The viability of a Knowledge Management (KM) program varies as a function of the work performed by the company, how risk is managed, the personality and management philosophy of the Chief Of Executive Officer (CEO), and the underlying business model. Normally, management’s philosophy and the business model are in sync, either because a particular form of management is recruited to fit a particular model or because the CEO defined a business model that conformed to his or her vision. For example, CEOs who manage by control or coordination are more likely to devise a centralized business model than are CEOs whose management philosophy is based more on allocating resources or energizing employees.
The following lists are the applicability of Knowledge Management to common business models.
| Business Model | Applicability of Knowledge Management |
| Centralized | Strongly applicable when centralized leadership rewards employees for KM behaviors |
| Decentralized | Weak, because a weak central locus of information control makes it difficult to reward sharing of information between disparate groups |
| Outsourced | Weak, except for knowledge in working with and managing outside vendors |
| Insourced | Strong for an existing KM program, but weak for a new initiative because of the volatility of employee responsibility and the temporary nature of the work assignments |
| Cosourced | Variable, depending on the mix of insourced and outsourced activities and the timing of the inception of cosourcing relative to the start of the KM initiative |
| Shared services | Variable, depending on the maturity of the shared business unit |