Knowledge Sharing Practices: Analysis of a Global Scandinavian Consulting Company

Abstract

In a knowledge economy landscape, successful global consulting firms are the ones putting focus on effectively and efficiently organising and managing the highly distributed diversified knowledge in the organisation. In order to sustain their competitive advantage, knowledge‑companies need to harness knowledge and to analyse knowledge sharing mechanisms and learning in the whole organisation. Knowledge sharing in global firms is a not only a cross‑department process but it should also take place within the same department. It is well recognised that the knowledge sharing mechanism is a highly complex process to put in place and to promote in the organisation. The primary goal of our research is to empirically investigate knowledge sharing and learning mechanisms within a global consulting company. The phenomenology discipline has guided our research methodology because it is the most appropriate approach for coping with the social complexity of management and business. Our research approach intends to make social sense from the knowledge sharing practices and observations conducted in order to understand how and what is shared.