The World Bank's decision to embrace knowledge management in the mid-1990s was rooted in turning internal knowledge into commercial success, achieving operational excellence, and forming more intimate ties with external customers.Since that time, it has been a best-practice example for managing a successful knowledge management initiative. The World Bank Profile: Best Practices in Knowledge Management is the first in a series of publications that compiles years of benchmarking research and tells the story of an organization's continuous improvement efforts. Unlike a report that simply indicates an organization's current perspective, this series details research from the early days of improvement efforts through the organization's mature outlook as it experiences successes.