Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop the model of knowledge management influence on company performance for further empirical testing of the links between knowledge management practices and processes and organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach: This study establishes a model for comprehensive analysis of knowledge management’s influence on performance and describes the preliminary results gained from the experience of 120 Russian companies. For further testing structural equation modelling and the partial least squares methods are proposed. Findings: The results of the literature review justify the importance of the study conducting this study in the field of knowledge management and its connection to organizational performance in the developing market of Russia. A theoretical model for future empirical testing is provided and methods suggested for further data analysis and interpretation. The preliminary conclusions are discussed. Research limitations/implications: The focus on Russian firms limits the generalizability of the results. The non-response bias is also taken into account for further study. Practical implications: This pilot study outlines the importance of knowledge management practices and processes for firm performance. The preliminary results will be interesting both for researchers and practitioners in the countries with the developing economies. The final results will provide new insights in understanding and formalizing the portrait of a typical Russian company with regards to knowledge management policies. Originality/value: Few studies have been published on the knowledge management process within the Russian context. This study is expected to encourage future studies in this field. The present paper fills an important gap in the extant literature by conceptualizing the model for knowledge management performance analysis and proposes empirical testing of the relationship between knowledge management and firm performance in the context of a developing country that will be presented later as the direction for future study. This study is one of the first ever to study these relationships within the Russian context.