A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Knowledge Management

Joanne Roberts is Professor in Arts and Cultural Management and director of the Winchester Luxury Research Group at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, UK. She has held posts in the business schools of Newcastle, Durham, and Northumbria Universities, UK. Her research interests include the internationalization of knowledge-intensive services, knowledge transfer, innovation and creativity, and critical perspectives on knowledge in organization and economy. She is currently investigating knowledge and ignorance in the field of luxury. Joanne is a member of several national and international scholarly networks, for instance the Academy of International Business, the Critical Management Studies network, the British Academy of Management (BAM), and the Dynamics of Institutions and Markets in Europe (the DIME network of excellence). From 2009 to 2011 she chaired BAM’s annual conference track on Knowledge and Learning. Joanne has written extensively in the fields of business and management. She has published articles in a wide range of international journals, including the Journal of Knowledge Management, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, International Business Review, Management Learning, Research Policy, and The Service Industries Journal. In addition, Joanne is author of Multinational Business Services Firms (Ashgate, 1998) and co-editor of three books: Knowledge and Innovation in the New Service Economy, with A. Andersen, J. Howells, R. Hull and I. Miles (Edward Elgar, 2000); Living with Cyberspace, with J. Armitage (Berg, 2002); and Community, Economic Creativity and Organization, with A. Amin (Oxford University Press, 2008). Joanne is also the co-founder and co-editor of the award-winning journal Critical Perspectives on International Business; an editor of the journal Prometheus: Critical Studies in Innovation; and member of the editorial board of several journals, including Luxury: History, Culture and Consumption. She is currently co-editing Critical Luxury Studies: Art, Design, Media with John Armitage for Edinburgh University Press.

A masterly short book that offers in-depth and critical explanations on the key principles of Knowledge Management, written by an author with deep knowledge of her subject. The chapter on ignorance is worth the price alone and should be read by all practicing decision makers.

• Introduction: The Rise of Knowledge ManagementChapter 1: Situating Knowledge ManagementChapter 2: Knowledge Management?Chapter 3: Knowledge Acquisition, Retention and TransferChapter 4: Knowledge, Creativity and InnovationChapter 5: Ignorance, Forgetting and UnlearningConclusion: Looking Forward