As we approach the beginning of the 21 st century, we are beginning to see the emer gence of knowledge management as a natural evolution of the focus and importance of quality in the 1980s and reengineering in the I 990s. Quality placed a huge em phasis on getting all employees to use their brainpower better. Reengineering em phasized the use of technology to streamline business processes and take out costs. With the lessons of quality and reengineering firmly embedded in our everyday op e...