ABSTRACT
Management consulting remains one of the most knowledge-intensive professions. Consultants need to be knowledgeable enough to be awarded projects, yet they also need to build on their clients’ knowledge to provide valuable solutions. In this chapter, we use ambidextrous approaches to cast light on how consultants balance the creation of new knowledge with the existence of knowledge provided by their clients. We use the narratives of industry consultants to understand the varying approaches consultants use to manage knowledge when engaged in consulting projects. We found that in most contextual situations, consultants deliberately employ learning strategies as they use knowledge management strategies and draw heavily upon their client’s knowledge in an explorative manner. Our findings also illustrate the limitations of exploitative knowledge management on projects. More important than possessing the required knowledge for elements of projects themselves, consultants need to know who else might be an expert in that area. Social capital therefore becomes very relevant within the consulting profession. Our chapter explores a number of other areas pertaining to explorative and exploitative knowledge practices, providing a concise review of the extant literature. We then provide additional conclusions and recommendations from our own empirical findings.
