Patterns of gaining and sharing of knowledge about customers: a study of an Express Parcel Delivery Company

Knowledge sharing is an acknowledged pre-requisite for effective knowledge management. There is an extensive literature upon knowledge sharing practices and potential barriers. There is increasing recognition of the value of knowledge about customers within organisations. There are often several distinct avenues through which such knowledge is channelled. An assessment tool of knowledge flows is used to identify patterns in knowledge sharing for different facets of knowledge about customers within a case study organisation. An analysis is undertaken of sharing of knowledge about customers among customer service, sales and operations management teams, within the teams with peers, horizontally with other teams, and vertically within the organisation. The study demonstrates that it is possible to identify patterns of sharing knowledge about customers. The research highlights the value of the approach towards analysing knowledge sharing in organisations generally.