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One of our nation’s founding fathers, James Madison, said, “Knowledge will forever
govern ignorance; and people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the
power which knowledge gives.” (Lewis). Information surrounds us in every part of our lives but
in order for a company to harness or “arm” ourselves with this information, it needs to be
consolidated into a dynamic system that is readily available. This paper will review the
knowledge management efforts of Frito-Lay and the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) to show
Both Frito-Lay and RTA seemed to work from the same understanding that the
intellectual assets within the corporation were unique sources, critical functions and potential
bottlenecks that could affect the flow of knowledge to the point of use. They understood that
management of corporate knowledge protected these intellectual assets from decay and enhanced
decision making opportunities. (KM Forum). Frito-Lay wanted to capture the best practices
within the company and provide employees with corporate information. (Shein, 2001). RTA
wanted to support less experienced staff with effective information. (Robertson, 2001) The
management of corporate knowledge would help them address these goals and help them reach
Frito-Lay and RTA faced similar dilemmas within their corporation. There was no
centralized area where corporate knowledge could be consolidated and made available to their
employees. Frito-Lay had knowledge trapped in files scattered around the company in different
systems and geographically separated sales staff that could not easily access that needed
information. (Shein, 2001). RTA on the other hand, had their information tied into current
manuals and call centers. RTA had to review the information available and restructure or rewrite
it, to bring it up to date and make it easy to read. (Robertson, 2001). Both Frito-Lay and RTA
needed some way to consolidate their information and make it readily available to their staff and
users.
corporate knowledge from staff and existing manuals. Frito-Lay had a system developed meet
three goals: to streamline knowledge, exploit customer-specific data and foster team
collaboration. This would be accomplished through the development of an intranet portal that
would consolidate the wealth of knowledge of experts and make it available to staff in the field.
(Shein, 2001). RTA needed a system that would meet their goals of: improved service and
information to customers, bridge new employee knowledge gap of policies and procedures,
reduce training costs, reduce average call handling time, and reduce escalation to the team
leaders and help desk. This was accomplished through a proven XML-based publishing system
Both knowledge management systems were effective in meeting the goals of the
respective companies. Frito-Lay experienced a doubled growth rate of their customers business.
Sales teams were enthusiastic about the system because it decreased the travel requirement and
increased esprit-de-corps and relationship building. The portal has also boosted employee
retention rates thus decreasing the cost of training new employees. All of these benefits from the
system have a direct effect upon the bottom line and continued successful operations. The RTA
project was also received enthusiastically by the end users and managers. However, the project
requires continued information capture, review and publishing throughout daily operations. This
is true for Frito-Lay as well, if the information capture does not continue then it will become
stale and users will lose confidence and stop using the systems.
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and people who mean to be their own
governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” (Lewis). To realize
success people must invest in or arm themselves with the information around them. Frito-Lay
and RTA realized the value of consolidating their corporate knowledge in a way that extended
benefits to the bottom line. People and corporations must treat knowledge and information like
the salty treats sold by Frito-Lay: “betcha you can't eat just one.” (Wikipedia).
References
KM Forum. (n.d.). KM Forum Archives -- The Early Days: What is Knowledge Management. Retrieved
August 18, 2007 from www.km-form.org/what_is.htm.
Lewis, J. (n.d.). Knowledge Quotes From Wisdom Quotes: Quotations to inspire and challenge. Retrieved
August 18, 2007 from www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_knowledge.html.
Robertson, J. (2001). Knowledge management project for Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA). Retrieved
August 18, 2007 from www.steptwo.com.au/papers/rta/index.html.
Shein, E. (2001). Case Study: Frito-Lay Sales Force Sells More Through Information Collaboration.
Retrived August 18, 2007 from
www.cio.com/article/30167/Case_Study_Frito_Lay_Sales_Force_Sells_More_Through_Informa
tion_Collaboration.