Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to develop a conceptual framework that can provide guidelines on the choice of appropriate CKM solutions to match the firm context.

Design/methodology/approach - We aggregate the findings from existing studies on CKM in the fields of knowledge management, marketing, and behavioural sciences, with particular attention to customer orientation and marketing capabilities studies.

Originality/value - The extant studies usually cover the application of a single CKM solution and do not provide the guidelines on how to choose an appropriate CKM solution out of the existing repertoire ( Chua, Banerjee, 2013; Gibbert et al., 2002; Xu, Walton, 2005). The study aims to fill this void and proposes a conceptual framework that, firstly, offers a basis for the classification of CKM solutions and, secondly, links CKM solutions with the firm context. The CKM classification parameters include proactivity, continuity, embeddedness, and personification. The firm context is interpreted in the broad sense and includes firms' strategic objectives and managerially relevant characteristics of firms' customers.

Practical implications - The proposed framework can be applied to analyse how different CKM solutions are related to firm context. The framework provides guidelines on how to choose CKM solutions depending on firms' strategic objectives and what customer characteristics to consider when working with a particular CKM solution.