Knowledge Management Strategies Combinations: A Typology Based on the Case of Audit and Consulting Firms

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of corporate knowledge management practices in the audit and consulting sector. A new analysis grid is proposed for KM strategies, distinguishing between the nature of the knowledge (declarative or procedural) and the level of sharing (inter-individual or collective). This grid is used to classify the combination strategies used by six representative firms from the audit and consulting sector, leading to proposal of the following typology: connection, documentation, industrialization and interaction. The contributions are both theoretical, because Hansen's model is extended, and managerial, through the recommendations for combinations of coding and personalization strategies. This study also aims to show that firms in the audit and consulting sector have complete latitude to combine these levers on an ad hoc basis, and that there is no one best way of sharing knowledge.