Knowledge management: Where did it come from and where will it go?

Knowledge management came for some as the proverbial bolt from the blue. This paper traces the history of knowledge management from its modest beginnings in the early/mid eighties to its current status. It shows that knowledge management is, to a certain extent the logical next step in a sequence of societal developments that has already been going on for a very long time. The likely future of knowledge management is explored along four perspectives: The management practices perspective, the information technology perspective, the organizational efforts perspective and the development, supply and adoption rate perspective. The conclusion is that knowledge management methods and technologies will, until the turn of the century, be provided in a 'technology push' manner After that time a more 'demand pull' way is foreseen. For the average company the full operation period will probably be in the first quarter of the next century. And, as will happen with every new approach, it will become outdated somewhere in the second quarter of the next century. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.