This case explores French consumer goods business Danone's new approach to knowledge management. Through sharing networks and casual knowledge markets, Danone had helped supervisors connect with each other and share good practices peer-to-peer, rather than relying on conventional hierarchical lines of communication or IT repositories. From the year 2004 to 2007, Mougin and his team had discovered that 5,000 Danone supervisors around the world - the firm conducted business in 120 nations - had shared about 640 now-documented good practices.
In 2007, the tactical importance of saving time in a decentralized organization through use of co-workers' good practices was put to a test. Should the knowledge management programs be extended to comprise all employees and external partners on a regular basis? And on top of sharing good practices, could it be expanded to include the creation of new alternatives and processes? Would this necessitate more tracking of results and more formalization of processes? The case exemplifies Mougin's alternatives on taking knowledge management into the future of Danone.
PUBLICATION DATE: December 11, 2007 PRODUCT #: 608107-HCB-ENG
This is just an excerpt. This case is about LEADERSHIP & MANAGING PEOPLE
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