92 Copyright © 2016, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 5 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-9720-1.ch005 ABSTRACT This chapter explains the role of knowledge management systems, whether technology-based or people- based, in service supply chain management. A systematic literature review was carried out to identify relevant examples of both successful and unsuccessful knowledge management systems. These are ana- lyzed in terms of process, people and technology aspects, and the activities in the knowledge life-cycle (create, acquire, store, use, refne, transfer) that they support. These include systems used within a single organization, systems shared with supply chain partners, and systems shared with customers, the latter being the least common. Notable features are that more systems support knowledge exploitation than knowledge exploration, and that general-purpose software (e.g., internet search, database) is used more than software specifc to knowledge management (e.g., data mining, “people fnder”). The widespread use of mobile devices and social media ofers both an opportunity and a challenge for future knowledge management systems development. INTRODUCTION This chapter takes the starting point that, with the move towards the servitization of manufacturing (Lightfoot, Baines, & Smart, 2013), all supply chains are service supply chains. Communication and collaboration between supply chain partners is central to effective performance; the focus in this chapter is on one aspect of this - knowledge. We will not attempt to define knowledge precisely here: philoso- phers have addressed this issue for millennia without reaching universal agreement. Rather, we take the pragmatic stance that knowledge is whatever the people involved in a particular supply chain system say that it is. We do however need to define both knowledge management and, in the next section, knowledge management systems. Systems for Knowledge Management along the Supply Chain John S. Edwards Aston University, UK