ANALYSIS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AT

Abstract

De Beers is currently undergoing a process of change from a monopoly into a “miner of choice”; “supplier of choice and employer of choice”. This involves changes in existing processes, technology and specifically its employees, with respect to uncovering, acquiring, storing of knowledge and purging of “old” information. In this project, a knowledge management analysis framework was formulated, within the context of the De Beers’ “value chain”: Exploration, Operations and Sales. A ten-point scale survey was developed to find answers to research questions posed. The scores obtained for the knowledge intensity dimension indicate that Operations , has the highest mean score 8.17 and therefore perceives its output to be greatly affected by knowledge, in comparison to the Exploration’s score of 6.17, and Sales of 5.00. The prioritisation and detailed analysis of the five dimensions of the model developed, are presented in the report.