimental to an organisation (Kim and Kim 2017). There are many KM
theories and one of the most important theories of KM that can be aligned with the issue is
Techno-centric theory that mainly emphasizes on the technology and also the process of
designing the technology enablers in order to help in knowledge flow and also storage of the
necessary information (Castaneda, Manrique and Cuellar 2018). Storing important information is

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highly important and if the necessary information is leaked then it can negatively impact the
organisation as they might not have a competitive advantage in the market.
Discussion
From the above literature review, it can be derived that knowledge management is highly
important and helps in enhancing the quality of operations of an organisation. The vision of
Apple Inc. is that the company is always determined in order to be innovative and deliver high
quality and premium products to their clients (Arocha 2017). Apple Inc. highly believes in
innovation and provides their customers with unique products that are irreplicable in the market
that has helped the company gain a positive reputation in the market and has also helped the
company in gaining competitive advantage in the market that has helped Apple in creating loyal
fan base of the company.
Apple highly believes in knowledge management and thinks that it is important for
employees to know the company, the culture of the organisation and have knowledge about the
company in details in order to operate in the manner the company desires. Steve Jobs was not
very happy with the business graduates as he felt that the traditional education did not help them
in develop the key competency and necessary skills that is required to work in the company
Apple. He believed that proper knowledge management is important among the employees so
that they understand what exactly needs to be done in the company and understand what the
company exactly expects out of their employees.
Apple Inc. had been highly focusing on knowledge management and in order to hire
efficient employees have established their own university where they provide the necessary
information about the history of Apple, provide courses that help the employees of the company

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develop necessary skills that are necessary to work in the organisation and also provide the
necessary information they need in order to operate in the company (Business Insider 2015). The
establishment of the university by the company shows the importance they put in knowledge
management. The establishment of the university has been highly beneficial for Apple and also
the employees of the company. The proper knowledge management of the company has not only
led to operating the business in a successful manner; bring new innovations to the business that
provides the company with leverage in the market but has also helped in enhancing the
knowledge and skills of the employees and have helped in preparing them to provide the
expected as well as the desired outcomes that determine the success of the company.
Conclusion
In recent times, majority of the businesses have been seen to emphasize on knowledge
management as a key aspect of a business. It has been seen that major companies like Apple Inc.
have been focusing on knowledge management that has made them open their own university
that helps in providing knowledge to the employees of the organisation and also help them
develop the necessary skills and also provide information that is necessary to bring
organizational benefits to the company. However, it has been identified that knowledge
management can bring issues as well like security issues where informations might be leaked
that are detrimental to an organisation and thus it is recommended that Apple Inc. manages
knowledge management efficiently and reveal secretive and necessary information to the right
people and not to everyone.

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Reference
Arocha, J.B., 2017. Getting to the Core: A Case Study on the Company Culture of Apple Inc.
Business Insider, 2015. Here's What It's Like To Attend Apple's Secret University. [online]
Business Insider. Available at: <https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/heres-what-its-like-to-
attend-apples-secret-university/articleshow/46138605.cms> [Accessed 15 April 2020].
Carvalho, T.D., 2018. A Knowledge Management Project for the Sustainable Growth of a
Workforce Management Team.
Castaneda, D.I., Manrique, L.F. and Cuellar, S., 2018. Is organizational learning being absorbed
by knowledge management? A systematic review. Journal of Knowledge Management.
Jyoti, J. and Rani, A., 2017. High performance work system and organisational performance:
Role of knowledge management. Personnel Review.
Kim, S.S. and Kim, Y.J., 2017. The effect of compliance knowledge and compliance support
systems on information security compliance behavior. J. Knowledge Management, 21(4),
pp.986-1010.
Santoro, G., Vrontis, D., Thrassou, A. and Dezi, L., 2018. The Internet of Things: Building a
knowledge management system for open innovation and knowledge management
capacity. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 136, pp.347-354.