For centuries, business has sought a competitive advantage that would allow it to serve customers as efficiently as possible, maximize profits, develop loyal customers, and keep the competition at bay, regardless of the product or service. In Mesopotamia about 5,000 years ago, people began to lose track of the thousands of baked-clay tablets used to record legal contracts, tax assessments, sales and law. The solution was the library, which was the start of the first institution dedicated to Knowledge Management. However, access to the information they contained was largely restricted to political and religious leaders – the elite class, who either understood the language in which the tablets were written or could afford to have the works translated into their native tongue. Things improved for the public with the invention of the printing press and the practice of printing, in the common language during the Renaissance [1].  

For centuries in the commercial world, professional expertise was passed on through apprenticeships and various forms of collective memory. This changed with the introduction of the assembly line as a method of production. The assembly lines provided the structural memory for the process involved in the production of several goods, the design of which enabled mass production. This trend is reflected in recent times in the industrial era where the main competitive advantages originated from lower production cost and higher productivity. 

In today’s economy, learning and knowledge have become key success factors for international competitiveness with the result that intangible resources have become vitally important. Companies have seen the competitive battlefield shift from tangible resources (capital, raw materials, land, machinery, etc) to intangible resources where elements like knowledge and the ability to manage it (knowledge management) play a crucial role for business success. Knowledge has become the primary resource for power, prestige and creating wealth in the modern economy and society. The generation, acquisition and use of knowledge have become vital in sustaining economic, social and cultural development. This applies equally to individuals, organisations, public sector bodies, companies, whole regions and even states. 

The modern economic environment is characterized by economic volatility, high employee turnover and international shifts in political power, global competition and rapid change. As a result, the modern business organization cannot compete effectively in the marketplace without skilled managers and employees. The methods for managing their knowledge and all the processes and technologies involved in the business, including information technology, are vitally important. 

In the following paragraphs, therefore, some of the main elements of this new management approach will be discussed and examined, as well as a presentation on some of the main knowledge characteristics and types of knowledge as well as the main KM processes.