Knowledge Creation Cycle

Organizational knowledge takes many forms, including; product knowledge, process knowledge, competitive knowledge, technical knowledge, knowledge about customers, and knowledge about supply chains. The consistent components of these types of knowledge are the organizational context and the ways in which they are created — the knowledge creation cycle.

Knowledge within organizations is created in two distinct cycles, personal and collective. While these two cycles and types of knowledge are created and often used differently, they are interrelated. Personal knowledge when applied within the organizational context generates new knowledge for the individual that can then be applied to the organization, creating or enhancing the organization’s knowledge.