Kno wledge management (KM) has been considered a key success factor in the success of an organisation, especially in the current economic climate. Nevertheless, many KM initiatives have been unable to manage knowledge resulting in failure. Companies and corporations hope that KM may somehow solve all their existing and future problems often without defining those problems' root causes. Starting a KM system with no aim will end up in failure. Using different case studies from the literature, the analysis presented in this paper focuses on the challenges of KM implementation and is based on previous research done. The outcome of this analysis and experience has led to the formulation of a new KM approach which has been subsequently tested and verified. Using this newly formed KM approach, this paper provides a theoretical understanding of the processes needed to establish a knowledge management system in organisations.