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When Using Knowledge Can Hurt Performance: The Value of Organizational Capabilities in a Management Consulting Company

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dc.contributor.authorHaas, Martine R.
dc.contributor.authorHansen, Morten T.
dc.date.accessioned2020-11-17T17:16:42Z
dc.date.available2020-11-17T17:16:42Z
dc.date.issued2005-01-01
dc.description.abstractThis paper explores the possibility that utilizing the firm’s knowledge resources to complete important tasks can backfire and undermine competitive performance. Drawing on organizational capabilities and knowledge sharing research, we develop a situated performance view that holds that the value of obtaining and using knowledge within a firm depends on the task situation. Using a data set of 182 sales proposals for client work in a management consulting company, we show that sales teams that had varying needs to learn and differentiate themselves from competitors derived different levels of value from obtaining and using electronic documents and advice from colleagues. Highly experienced teams were more likely than inexperienced teams to lose the sales bids if they utilized such knowledge. Teams that had a high need to differentiate themselves from competitors also had a lower chance of winning if they utilized electronic documents. There were situations, however, where teams performed better if they utilized the firm’s knowledge resources. These results suggest that competitive performance depends not on how much firms know but on how they use what they know.
dc.description.legacydownloadsHaas1_when_using_knowledge.pdf: 5977 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020.
dc.identifier.other196380
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1813/75213
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.relation.doihttps://doi.org/10.1002/smj.429
dc.rightsRequired Publisher Statement: Copyright by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Final paper published as Haas, M. R. & Hansen, M. T. (2005). When using knowledge can hurt performance: The value of organizational capabilities in a management consulting company. Strategic Management Journal, 26, 1-24.
dc.subjectILR
dc.subjectCornell University
dc.subjectorganizational behavior
dc.subjectresource
dc.subjectdata
dc.subjectfirm
dc.subjecttask
dc.subjectsituation
dc.subjectsales
dc.subjectteams
dc.subjectelectronic documents
dc.subjectknowledge
dc.titleWhen Using Knowledge Can Hurt Performance: The Value of Organizational Capabilities in a Management Consulting Company
dc.typearticle
local.authorAffiliationHaas, Martine R.: Cornell University
local.authorAffiliationHansen, Morten T.: INSEAD

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