"In order to generate extraordinary value for shareholders, a company has to learn better than its competitors and apply that knowledge throughout its businesses faster and more widely than they do. The way we see it, anyone in the organization who is not directly accountable for making a profit should be involved in creating and distributing knowledge that the company can use to make a profit." ~ John Browne, CEO, BP Amoco

Benefits of Knowledge Communities

Knowledge communities organized around the principles of entrepreneurship have the best chance at success.

Members of these communities – exciting, entrepreneurial, and highly profitable – would emulate entrepreneurs acting less like followers and more like empowered founders and builders of new organizational value.

Entrepreneurial Leader: 4 Specific Attributes

Three Steps to Establishing Knowledge Communities

Use entrepreneurial approaches to organize knowledge communities within your organization to give it what it needs most – radical innovation. To establish cross-functional knowledge communities  in your organization from scratch, you may need to go through the following three stages¹:

1. Information sharing – through task forces, cross-departmental activities, e-mail.

2. Cross-departmental Cooperation – through cross-functional teams

3. Knowledge community – a vision of knowledge community has been embraced by the organization; supportive culture and connectivity established

 Case in Point  British Petroleum