I agree that knowledge loss is a symptom of other structural -- and cultural -- problems. But be careful generalizing about companies never giving any thought to organizational learning. Companies never think. People do. And, in practice, one part of the organization might be very effective at transferring and retaining knowledge, while the rest is terrible. One of the reasons knowledge retention is such a challenge is that it's such a patchwork problem, given the different "types" of knowledge that need to be transferred. It's also a challenge that requires both skill and will to solve, as I explained in a recent post ( http://www.smartworkforcestrategies.com/Blog/tabid/167/entryid/105/121-autosave.aspx ) "Is Your Looming Talent Gap a Shortage of Skill or Will?" Different scenarios require different strategies.