The Importance of Knowledge Management in Construction Firms

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION

1.1 - Problem Statement

In the Hong Kong Government 2009/2010 Policy address (2009), our Chief

Executive addressed that, Hong Kong has to enhance the competitiveness and

evolve into a high value-added and knowledge-based economy to maintain the

leading position over the world. Professional services are one of the four

well-developed pillar industries in Hong Kong. Knowledge has become an

enormous capital asset of Hong Kong.

Drucker (1999), states that the most valuable assets of a 20th-century company

were its production equipment. The most valuable asset of a 21st-century

institution, whether business or non-business, will be its knowledge workers and

their productivity. In the 21st century, we have already stepped into knowledge

ages and definitively Hong Kong has changed from industrial age into

information age. Citizens in this new era rely on personal skills, professions and

wisdom, in comparison to those in 1950 - 60s, who earn their living by

workforce.

The meanings of success have changed from ability of making product to ability

of utilizing and generating knowledge. Knowledge becomes a crucial resource

and asset towards success nowadays. Accordingly the ability of managing

knowledge is one of the most competitive factors in information age.

PERSONAL INFORMATION/ KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT BY

CONSTRUCTION PROFESSIONALS

Chapter 1 Introduction 2

Terminology of personal knowledge management (PKM) referred to the

management of knowledge at the individual level. Proposed by Efimova (2005),

personal knowledge management is an approach to complement organizational

Knowledge Management (KM) by focusing on the ways to support knowledge

productivity of an individual knowledge worker.

Suggested by Drucker (1999), Fifty years from now the leadership of the world

economy will have moved to the countries and to the industries that have most

systematically and most successfully raised knowledge worker productivity.

Many knowledge scholars and entrepreneurs have recognized the importance of

the individual-based knowledge management and started to motivate it.

Nevertheless, most of the current literatures of knowledge management (KM)

usually focus on organizational-based knowledge management (OKM). In reality

many entrepreneurs