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PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS – CASE STUDY

PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) is a global professional services firm. It employs

approximately 150000 people sprea! among most of the countries of the worl!.

"hirty#one thousan! people are employe! in management consultancy services

($C%). PwC&s other business units are au!it assurance an! business a!visory

services business process outsourcing financial a!visory services global ' 

solutions an! tax an! legal services. s it is a partnership organisation the profit

motive an! financial responsability are wi!esprea!.

"he organisation is !ivi!e! between three theatres of operation* the mericas+

,urope the $i!!le ,ast an! frica (,$,)+ an! sia-Pacific (PC). "hey are

unite! by global top management an! extensive relationship between players in

!ifferent theatres.

"he sectors in which PwC operates are gra!ually being !ominate! by a few very

large firms forme! through a series of mergers of which Pc is one. PwC was

forme! in mi!#1// by a merger between Price aterhouse an! Coopers

2ybran!. 3oth organisations ha! their own cultures an! their own 4$ initiatives

with !ifferent approaches particularly in management consultancy services. "he

obectives of the current 6nowle!ge management programme of management

consultancy services in the ,$, theatre are an illustration of the !rivers in the

consultancy sector*

• merging the abilities expertise an! histories of the two legacy organisations+

• creating a consistent !elivery of service across !ifferent business lines

sectors an! territories+

• meeting the nee! to train constantly replenishe! cohorts of consultants

• supporting the !elivery of the $C% business strategy.

lthough there are wi!e variations in employees& un!erstan!ing of 4$ the

consistent view is that the process nee!s to be embe!!e! in the business. 4$ at

PwC encompasses*

• culture change towar!s information an! 6nowle!ge capture an! sharing+

•  process change towar!s innovation+

• information management via integration of resources+

• information service !elivery through staff expertise in the business an!

information retrieval.

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"he focus of PwC&s 4$ activities was initially on explicit 6nowle!ge capture an!

cultural change oriente! towar!s improving consultants& ability an! willingness to

contribute an! re#use what they learn on assignments resulting in three separate

areas of 4$ activity*

• the 11 business units within $C% each of which has it own 4nowle!ge

$anager+

• a core $C% 4$ team largely staffe! from the 74 an! 7% but wor6ing

through all three theatres of operation+

• a global 4$ team wor6ing for the whole of the organisation base! in the

7%.

In a!!ition the ,$, theatre has a central 6nowle!ge management help !es6 

calle! 4nowle!ge Point base! in 2on!on. "here is a well#!evelope! appreciation

of the importance of taxonomy or classification an! many roles inclu!e a focus on

information architecture.

"he measure of succes in a management consultancy is in !elivering wor6able

solutions to clients. "he turnover of staff in management consultancy (not ust at

PwC) is very high aspecially amongst the non#partner consultants but the

capability of a consultancy team is crucial. "he significance of the 4$ initiative at

PwC $C% is in its approach to*

• ambe!!es 6nowle!ge#sharing behaviours within the business units through

unit#base! 6nowle!ge bro6ers wor6ing closely with the consultants+

• support from the core team for &rules an! tools& to enable 6nowle!ge

sharing+

• the buil!ing of some elements of 4$ s6ills into the corporate competency

framewor6.