Data, Information, and Knowledge

Abstract

This chapter examines the similarities and differences between big data and knowledge management. Big data has relatively little conceptual development, at least from a strategy and management perspective. Knowledge management has a lengthy literature and decades of practice but has always explicitly focused only on knowledge assets as opposed to precursors like data and information. Even so, there are considerable opportunities for cross-fertilization. Consequently, this chapter considers data from McKinsey Global Strategies on data holdings, by industry, and contrasts that with data on knowledge development, essentially the intangible assets found in the same industries. Using what we know about the variables influencing the application of intangible assets such as knowledge and intelligence, we can then better identify where successful employment of big data might take place. Further, we can identify specific variables with the potential to grant competitive advantage from the application of big data and business analytics.