| 1. |
- Bäcklund, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
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The construction of global management consulting - a study of consultancies’ web presentations
- 2001
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Management consulting increasingly appears as a global endeavour as reflected in the increasing dominance of a few large, global management-consulting firms. However, features of the consulting service (e.g. its immaterial and interactional character) as well as aspects of management (e.g. its cultural anchoredness) highlight the locality of management consulting. In this paper we approach this tension between the global and the local by seeing consulting as involving the creation of generalised myths. More specifically, we ask the question: How do global consulting companies construct the viability and desirability of their services? Based on a view of management consultants as mythmakers, we study the argumentation on corporate web sites of four leading global consultancies in five different countries. Applying a framework based on the sociology of translation, we analyze the translation strategies used in making the service of global consultancies both viable and indispensable. We find that the need for consultants is to a large extent constructed through defining management as an expert activity, thus creating a need for external advisors possessing globally applicable expert knowledge. In this effort, the consultants ally with three widely spread rationalized managerial myths – the rationality myth, the globalization myth and the universality myth. We conclude, that global consulting firms are actively involved in creating and reinforcing the very same institutions, which are the prerequisites for their future success.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Hellgren, Bo, et al.
(författare)
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How issues become (Re)constructed in media : Discursive practices in the AstraZeneca merger
- 2002
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Ingår i: Brittish Journal of Management. - : John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. - 1467-8551 .- 1045-3172. ; 13:2, s. 123-140
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article, we put forward a novel way of exploring difference and contradiction in merging organizations. We examine how the media (re)constructs meanings in a major cross-border merger. Based on an analysis of press coverage, we attempt to specify and illustrate how particular issues are (re)constructed in media texts through interpretations of ‘winning’ and ‘losing’. We also show how specific discourses are drawn on in this (re)construction. In the merger studied, discourse based on economic and financial rationale dominated the media coverage. Discourse promoting nationalistic sentiments, however, provided an alternative discursive frame to the dominant rationalistic discourse. We argue that the two basic discourses are enacted in three analytically distinct discursive practices in the media: factualizing, rationalizing and emotionalizing. We suggest that the ability of different actors such as top managers to make use of different discursive strategies and resources in promoting their ‘versions of reality’ in the media (or public discussion) is a crucial avenue for research in this area.
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| 7. |
- Rogberg, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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TQM-modellen som förändringsresurs : Om generell managementkunskap och lokal praktik
- 2002
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Ingår i: Scener ur ett företag: organiseringsteori för kunskapssamhället. - Stockholm : Ekonomiska forskningsinstitutet vid Handelshögskolan i Stockholm (EFI). - 1650-4054. - 9789144057637 - 9144026773 ; , s. 195-221
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Äntligen var tiden mogen. Byggföretagens kvalitetschef kände det som om en stor sten hade lättat från hans hjärta. Även om han brunnit för att ta tag i uppdraget att utveckla verksamheten, hade hans idéer och ansträngningar hamnat på sidan om den "riktiga verksamheten". Allt verkade bara handla om att producera så mycket och så fort som möjligt.
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| 8. |
- Sandberg, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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Corporate consulting in product innovation : overcoming the barriers for utilization
- 2003
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Ingår i: European Journal of Innovation Management. - : Emerald. - 1460-1060. ; 6:2, s. 101-110
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Companies in the business-to-business segment increasingly try to expand their product offerings into customer solutions offerings. This often implies adding value through professional services such as systems integration and business consulting related to the parent organization’s products. The addition of a consultative component to the product business both poses new challenges and provides new possibilities for the product organization’s innovation processes. We argue that corporate consulting units provide a vital source of knowledge for organizations seeking to increase their innovation capacity by learning about and from their customers. The current paper discusses the knowledge created in such consulting business as well as the filters that hinder utilizing this knowledge in the innovation processes of the product-oriented organization.
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| 9. |
- Sandberg, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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Handling multiple identities in boundary spanning : a study of identity construction in a corporate consulting unit
- 2002
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The developments towards what is often called the postindustrial society carry with them a blurring of organizational boundaries. Value is increasingly created in organizational constellations such as joint ventures, corporate consulting units and partnerships crossing traditional firm boundaries. This paper addresses the blurring of firm boundaries from an organizational identity perspective and focuses identity formation and identification in complex boundary spanning organizations. Based on a study of organizational identity in a corporate consulting unit, we explore the constitution and the organization members' handling of multiple identities. The specific constitution of multiple identities in boundary spanning organizations is discussed, and it is concluded, that holographic multiple identities represent an unstable arrangement striving towards a clear identity. The necessity for management to actively manage multiple identities is pointed at, and possible approaches are discussed.
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| 10. |
- Sandberg, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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Product innovation in a solutions business: Leveraging on corporate consulting
- 2004
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Ingår i: Collaborative Research in Organizations: Foundations for learning, change, and theoretical development. - Thousand Oaks : SAGE Publications, Inc. - 1412983673 - 9781412983679 - 0761928634 - 9780761928638 ; , s. 300-312
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- “We offer customer solutions, not just products” is a common formulation in mission statements of many organizations today. The growing interest in a customer solutions strategy is based on the increasing service content in many organizations’ offerings (Normann, 2001); increased business complexity, privatization, and outsourcing (Davies et al., 2001); and means of moving the business focus from the products to the customers (Hax & Wilde, 1999; Vandermerwe, 2000). In the business-to-business segment, the customer-centric logic of a solutions business is often represented in a stand-alone consulting business. Based on Good (1985), we use the term corporate consulting to designate this type of consulting unit. IBM is often cited as an illustration of a firm that has successfully transformed itself from a provider of hardware-based products to more software-based services (see, e.g., Normann, 2001; Vandermerwe, 2000). The “new” IBM is built around the service organization IBM Global Services, a corporate consultancy in part, which accounts for approximately 40% of IBM's total revenues. More important, the services provided, such as business consulting, information technology (IT) consulting, and outsourcing, are seen as a central mechanism for leveraging the technological capabilities of the parent organization.
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| 11. |
- Sandberg, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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The three challenges of corporate consulting
- 2003
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Ingår i: MIT Sloan management review. - : Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. - 1532-8937 .- 1532-9194. ; 44:3, s. 59-66
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For many product-oriented companies, establishing a corporate consultancy can be a good first step toward a more solutions-based orientation. As Ericsson, Shell and AT&T, among others, illustrate, the consulting unit can take a number of forms dictated by its key knowledge and its relation to the product businesses' value chain. The challenge is to determine how similar the consulting unit should be to the parent company in identity, mission and structure. Expert corporate consultancies support the product business by exploiting professional knowledge. Their choice of strategy depends on the nature of the ties between the product business and the consultancy. The four types of corporate consultancy - spearhead, expert, integration and know-how - are continuous rather than rigid. Some consultancies switch types as their mission changes. For managers, engaging in a solutions strategy by establishing corporate consultancies means building a conflict into their organization, a conflict between a product-oriented logic and a customer-oriented one.
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| 12. |
- Stjernberg, Torbjörn, 1946, et al.
(författare)
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Consulting Thought-fully
- 2001
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Ingår i: Managing the Thoughtful Enterprise. Ed by Jan Löwstedt & Bo Hellgren. - Bergen : Fagbokforlaget. - 8276745652
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 13. |
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| 15. |
- Tomicic, Marie, et al.
(författare)
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Managing Differences In Post-Merger Integration: The Case of a Professional Service Firm
- 2003
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Ingår i: Nordiske Organisasjonsstudier. - : Fagbokforlaget. - 1501-8237. ; 5:1, s. 11-36
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper takes a process perspective on post-merger integration in professional service firms. Based on a longitudinal study of a merger between two consulting companies, it is suggested that the management of differences plays an important role in shaping the post-merger integration process. Four different ways of managing differences are identified in the four phases of the post-merger process. The interplay between the integration process, the ideational context and the economic environment explain the transition from one phase to another, suggesting that post-merger integration processes in professional service firms are highly context-sensitive. It is also suggested that post-merger integration processes need to be understood as an emerging interplay bet-ween the internal dynamics of the integration process and the external dynamics of the economic and ideational environment of the merger.
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| 16. |
- Werr, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Consulting thoughtfully
- 2001
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Ingår i: Managing the thoughtful enterprise. - Bergen, Norway : Fagboksforlaget.
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 17. |
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| 18. |
- Werr, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring Management Consulting Firms as Knowledge Systems
- 2003
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Ingår i: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 1741-3044 .- 0170-8406. ; 24:6, s. 881-908
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article examines the nature and the generation, dissemination and translation of knowledge in large, global management consulting organizations. The knowledge system in consulting organizations is modelled as consisting of three interacting knowledge elements: methods and tools, providing a common language and knowledge structure; cases, carrying knowledge in a narrative form; and the experience of individual consultants that is essential for the adaptation of methods, tools and cases to the specific consulting project. A number of recent studies have characterized knowledge-management strategies as focusing on either articulate knowledge or tacit knowledge. We argue that a fruitful understanding of knowledge management in management consulting requires attention to the relations between the different elements that represent different kinds of knowledge. Based on case studies in Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and Ernst & Young Management Consulting (now Cap Gemini Ernst & Young) these knowledge elements and the interplay between them are identified and analysed. The main role of articulate knowledge is not to replace experience, but rather to support the generation, dissemination and use of it. A number of consequences of this conceptualization of the knowledge system are discussed in terms of the ability of the knowledge system to generate different types of learning and the complementarity of structural and individual knowledge.
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| 19. |
- Werr, Andreas
(författare)
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"Här har du pärmen!": Om formaliserade metoder i managementkonsulters arbete
- 2002
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Ingår i: Scener ur ett företag: organiseringsteori för kunskapssamhället. - Stockholm : Ekonomiska forskningsinstitutet vid Handelshögskolan i Stockholm. - 1650-4054. - 9144026773 ; , s. 67-91
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Anna väntar i receptionen på "Carlsson & Consulting". Det är hennes första dag på det nya jobbet. Det ska bli hemskt spännade att få ägna sig åt riktiga problem efter 4 års torrsim i form av en nu avslutad ekonomutbildning. Väntan avbryts av Anders, hennes fadder under introduktionsperioden. Anders visar henne till ett skrivbord. Sedan tar de en kopp kaffe ihop.
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| 20. |
- Werr, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Management Consultants— Friend or Foe?: Understanding the Ambiguous Client-Consultant Relationship
- 2002
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Ingår i: International Studies of Management & Organization. - : M. E. Sharpe. - 1558-0911 .- 0020-8825. ; 32:4, s. 43-66
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- How do managers discursively construct the consultant-client relationship? How do these constructions relate to managerial discourses of the bureaucratic and the network organization, and how can an observed ambiguous image of the consultant-client relationship among managers be understood? These are questions discussed in this article. It is concluded that managers discuss the actual use of and value creation in consulting in terms of the network discourse, while normative statements on how to manage consultants echo a bureaucratic discourse. We argue that research on management consulting must desert its anchoring in the bureaucratic discourse in order to contribute to a more constructive understanding of management consulting.
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| 21. |
- Werr, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Management Consulting For Client Learning? Clients’ Perceptions on Learning In Management Consulting
- 2002. - 1st Edition
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Ingår i: Developing Knowledge and Value in Management Consulting. - Greenwich, CT : Information Age Publishing. - 9781931576024 ; , s. 3-32
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Management consulting is generally described as a process of helping managers solve problems that appear as part of their managerial responsibilities. The International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI), for example, defines management consulting as "the rendering of independent advice and assistance about the process of management to clients with management responsibilities" (www.icimi.com). This view of management consulting, with its focus on the consultants independence, draws a strong line between the consultants and the client. Indeed, in the literature the consultant¨s independent and neutral role in relation to the client is repeatedly highlighted as a central feature of management consulting (Greiner & Metzger, 1983; Kyrö, 1995). A management consultant stands apart from the client, not taking the client's problem definition and facts as a given, but forming his or her own, independent appraisal (Greiner & Metzger, 1983, p. 6).
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| 22. |
- Werr, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Overcoming the innovation-alliance paradox : a case study of an explorative alliance
- 2004
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Ingår i: European Journal of Innovation Management. - : Emerald. - 1460-1060 .- 1758-7115. ; 7:1, s. 45-55
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Alliances are an increasingly common way of organizing the uncertain exploration phase of radical innovation. It may, however, be argued that there is inherent tension between the logic of alliances and the logic of innovation. Whereas innovation is generally argued to require flexibility, political protection and extensive communication, the commonly mentioned key characteristics of alliances are detailed contractual regulation, political struggles and limited information exchange. Based on an in-depth case study of a largely successful alliance for innovation between a European bank and a European telecommunications operator, this paper argues that the tensions between an innovation logic and an alliance logic may be overcome by creating a multilevel governance structure for the alliance, with a learning agenda on both the operational and strategic levels. The different levels of the structure are described and their contribution to the success of the alliance discussed.
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| 23. |
- Werr, Andreas
(författare)
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The Internal Creation of Consulting Knowledge: A question of Structuring Experience
- 2002. - 1st Edition
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Ingår i: Management Consulting: The Emergence and Dynamics of a Knowledge Industry. - Oxford : Oxford University Press. - 9780191588129 ; , s. 91-108
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As a growing phenomenon in business practice, management consulting is receiving increasing interest from researchers. However, the emerging image of the consulting service varies to a large extent according to the research tradition followed. Two main opposing perspectives have emerged - the functional and the critical. From the functional perspective, management consulting is depicted as a knowledge-based service aimed at improving the performance of its clients business. Management consultants are seen as possessing a unique knowledge of management techniques, and consulting organizations are treated as knowledge-intensive firms with an ability to generate and explore management knowledge through management knowledge activities. The knowledge content of the consulting service is questioned from a critical perspective, and alternative rationales for the consulting service are presented. Examples of such rationales are uncertainty reduction and consultants' ability to convince managers of their need for consulting services by creating impressions of value.
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| 24. |
- Werr, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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The Invincible Character of Management Consulting Rhetoric : How One Blends Incommensurates While Keeping them Apart
- 2000
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Ingår i: Organization (London, England). - : SAGE Publications. - 1461-7323 .- 1350-5084. ; 7:4, s. 633-655
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As experts and fashion setters of the business community, management consultants have a strong position in modern society. We argue that the basis of this position is the size of the rhetorical space of legitimate arguments open to consultants. In legitimating their activities, consultants produce a great array of arguments based on two contradictory myths or master-ideas recurrent in the business discourse—the normative/pragmatic myth and the rationalistic myth. These two myths are in turn viewed as a variation of the deeply institutionalized western dichotomy of nature vs. culture. Although these myths officially are incommensurable, management consultants freely mix arguments based on both myths when translating organizational change. Herein lies the potential invincibility of the consultants' rhetoric—the possibility of transforming that which earlier was treated as `objective' and given into something negotiable and changeable, and vice versa, thereby increasing the possibility of satisfying ever-changing and contradicting needs.
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| 25. |
- Werr, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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The Social Construction of Global Management Consulting: A Study of Consultancy Web Presentations
- 2004. - 1st Edition
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Ingår i: Creative Consulting: Innovative Perspectives on Management Consulting. - Greenwich, CT : Information Age Publishing. - 1593112408 - 9781593112400 ; , s. 27-50
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Management consultants play a significant role in the production and diffusion of management knowledge as they as seen as readily influencing and regulating activities across most aspects of contemporary organization (cf. Furusten, 1995; Knights and Morgan, 1991; May, 1994). The intangible nature of the service performed by management consultants, however, implies that a vital part of their work is the need to convince clients of the splendor of their ideas and solutions. As a result, consultants must actively take command of "the process by which images, impressions and perceptions of their value, and service quality is created" (Clark & Salaman, 1996, p. 14).
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