Knowledge management (KM) may refer to the ways organizations gather, manage, and use the knowledge that they acquire. The term also designates an approach to improving organizational outcomes and organizational learning by introducing into an organization a range of specific processes and practices for identifying and capturing knowledge, know-how, expertise and other intellectual capital, and for making such knowledge assets available for transfer and reuse across the organization. Knowledge management programs are typically tied to specific organizational objectives and are intended to lead to the achievement of specific targeted results such as improved performance, competitive advantage, or higher levels of innovation. While knowledge transfer (an aspect of KM) has always existed in one form or another, for example through on-the-job discussions with peers, formally through apprenticeship, professional training and mentoring programmes, and — since the late twentieth century — technologically through knowledge bases, expert systems, and other knowledge repositories, KM programs seek to consciously evaluate and manage the process of accumulation and application of intellectual capital. KM has therefore brought together various strands of thought and practice relating to: (1) intellectual capital and the knowledge worker in the knowledge economy; (2) the idea of the learning organization; (3) various enabling organizational practices such as Communities of Practice and corporate Yellow Page directories for accessing key personnel and expertise; (4) and various enabling technologies such as knowledge bases and expert systems, help desks, corporate Intranets and extranets, Content Management, Wikis, and Document Management. While Knowledge Management programs are closely related to Organizational Learning initiatives, Knowledge Management may be differentiated from Organizational Learning by its greater focus on the management of specific knowledge assets. The rise of KM has seen an increasing understanding of the relevance of the distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge, sophisticated perspectives on the management, assessment and use of intellectual capital, and the emergence of new organizational roles and responsibilities such as the position of Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO).