In today's global economy, many economic activities in and among firms are based on the contribution of workers that are mobile or work most of their time in geographically dispersed locations. In such environments, tools supporting Knowledge Management (KM) are essential, not only because of the advantage for business performance, but also because of their potential benefit in terms of people satisfaction and well being. Building on from the results of a 3‐year field research survey in Italy, this paper explores: (i) the emerging approaches that companies use to manage knowledge in such dispersed environments; and (ii) their relations with Dispersed Workers (DW) Profiles (types and activities). Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.