Caso Accenture

Academy of Management

Executive. 2005, Vol. 19, No, 2

The shortcomings of a standardized global knowledge management system: The case study of Accenture
Yongsun Paik and David Y. CJnoi

Executive Overview This study examines the global knowledge management (KM) experiences of Accenture, a pioneer in organization-wide KM efforts. We interviewed 18 KM managers and consultants in its U.S.and East Asian offices. We found that despite its significant efforts, Accenture vras falling short of fully harnessing and transferring management knowledge across its global organization. Our study indicates that Accenture's global KM strategy, based on its "one global firm" vision, did not make sufficient considerations for local or regional challenges. Accenture was unsuccessful in motivatingits East Asian consultants to contribute to KM by failing to show appreciation for their knowledge. Furthermore, Accenture appeared not to have provided adequate support for addressing cross-cultural challenges. Finally, its push for a standardized global KM practice made insufficient allowances for its local offices to address their own needs.

Accenture and the Global Management KnowledgeTransfer We examine the global knowledge management (KM) experiences of Accenture, one of the leading global management consulting firms. It is the largest of the pure consultancies with 75,000 consultants in 48 countries and net revenues of $11.8 billion.^ Accenture is a particularly interesting company because, like other leading consulting companies, it considers knowledge, especially managementknowledge, to be a core capability for achieving competitive advantage.^ Accenture has been a pioneer in KM. It was among the first companies to invest in KM on a global scale to collect past experiences and knowledge of its consultants. Competing directly with behemoths such as McKinsey & Company in strategic management and IBM in IT system implementation, Accenture's professionals needed a KMsystem that could help deliver high quality solutions in a timely manner. Starting in the early 1990s, Accenture has spent more than $500 million on IT and people to support its overall KM strategy.3 It continues to spend $250 million on R&D
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annually, which includes the payroll for its 500 KM staff.^ As a result of the scale of its investments as well as its early achievements, Accenture hasbeen perceived as a KM leader in its industry. Our research conducted in 2002 attempted to obtain practical lessons on global knowledge transfer by examining Accenture's experiences. We were interested in learning about its successes as well as the impediments it faced. Data were collected using qualitative in-depth personal interviews of 18 KM staff members and consultants working at Accenture.Interviews were held at the offices in Chicago (headquarters) and Los Angeles as well as Taipei, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo. Interviewees were asked a standard set of questions concerning Accenture's KM strategies and practices, organizational structure, and corporate culture.

Accenture's Knowledge Exchange ("KX"): Push for a Global Standardized KM Practice At the heart of Accenture'scorporate KM efforts was a sophisticated electronic repository system

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Academy of Management Executive

May

called the Knowledge Exchange (KX). KX housed approximately 7,000 individual databases grouped by industries and topics. KX's primary purpose was to store intemally generated knowledge— i.e., client presentations, methodologies, best practices, and past proposals—that could beaccessed by its employees using Lotus Notes and the Internet. The KM efforts were managed and promoted by 500 KM staff members around the globe. About 150 knowledge managers focused on the actual database administration at any one time. They synthesized, repackaged, and organized the content to be utilized by consultants. KX was essential to a consultant's daily work. It was common for a consultant...