Knowledge management (KM) refers to a range of processes focused on organizational awareness, learning, collaboration, and innovation. It involves using and sharing knowledge to support an organization's goals.

Courses in business administration, information systems, management, libraries, and information science are all part of knowledge management, a discipline that has been around since 1991. Information and media, computer science, public health, and public policy are some of the other disciplines that may contribute to KM research.

Numerous academic institutions provide master's degrees specifically focused on knowledge management. As a component of their IT, human resource management, or business strategy departments, many large corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations have resources devoted to internal knowledge management initiatives. These organizations receive KM guidance from a number of consulting firms.

Organizational goals including enhanced performance, competitive advantage, innovation, sharing of lessons learned, integration, and ongoing organizational improvement are usually the focus of knowledge management initiatives. These initiatives are similar to organizational learning, but they can be differentiated by their increased emphasis on knowledge management as a strategic asset and information sharing. Organizational learning is facilitated by knowledge management.

The setting of supply chain may be the most challenging situation for knowledge management since it involves several businesses without a hierarchy or ownership tie; some authors refer to this type of knowledge as transorganizational or interorganizational knowledge. industry 4.0 (or 4th industrial revolution) and digital transformation also add to that complexity, as new issues arise from the volume and speed of information flows and knowledge generation.

Knowledge management efforts have a long history, including on-the-job discussions, formal apprenticeships, discussion forums, corporate libraries, professional training, and mentoring programs. With increased use of computers in the second half of the 20th century, specific adaptations of technologies such as knowledge bases, expert systems, information repositories, group decision support systems, intranets, and computer-supported cooperative work have been introduced to further enhance such efforts.

In 1999, the term personal knowledge management was introduced; it refers to the management of knowledge at the individual level.

In the enterprise, early collections of case studies recognised the importance of knowledge management dimensions of strategy, process and measurement. Key lessons learned include people and the cultural norms which influence their behaviors are the most critical resources for successful knowledge creation, dissemination and application; cognitive, social and organisational learning processes are essential to the success of a knowledge management strategy; and measurement, benchmarking and incentives are essential to accelerate the learning process and to drive cultural change. In short, knowledge management programs can yield impressive benefits to individuals and organisations if they are purposeful, concrete and action-orientated.