Business Transformation Powered by Knowledge Management in the Context of Corporate Sustainability

The economic objectives in the different stages of the development of industrial era enterprises were operationalised by changing paradigms. After the industrial revolution and mass production stages, the economies of scale paradigm was followed by the waste elimination paradigm initiated by Toyota, based on the assumption that it is possible to reduce the costs of producing a car without employing the economies of scale. Lean companies improved their ability to meet individual customer needs but continued to be equipped with capital-intensive fixed assets with limited flexibility, thus seeking to extend product series and life cycles. The development of technology accompanying the above organisational changes aimed at increasing the agility of enterprises and the concept of KM 4.0 concluded the fourth stage of industrial production development. A new market objectives of enterprises was the customisation of a product to the individual requirements of a specific customer, characteristic of engineering-to-order production, but with the guarantee of low prices and short delivery cycle times typical of mass production. This paper addresses the issue of the relationship between the level of incorporation of KM 4.0 methods and tools allowing for transformation from Mass production to Mass Customization and the possibility of achieving objectives in terms of economic, human resources and environmental aspects. The empirical research covered 150 medium-sized and large enterprises operating in Poland in various industries. In summary, it can be concluded that there is a correlation between the implementation level of chosen KM 4.0 methods and tools supporting product customisation and the level of efficiency in terms of achieving "triple bottom line" goals in the aspect of economics, the aspect of human resources and the aspect of ecological goals. The methods indicated above largely concern operational and production processes and allow flexible delivery of highly customised products at a price comparable to that of mass products. The conditions and developments in the knowledge economy mean that modern organisations need to build an organisational strategy based at an operational level on KM methods and tools.