The ability to manage knowledge is relevant for millions of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that operate in high-tech environments. They strongly depend on external knowledge about customers, technologies, and competitors because, as opposed to large companies, they have limited internal knowledge resources and little power to control their business environments. Present KM literature, however, mainly focuses on large companies and therefore does not explain, how SMEs, for example, can successfully apply groupware, data mining, semantic networks, and knowledge maps. This book addresses this problem by introducing the concept of knowledge integration (KI) that places emphasis on the identification, acquisition and use of external knowledge. Drawing from this theoretical basis, the book presents concepts and instruments specifically designed for SMEs, as well as examples of their implementation and use in practice.

The ability to manage knowledge is relevant for millions of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that operate in high-tech environments. They strongly depend on external knowledge about customers, technologies, and competitors because, as opposed to large companies, they have limited internal knowledge resources and little power to control their business environments. Present KM literature, however, mainly focuses on large companies and therefore does not explain, how SMEs, for example, can successfully apply groupware, data mining, semantic networks, and knowledge maps. This book addresses this problem by introducing the concept of knowledge integration (KI) that places emphasis on the identification, acquisition and use of external knowledge. Drawing from this theoretical basis, the book presents concepts and instruments specifically designed for SMEs, as well as examples of their implementation and use in practice.

Strategy consulting is one of the most highly respected and at the same time deeply detested jobs on this planet. Despite all the attention and controversy, though, there is surprisingly little written about it specifically. To address this void, this Element provides a comprehensive overview of this fascinating and emerging profession. Relying on existing research and the author's practical experience, it describes what strategy consulting is, where it comes from, how to effectively practice it and where to take it into the future. Taking the position of the individual strategy consultant, it offers an insightful perspective that is useful for scholars, students, consultants and clients of strategy consulting. In doing so it moves away from the dominant corporate practice of analytical strategy consulting. Instead, it offers an idealized whole-brain and whole-person view on what strategy consulting could and should be like in order to fully live up its promise as a profession contributing to society.