What's different about the MAKE award winners?

The MAKE awards are annual awards for the most admired Knowledge Enterprises in the world.  But what is different about the way these admired organisations approach Knowledge Management?

The MAKE awards recognise organisations for the way they add value through knowledge. Over the past 16 years, many such awards have been given out to organisations nominated by a global panel of experts to be successful over a range of knowledge-related areas.

In order to understand what's different about the winners, I have looked through the results of the 2014 Knoco KM survey, and compared the survey results from MAKE winners with results from the other organisations surveyed. 

Here's what is different.

• The MAKE winners are bigger companies. MAKE winners represented in the survey average 65000 staff, compared to the others who average 10,000. This is not surprising - the big companies are more likely to get name recognition, and KM has been a big company game.
• The MAKE winners are more multinational. MAKE winners represented in the survey are active in, on average 60 countries, compared to 20 countries for the others. This results in their being recognised more globally, and so receiving more nominations.
• The MAKE winners have been doing KM for longer. MAKE winners represented in the survey have been doing KM for 10 years on average, compared to 5 years for the others. Again, not surprising, as the long investment will have  helped KM become fully embedded.
• The MAKE winners have bigger KM teams. MAKE winners represented in the survey have KM teams with an average of 14 staff, compared to 7 for the others. This is linked to company size. 
• The MAKE winners have smaller annual budgets. MAKE winners represented in the survey have annual KM budgets which average at $165,000, compared to $600 million for the others. This is probably an effect of KM now being embedded at the MAKE winning organisations.
• The MAKE winners have delivered more value from KM. MAKE winners represented in the survey claim an average value delivery of $340 million, compared to $65 million for the others. 
• The MAKE winners are more likely to include CoPs in their KM program. 88% of the MAKE winners include communities of practice, compared to 67% of the others. 
• The MAKE winners are more likely to include Lesson learning in their KM program. 76% of the MAKE winners include lesson learning, compared to 59% of the others. 
• The MAKE winners are more likely to include Best Practice development in their KM program. 73% of the MAKE winners include communities of practice, compared to 5
  
  
  7% of the others.