Building Bridges: Exploring Cross-Boundary Collaboration Within Consultancy - A Case Study on a Consulting Community’s Collaborative Environment

Abstract

The current knowledge economy has underscored the value of knowledge, leading to the increased importance of knowledge management and organizational learning in organizational advancement. Collaboration emerges as essential in addressing the enhanced task complexity within the dynamic landscape of the knowledge economy. Cross-boundary collaboration, extending beyond traditional organizational and knowledge boundaries to incorporate partners from external entities, raises questions concerning how to manage and structure these partnerships. With this as a background, this thesis has addressed knowledge management, organizational learning, and internal cross-boundary collaboration within a consulting context. Two research questions have guided this research: “How can a consulting community deepen its internal collaboration?” and “What effective structure for internal cross-boundary collaboration can be employed?”. A qualitative research strategy and a case study approach were employed to address these research questions. The case study focused on a consulting community comprising eight companies, exploring how this community could deepen its internal cross-boundary collaboration and establish a suitable structure. Based on a systematic literature review and 11 semi-structured interviews with respondents from the consulting community and academia, the empirical findings were compared to the literature, leading to the thesis’ findings. The findings of this thesis signified that successful cross-boundary collaboration relies on effective foundations, referring to knowledge management practices and organizational learning processes. These areas are evaluated as foundations for deepening collaboration within the consulting community. Furthermore, to overcome the barriers associated with cross-boundary collaboration and establish a supportive infrastructure, the findings suggest building a framework around five dimensions: governance, administration, mutuality, organizational autonomy, and norms of trust and reciprocity.