*2.2.3 Knowledge acquisition*

Knowledge acquisition refers to the process of understanding the need for knowledge, identifying the source of information, and undertaking the steps needed to collect it effectively and efficiently [28, 35]. This aspect of KM can be done by '… seeking, generating, creating, capturing, and collaborating on knowledge' by individuals who observe, experience, imitate, practice, or otherwise interact with others [28], p. 317. These activities can be conducted externally to the firm in order to acquire knowledge from a wide variety of stakeholders (e.g., customers, competitors, suppliers, regulators, etc.) or conducted internally from analysis of the organisation's past experiences or mistakes [28]. Internal knowledge is sometimes considered 'tacit' in that is exists within the firm but is possessed by one individual (or a close group of people) and is not readily accessible to others [28, 35].
