Knowledge has emerged as the most critical resource for wealth creation and sustainable competitive advantage. I conducted research to study what Indian firms are doing to leverage knowledge, especially to gauge their expectations and the problems they are facing. To have a macro view of the situation, I asked experts from industry, academia and policy makers about knowledge management (KM) strategies in Indian companies. To have the micro view, I selected five firms each from two industries: software and pharmaceuticals, and four firms from the petroleum marketing sector, thus covering both the private and public sectors. Though Indian firms expect a lot of benefits out of KM, there are obstacles to its implementation particularly due to lack of awareness of KM and knowledge-hoarding culture. Indian firms, especially those in the public sector, need to invest and leverage knowledge resources for competing in this era of privatization, liberalization and globalization.
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