Meyer and Zack KM

Cycle
Members:
Mohd Asri Omar
Mohd Fauzi Ibrahim
Wan Nazri Wan Daud
 Table of Contents
 Introduction  Repository(1-2)
 Meyer and Zack KM cycle  Conclusion
process (stages)  References
 Acquire
 Refine
 Store
 Distribute
 Present
 Introduction
 The Meyer and Zack KM cycle is derived from work on the
design and development of information products (Meyer
and Zack 1996).
 Lessons learned from the physical products cycle can be
applied to the management of knowledge assets.
 Information products are broadly defined as any
information sold to internal or external customers such as
databases, news synopses, customer profiles, and so
forth.
 Meyer and Zack (1996) propose that research and
knowledge about the design of physical products can be
extended into the intellectual realm to serve as the basis
for a KM cycle.
Meyer and Zack KM cycle processes (1)

Table 1: Meyer and Zack Cycle Stages

Mayer and Zack KM cycle processes (2)

Technologies Facilities

Processes

Figure 1: Composition of elements in Mayer and Zack KM cycle

Mayer and Zack KM cycle processes
 The Meyer and Zack KM cycle processes are composed of the
technologies, facilities, and processes for manufacturing products
and services.
 Information products are best viewed as a repository comprising
information content and structure.
 Information content is the data held in the repository that
provides the building blocks for the resulting information
products.
 The content is unique for each type of business or organization.
 Banks have content relating to personal and commercial
accounts
 Insurance companies hold information on policies and claims
 Pharmaceutical companies have a large body of scientific and
marketing knowledge around each product under design or
currently sold.
Acquire
 Acquisition of data or information addresses the issues
regarding sources of raw materials such as scope,
breadth, depth, credibility, accuracy, timeliness,
relevance, cost, control, exclusivity, and so on.
 The guiding principle is the well-known adage of
“garbage in garbage out” that is, source data must be
of the highest quality, otherwise the intellectual
products produced downstream will be inferior.
Refine
 Refinement is the primary source of added value. This refinement may be
physical
 (e.g., migrating form one medium to another) or logical (restructuring,
relabeling, indexing, and integrating).
 Refining also refers to cleaning up (e.g., sanitizing content so as to ensure
complete anonymity of sources and key players involved) or standardizing
 (e.g., conforming to templates of best practice or lessons learned as used
within that particular organization).
 Statistical analyses can be performed on content at this stage to conduct a meta-
analysis
 (e.g., a high-level summary of key themes, or patterns found in a collection
of knowledge objects).
 This stage of the Meyer and Zack cycle adds value by creating more readily
usable knowledge objects and by storing the content more flexibly for future
use.
Store
 Storage/retrieval forms a bridge between the
upstream acquisition and refinement stages that
feed the repository and downstream stages of
product generation.
 Storage may be physical (fi le folders, printed
information) or digital (database, knowledge
management software).
Distribute

 Distribution describes how the product is

delivered to the end user (e.g., fax, print, e-mail)
and encompasses not only the medium of delivery
but also its timing, frequency, form, language,
and so on.
Present
 Distribution describes how the product is
delivered to the end user (e.g., fax, print, e-mail)
and encompasses not only the medium of delivery
but also its timing, frequency, form, language,
and so on.
Repository (1)
 The repository becomes the foundation upon which a firm
creates its family of information and knowledge products.
 This means that the greater the scope, depth, and complexity,
the greater the flexibility for deriving products and thus the
greater the potential variety within the product family.
 Such repositories often form the first kernel of an organizational
memory or corporate memory for the company.
 Meyer and Zack analysed the major developmental stages of a
knowledge repository and these stages were mapped on to a KM
cycle consisting of acquisition, refinement, storage/retrieval,
distribution, and presentation/use.
Repository (2)
 The repository and the refinery together enable the
management of valuable knowledge of a firm.
 They need to in turn be supported by the firm’s core
capabilities in information technology, internal
knowledge about their business, external knowledge
about current and emerging environments as well as
how it organizes and manages itself.
 The flexibility with which the firm can create content-
based products forms the basis of the firm’s ability to
realize market leverage from its information assets.
Figure 2: Detailed View of Zack Information Cycle
Conclusion
 The Meyer and Zack model is one of the most
complete descriptions of the key elements
involved in the knowledge management model.
 Its strength derives primarily from its
comprehensive information-processing paradigm
that is almost completely adaptable to
knowledge-based content.
 In particular, the notion of refinement is a crucial
stage in the KM cycle and one that is often
neglected.
References
 Meyer , M. , and M. Zack . 1996 . The design and implementation of
information products. Sloan Management Review 37 ( 3 ): 43 – 59 .
 Dalkir, K. (2011). Knowledge management in theory and practice. MIT press
 Designing Knowledge Management – Enabled Business Strategies: A Top-Down
Approach - http://www.springer.com/978-3-319-33893-4