Notions of “Corporate Memory”.

How a particular enterprise operates in ways that make it unique can be observed as implicit or explicit rules or norms, the key competencies of its people, and in the ways it utilises information. Taken collectively, this encompasses what the enterprise “knows”. Some of this knowledge resides with the people in the enterprise at the time, and some of it is documented or codified in software or procedures. Some sources of this knowledge are within the enterprise, and some outside of it. Our research has suggested that these attributes can be described as a series of eight different interlinked knowledge repositories with particular kinds of knowledge flows between them. Some knowledge repositories commonly within an enterprise are:
•Internal know-how and intellectual assets
•Unique operational rules
•Unique choices of people, technology, and systems used to implementproduction
•A data warehouse including both documents and IT databases.

Some knowledge repositories commonly outside an enterprise that influence its operations, but with unique interfaces with it are:
•Contacts and know-who
•Owner knowledge repositories and rules
•Customer preferences
•Employee / community influences (eg Unions)
As people come and go within the enterprise, the attributes of some of these repositories will change, for example in the category of contacts and know-who. Extensive use of information technology may move knowledge from one repository to another. Changes in strategy such as outsourcing can move knowledge from within an enterprise to an external repository. Some of these changes help preserve the traditional “corporate memory”, and some degrade it. The impact of the changes needs to be understood.