Abstract

Customer-Knowledge-Management (CKM) concept emerges as a crucial element for customer-oriented value creation. CKM is important for collecting, collaborating, compositing and communicating customer knowledge. The study provides a synthesis of CKM and Customer-Engagement (CE) literature to further our understanding of CKM for driving customer-oriented value-chain activities. The proposed “CKM for Value Creation” theoretical framework extends the relationships among brand-communities engagement, typical consumer-relationship-management activities and CKM values. 5C (Classification, Competence, Collaboration, Composition, Communication) knowledge aspects are reviewed for achieving CKM goals. Our findings are based on a literature analysis supplemented by a case study of the most popular smartphone brand in China (Xiaomi) with data retrieved from numerous sources such as news, scholarly publications, blogs, Fan-Pages, Xiaomi online communities and experience of Xiaomi fans. The lessons learnt suggest that organizational readiness of brand-communities engagement can be crucial to creating competitive advantages through CKM. This research is one of the earliest studies that add value to the integration of CKM and CE concepts under the theoretical framework of “CKM for Value Creation’. The research also provides practical insights and a framework for implementing value-added activities, and lays a foundation for the future CKM research.