Tim Wood Powell     The value of knowledge

Knowledge Value Chain®

Your enterprise — business, government agency, NGO, even your family or household — has, as its ultimate purpose, producing value — results, outcomes, and impact in some specific form, for example:

• Profits and shareholder returns – if you are a business
• Patient health and outcomes – if you are a medical provider
• A better world, in some specific way – if you are a social enterprise or NGO
• Satisfied customers and clients – in all cases
• Productive and fulfilled employees – in all cases

In order to achieve that purpose, and all the goals that support it, you take actions that are based on group decisions.  The best decisions — those that produce optimal outcomes — are typically those that are based on the best knowledge (i.e., the most timely, most accurate, most relevant, etc.)

In short, there are direct linkages between (1) how your organization produces value and (2) how it acquires and processes knowledge — that is, how it “thinks”.  The KVC framework describes these linkages.

How is the KVC different?

You’re probably aware that there are other frameworks that have Data, Information, and Knowledge at base.  We call these DIKx models — “x” being Wisdom or something equally lofty.

Several factors differentiate the KVC model:

• The KVC makes knowledge, not the end point, but an enabling deliverable on the road to value (i.e., business results, outcomes, and impact)
• The KVC details the actions needed to move from one step to the next
• The KVC explicitly considers the users of knowledge (i.e, the knowledge demand side)

As one client put it, “I thought [the KVC] was a really useful diagram due to [its showing] the actions needed to move through the stages and that it didn’t just stop at knowledge like a lot of the others.”

Who benefits most from the KVC?

The KVC can help anyone—in any industry—who produces, manages, or uses information to help organizations achieve their strategic and tactical goals. The greatest benefits are typically experienced in:

How can I learn more?

Three easy steps will take you there:

1. Start by watching this short intro video.
2. Then buy the KVC Handbook listed on the front page.
3. Even better, contact us and we’ll tell you more.