Knowledge Sharing: The Case for Collaborative Consulting

In Intelligent Enterprise, American academic James Brian Quinn argues that ‘the common element among [professional service organisations] and industries is the predominance of managing intellect — rather than managing things — in creating their value added:’ Unlike manufacturing companies that can rely on unique products or technologies, conventional wisdom has it that consulting firms gain competitive advantage largely through their ability to make use of proprietary knowledge. Indeed, access to and ownership of intellectual capital remain, as Chapter 4 reinforced, central to a consulting firm’s success.