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Knowledge-Based Innovation: Emergence and Embedding of New Practice Areas in Management Consulting Firms

Year: 2007

Type: article

Abstract: How do innovative knowledge-based structures emerge and become embedded in organizations? We drew on theories of knowledge-intensive firms, communities of practice, and professional service firms to analyze multiple cases of new practice area creation in management consulting firms. Our qualitative analysis identified four critical generative elements: socialized agency, differentiated expertise, defensible turf, and organizational support. We demonstrate that these elements must be combined in specific pathways for knowledge-based innovative structures to emerge and embed. These pathways emerge from practitioner networks, markets for knowledge-based services, and professional firms' hierarchies. Our findings have important implications for studying innovation in the knowledge-based economy.

Source: Academy of Management Journal

DOI: 10.5465/amj.2007.24634457

Authors: N. Anand, Heidi K. Gardner, Tim Morris

Institutions: University of Oxford, Imperial College London, London Business School

Language: English

Topic: Innovation and Knowledge Management

Subfield: Strategy and Management

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W3121490540

FWCI: 50.45

Cites: 86

Cited by: 536

Related to: 10