The impact of knowledge sharing on efficiencies within a pharmaceutical organization: A conceptual framework in knowledge management

It is known that the proper utilization of knowledge can lead to improved organizational performance. Within marketing departments of organizations, a diverse base of knowledge is required to understand customer needs. Because there is an assumption that marketing departments within pharmaceutical companies are not sharing customer knowledge, this study focused on understanding if this lack of knowledge sharing leads to inefficiencies. The purpose of this study was to develop a conceptual framework to improve efficiencies between marketing departments of a pharmaceutical organization that share similar market dynamics. The objectives of this study were to: describe how customer knowledge is collected, stored, and integrated within an organization; identify knowledge barriers within an organization's marketing departments; and, develop a knowledge integration process to improve efficiencies. A mixed method approach was employed to develop a conceptual framework of knowledge management. This framework was based on a lack of knowledge sharing goals between the business units.