Strategic planning, hypercompetition, and knowledge management

When both product and resource markets are turbulent and disruptive, competitive advantage has to be continually renewed. But a firm can do this only be managing its knowledge. Using two elements of strategic planning - scenario building and internal situation analysis - managers can map and integrate knowledge to gain a sustainable competitive edge in today's hypercompetitive markets. Strategic planning provides both the structure and context for mapping and integrating knowledge. As a process to identify knowledge gaps, it can transform a firm into a learning organization and create conditions for superior performance. Making knowledge management an integral components of strategic planning allows firms to tap into a source of competitive advantage that cannot be easily copied. Organizational knowledge, renewable and unique to the firms, resides in the employees; the more they know, the more they can learn.