The possible evolution of management consultant's knowledge creation roles

Consulting firms are increasingly aware of the value of knowledge for their own organizations and for their clients. This awareness is confirmed by the change in the range of management consulting services offered and their modes of delivery: creating and sharing knowledge (in terms of exploration, development and exploitation) have now become key-channels for transferring value to clients. Moreover, many of the top consultancies now offer knowledge management services for their clients. However, the empirical evidence shows that even today the cognitive value-creation potential related to the transition from consulting approaches geared to the transfer of “best practices” (consultant as expert) to consulting approaches geared to the cooperative creation of new knowledge and managerial capabilities (consultant as a facilitator of new managerial knowledge and capabilities creation processes) is rarely consciously perceived and, consequently, is not adequately planned for and exploited. This paper interprets management consulting from a knowledge perspective, and proposes some insights on the possible evolution of management consultant’s knowledge creation roles.