Apple's revamped ipad will be hard for its competitors to beat ‘When the ipad 1 was launched in 2010, it was dubbed the ‘jesus tablet' because of the quasi religious fervour with which it was greeted by consumers worldwide, who have since snapped up more than 15 million of them. Now apple wants to create even more converts. On 2^nd March 2011, Steve Jobs, its boss, introduced the ipad 2, a revamped version that will compete with a host of rivals now coming to market.

The ipad 2 is considerably thinner, lighter and faster than its predecessor and offers video conferencing and other capabilities whose absence in the 1^st ipad was widely criticised.

Mr Job is a notorious control freak. He is also a tech visionary whose notion of tablet computing has delivered yet another smash hit for apple. The father of the ‘jesus tablet' is no doubt already planning his next miracle.' Extract from the Economist, 5-11 March 2011

a) Discuss the role which effective knowledge management of consumer desires and information about rival firms might have played in apple's decision to launch the ipad 2.

b) In the light of the above extract, discuss the role which managers and business executives should play in order to ensure effective knowledge management for building competitive advantage of a firm.