The Critical Relevance of Defining Knowledge to the Industry of Management Consultancy

The aim of the paper is to examine how our understanding of knowledge and /or knowledge management may play a critical role for our perception of the role and use of management consulting services. The paper argues that there is an important, but presently unappreciated, link to be made in the literature between the emphasis given to the notion of knowledge and the nature/purpose and contribution of management consulting industry.

There has been increasing discussion of knowledge or/and knowledge management, intellectual capital, organizational memory in the management literature. Such emphasis derives from the assumption that knowledge may provide a unique competitive advantage to organizations. Since knowledge constitutes an intangible resource that is difficult to copy or replicate by competitors, it is assumed that it is imperative for organizations to learn how may develop, innovate and distribute their knowledge resources. On the other hand, we can note how the management consultancy industry has been growing rapidly within the last two decades. Consultants are frequently depicted as suppliers of specialized knowledge to clients in response to their pressing organizational needs. It is assumed that consultants can provide clients with expert knowledge in order to assist on organizational issues like strategy formulation, decision making, organizational changes etc. In this sense, the generation and distribution of knowledge may be seen as critical to the overall consultants’ product or service, as well as their long-term success.