Five steps to creating a global knowledge-sharing system: Siemens' ShareNet

Abstract

Executive Overview Knowledge-sharing systems have been implemented in various global companies during the last few years. However, many of them have failed because they were limited to technical solutions and did not consider the organizational and cross-cultural factors that are necessary to make a knowledge-sharing platform successful. We identified Siemens — a major player in the electronic industry — as a benchmark company in the global transfer of management knowledge. Based on in-depth interviews with executives within Siemens, we describe the five steps with which Siemens successfully established its global knowledge-sharing system “ShareNet.” The examination of Siemens' strategies for coping with the organizational and cross-cultural challenges that arose in each phase should be instructive to other organizations using or aiming to create a global knowledge-sharing system.