649b Sustainability through Knowledge Management

James B. Porter Jr., DuPont, 1007 Market St, Wilmington, DE 19898-0001

Among the many tools and techniques that companies can implement to become more sustainable is effective management of their information assets. Sustainability requires a current, comprehensive awareness of the corporate "footprint" to properly assess alternatives for taking advantage of new opportunities and optimizing external impacts. In large organizations, where such information is both voluminous and complex, knowledge management can support more efficient and effective user access to and detailed analysis of information. In addition, effective dissemination of information about new and more sustainable business methods and offerings can lead to faster implementation across the enterprise. Knowledge management techniques are available to facilitate these communications and the extraction and synthesis of relevant knowledge from business performance data.