Knowledge Management In The Context Of Developing Countries: The Case Of Chile

In recent years, knowledge management has been widely acknowledged in the professional and academic literature as a well-established area of knowledge. Despite the initial suspicions of certain groups of experts that knowledge management was just another 'fad' (e.g. Wilson, 2002), it has, indeed, become a permanent and important issue in the management arena (Ponzi & Koenig, 2002, Rylander, 2006). However, since its origin, most research on knowledge management has been conducted in the context of developed countries, while the situation of developing countries is rarely addressed and hardly known. Underlying the current debate on knowledge management there seems to be an assumption that theories and models can be applied in different contexts and that the economic, social and cultural features of a specific nation have little impact on the application of knowledge management policies and practices. The aim of this paper is to address the little studied issue of knowledge management in the context of developing countries by describing the current state of this field in Chile and exploring how its practice, process, tools, etc., can be shaped by some of the main political, economic, social, and cultural features of this country. The article is divided into three sections: First, the importance of knowledge in the current economic environment in Chile and the presence of knowledge workers in organisations is debated, including some possible effects of the commodity-oriented economy, the precariousness of employment, and social inequalities. Second, the degree of penetration of the knowledge management approach in Chilean society is explored by discussing the presence (or absence) of knowledge management in firms, universities, and in the consultant arena. Also, data from a survey (2012) on the perception of knowledge management among engineers and managers is examined. Finally, several characteristic of Chilean culture and society are discussed in the light of existing literature in the field, and some possible consequences for knowledge management practice are described. The paper concludes that although Chile is a developing country, knowledge management should be an important element in the management of organisations. However, the evidence shows that knowledge management is not common among Chilean organisations and also that the meaning of the term remains ambiguous among knowledge workers. In most of the organisations the knowledge dimension is still underestimated by the owners, and managers tend to focus their attention on the tangible elements. Additionally, the paper concludes that cultural characteristics such as paternalism, lack of trust, and social inequality can be seen as a serious threat to knowledge management initiatives in this country.