The main reasons for the failure of Alpha were as follows:
• Knowledge was managed within silo-oriented communities.
Thus, business-critical knowledge that straddled across multiple
functional groups was neglected.
• There was an over-reliance on IT systems to manage knowledge in
Alpha. Tacit knowledge and behavioral issues, on the other hand,
received insufficient attention.
• Three different external consulting firms were engaged at different
stages of Alpha’s development. Inputs from these consultants
confounded instead of facilitated the KM initiative.
• As time passed, the cost to sustain the KM initiative ballooned
beyond control. The management decided to cut its losses and
terminated the initiative altogether.