Article: The boundaries of knowledge transfer in management consulting Journal: International Journal of Process Management and Benchmarking (IJPMB) 2022 Vol.12 No.5 pp.657 - 677 Abstract: In a historical retrospective, although the existing literature calls the management consulting industry an extraordinary sector and a unique phenomenon in the business context, in fact these statements are not accompanied by a number of academic studies that emphasise the importance of the effective work of the management consultants. To contest the lack of studies in this emerging area, this article aims to understand the implications of the border to the transfer of information and knowledge from management consultants to their client companies. The results of the empirical analysis in the form of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires applied to management consultants and SME managers in Portugal reveal that the competency factor must be based on the four knowledge families of business management – the actual know, know the competence, knowledge transfer and future know-how. It is only from this conjugation that any kind of constraints that can be found along the way (political, physical or cultural) are able to be unblocked. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: The boundaries of knowledge transfer in management consulting

Authors: Renato Lopes Da Costa; Leandro Pereira; Álvaro Dias; Rui Gonçalves; Carlos Jerónimo; Ricardo Santos

Addresses: Business Research Unit – BRU-IUL, ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal ' Winning Laboratory, ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal ' Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Lisbon, Portugal; ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal ' ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal ' Winning Laboratory, ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal ' Instituto Piaget, Almada, Portugal

Abstract: In a historical retrospective, although the existing literature calls the management consulting industry an extraordinary sector and a unique phenomenon in the business context, in fact these statements are not accompanied by a number of academic studies that emphasise the importance of the effective work of the management consultants. To contest the lack of studies in this emerging area, this article aims to understand the implications of the border to the transfer of information and knowledge from management consultants to their client companies. The results of the empirical analysis in the form of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires applied to management consultants and SME managers in Portugal reveal that the competency factor must be based on the four knowledge families of business management – the actual know, know the competence, knowledge transfer and future know-how. It is only from this conjugation that any kind of constraints that can be found along the way (political, physical or cultural) are able to be unblocked.

Keywords: management consulting; knowledge transfer; strategy-as-practice; SAP.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPMB.2022.125334

International Journal of Process Management and Benchmarking, 2022 Vol.12 No.5, pp.657 - 677

Received: 13 Aug 2020
Accepted: 20 Nov 2020
Published online: 07 Sep 2022 *

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Title: The boundaries of knowledge transfer in management consulting

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