The Journal of Applied Business Research – January/February 2014 Volume 30, Number 1 Copyright by author(s); CC-BY 83 The Clute Institute Developing Knowledge Management Implementation Frameworks: Implications From Translation Perspective Linh-Chi Vo, Ecole de Management de Normandie, France Eléonore Mounoud, Ecole Centrale Paris, France ABSTRACT Knowledge management implementation frameworks in the literature tend to provide one-fit-all models, assuming homogeneous organizational contexts and passive recipient organizations. This is an important drawback, as knowledge management (KM), like any management concepts, evolves in implementation through custom adaptation and reconfiguration by local actors to become meaningful and suitable within specific organizational settings. This helps explain why a significant portion of KM initiatives fails despite considerable resources and commitment of the organizations. Therefore, it is necessary that directions be provided to help KM implementation frameworks take into consideration the evolution of KM in the organizations. We introduce translation perspective as an appropriate theoretical foundation to meet this need. This perspective argues that a management concept, when moving from one context to another, is implemented in a new way by local actors in accordance with local conditions. This process is called “translation”. Two real-life examples of KM implementation are provided to illustrate the essence of translation. Relying on translation perspective, we discuss important guiding principles for developing KM implementation frameworks. The discussion is made in light of the common features of the existing frameworks to show how translation perspective contributes to enhancing the KM literature. Keywords: Translation Perspective; Knowledge Management; Implementation Framework INTRODUCTION nowledge management (KM) has become a term commonly used in today’s business environment. A significant number of organizations have invested in various KM programs in their efforts to enhance organizational performance. The preoccupation now is not whether organizations need KM or not, but rather how they can implement and manage it (Wong & Aspinwall, 2004). To this end, research has been devoted to developing KM implementation frameworks, which serve as guidance for organizations in implementing KM. However, the extant research focuses on providing one-fit-all models, implying their universal application across organizations. We argue that although KM may be “the most universal management concept in history” (Takeuchi, 2001), it cannot be adopted and then implemented by user organizations as “off-the-shelf” solution. It rather evolves during the implementation process through custom adaptation and reconfiguration by local actors to become meaningful and suitable within specific organizational contexts (Robertson, Swan, & Newell, 1996). KM implementation frameworks in the literature have not been able to take into account this dynamics. This is because of their underlying assumptions that organizations are homogeneous (Ansari, Fiss, & Zajac, 2010), and that the organizations adopting the concept are passive followers (Huczynski, 1993). We claim that this omission is an important drawback, which contributes to the failure of many KM programs despite significant efforts from the organizations (Storey & Barnett, 2000). In this article, we present translation perspective as an appropriate theoretical foundation to fill this need. This theory has been largely mobilized in studies on the implementation of management concepts (Ansari, Fiss, & K