Imagine that you are the manager responsible for e-commerce in your selected e-business. As E-Commerce Manager, you have been asked to investigate Knowledge Management, assess its suitability as a tool to retain key corporate knowledge, and produce a report on these two aspects. Please summarise the key findings of this report in your blog posting this week. Make sure that it is specific to your company and your company’s market sector. Deadline is 6 pm Friday as originally indicated.

Knowledge Management is the process responsible for gathering, analysing, storing and sharing knowledge and information within the business of Aeropostale. The primary purpose of Knowledge Management is to improve efficiency by reducing the need to rediscover knowledge within our company. As we know e-commerce is becoming more popular as people prefer to shop online to save time and money. Within Aeropostale the e-commerce facility is set up for customers and the company tries to promote shopping online for the business. In order for Aeropostale to become competitive with their competitors they will need to take knowledge management into consideration.

A response to enable survival in this fast-paced world is to offer e-commerce which Aeropostale already does, where they are sharing existing services and products electronically through the Web. The fast sharing of know-how among employees is a necessity as without it, the company finds itself publicly stumbling through being unable to respond to the requirements of the marketplace, whether it is B2B, B2C, B2E, or 2E.

Aeropostale needs to devise a plan in order to develop their company and keep ideas free from competitors as this will help them introduce new marketing ideas for their e-commerce site. This will help them gain a competitive advantage over their competitors if they have a fresh idea that other companies have not used before.

Aeropostale as a company will need to offer incentives for staff to stay with the company at a time where the company will be changing to include new aspects of e-commerce into the business. Ideas from staff to help build upon the knowledge management idea for the business will encourage them to become more involved in the company as their ideas are being heard and acted upon. Aeropostale is a clothing company aimed at teenagers and young people and I feel they could introduce an incentive for this age group to make them feel part of the company. They have used images well to advertise the business although I feel they could introduce a logo or catchphrase for the business or increase their advertising using ideas which would encourage young people to shop online and make the service more publicly known. To do this they will need full participation of all staff and even customers to find out what they would like to see and which methods would encourage them to use the e-commerce facility. The only problem connected with this would be the leaking of information to the competitors. This will be a concern as e-commerce manager for Aeropostale although there are ways round dealing with this issue. This may include high costs for the company although if successful will be beneficial in the long run of the business.

This could be successful for Aeropostale as staff will become enthusiastic about the company and be encouraged to become more involved in business life and feel part of a wider team. The long term benefits will be more beneficial than the short problems though Aeropostale will be good. Overall this could be a huge success for the business if dealt with properly and professionally and if everyone within the business has an interest in the developments.