Corporations, especially large global corporations, are needlessly spending money on training and development to "gain" knowledge that they already have. The larger the company, the more information they don't know they have.
Here is an example of what happens: Department A decides it needs someone to understand how to sell its services to Japanese companies. They commission a study and hire external consultants to teach them what they need to know. On the face of it, this is a wise investment. However, it is unfortunate that they didn't know Department B has great expertise in this area. A great deal of time and money has been wasted reinventing the wheel.
Managing knowledge means finding ways to create, identify, capture and distribute organizational knowledge to those in the organization who need it. Knowledge management is essential for preserving, maintaining and empowering the social/intellectual capital of an organization.