Knowledge as an item, also knows as a product, object, entity or asset.

The "product" approach implies that knowledge is a thing that can be located and manipulated as an independent object.
Adopting the "knowledge as a product" approach means treating knowledge as an entity rather separate from the people who create and use it. The typical goal is to take documents with explicit knowledge embedded in them - memos, reports, presentations, articles, etc. - and store them in a repository where they can be easily retrieved.

Examples of companies that aim at a continual enhancement of their knowledge base - the collection of best practices, methods and reusable work products - include General Motors, Glaxo Wellcome and DaimlerChrysler