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Process mapping can lead to a more holistic understanding of how an organisation works. This paper seeks to discuss how an engineering design consultancy, which had developed a series of process maps on the design of steel frame buildings, developed a powerful management tool, the Management Briefing Sheet which has yielded numerous additional benefits enabling practice to be improved and quality procedures more easily accessed.

To maximise the knowledge and expertise of its supply chain partners and to better understand how it designed steel‐framed buildings, the engineering design consultancy undertook a process‐mapping exercise. Various techniques for documenting the process were considered, but a modified IDEF notation was chosen for its ability to capture the iterative nature of the design process and its methodical approach for deconstructing complicated activities.

Process‐mapping exercises can change the way organisations work and make them more efficient, but to do this the changes that would lead to improvements need to be implemented successfully. Carrying out a process‐mapping exercise in isolation from the end‐user can lead to complications.

The key obstacle to implementing change identified by the engineering design consultancy, with whom the MBS was developed, was delivering the knowledge acquired from the process analysis in a format that end‐users could understand easily and adopt effectively.

This article will be of significant use to any organisation wishing to maximise the knowledge and expertise of its supply chain partners and identify inefficient working practices.

The current study attempts to bridge the existing gap related to the role of knowledge acquisition from international alliance partners to improve competitiveness by examining the distinct processes of knowledge acquisition and the challenges confronted in this learning process in order to enhance local and international market performance.

Following case-study approach based on systematic combining, the study presents a case of knowledge acquisition and learning in the context of an international consultancy alliance between leading Pakistani and Chinese engineering firms using six in-depth interviews of key engineers to explore the dynamic mechanisms for knowledge acquisition and learning from the Chinese firm. Grounded analysis drawn upon the Straussian version of grounded theory (GT) {{Strauss, 1990 #136} Strauss, 1998 #139} is used for data analysis in this research.

It was found that the processes of explicit and implicit knowledge acquisition from Chinese firms are integrated consultancy working, social and technical adaptability and seeking confirmation about the work done and knowledge/theories and models used in work. However, these processes are quite complex, posing serious challenges for National Engineering Services, Pakistan to acquire the required knowledge, which can be addressed through partners' motivation to share and acquire knowledge, cultural intelligence and friendship and informal association. The study also found that the knowledge acquired from technologically advanced international organizations by the host partner in the international strategic alliance not only provides a competitive edge to the local host in its local market but also builds its capacity to undertake similar projects in other parts of the world, substantially enhancing its market success.

Adding up to the current literature that focuses on knowledge acquisition in a parent-subsidiary relationship, the current research proposes a framework for knowledge acquisition in the unique context of international strategic alliances. The research provides managerial guidelines to manage knowledge acquisition for gaining a competitive edge that would be helpful for the managers in the era of growing interdependence among the organizations across the borders.

Design rationale is design information that explains why an entity is designed as it is. This paper investigates how the documentation process and the use of documents in service design projects influence the reuse of design information across projects.

This study analyzes two sets of data collected through interviews and field observation. It first applied Lund's (2004) four elements of documentation process to categorize the collected data. Then it used bottom-up data analysis approach to identify patterns of the documentation process.

The author speculates designers' focus on certain documents' social aspect instead of material aspect influences how they reuse design information across projects. Some documents are important because they represent a consensus, and some are important because of the document producers rather than its content. The author also found a similarity between economists and service designers by comparing the study results with Harper and Sellen's (1995) findings. Based on the comparison, the author concludes that detailed research reports are easily reusable across design projects. Finally, although the author observed that designers are using templates to explicate design rationale, the created content is not used across projects.

This study identifies six types of documents that are commonly created in service design projects, three types of producer involvement and three types of provisional design outcomes. It also provides two suggestions for designers to reuse design information across service design projects better and two implications for future study.

The paper aims to examine whether the knowledge management practices deployed by a multinational consultancy differ according to the national context in which they are implemented and whether the practices that are deployed are effective in diffusing consultancy knowledge.

The method chosen to explore the questions was a case study of one of the “Big Four” consultancy firms, involving an intensive study of one part of the business operating in the UK and The Netherlands.

The findings revealed strong similarities over the ways in which the case study firm managed its intellectual capital in both the UK and The Netherlands. This convergence in practices supports the notion that consultancies often copy practices that have proved successful in order to avoid uncertainty and the risk of being out of step with their competitors/counterparts. In addition, the results revealed a number of problems with the practices deployed by the firm that arose as a result of the diverse set of interests that exist between consultants, their employers, and their colleagues.

It is important to be aware of the potential affect of different national contexts because greater inter‐country differences could perhaps be observed if, for example, the UK‐side of the firm was to be compared to an Asian counterpart.

This paper makes a significant contribution to the understanding of knowledge management within global firms and sheds empirical light on debates over whether the knowledge management systems deployed by multinationals follow a universal pattern of organisation or are subject to international variation.

Consultants' reports have been compared to the illuminated manuscripts of medieval times, both having been made and produced at great cost and both existing for the most part unread and under lock and key. Collectors' pieces of the next millennium, expensively bound, composed on electric typewriters, reproduced on heavy paper, lavishly illustrated with pull‐out charts, these are masterpieces of presentation and a source of legitimate pride to owners as well as to authors. And well they may be if the object of consultancy is the production of reports—but is it? Indeed, are written reports an essential part of the activity?

The aim of this work is to provide an initial picture of how some design agencies are contributing toward a paradigm shift and how they are developing in the future to better inform design policies and interdisciplinary work. There is a general agreement that the current government and public sector structure and modes of operation need radical transformation. In this scenario, a shift from New Public Management towards New Public Governance paradigm has been auspicated. Design has attracted attention as a potential approach to support this transformation, but research into Service Design, as well as discussions on its future development, for public sector innovation is limited. This paper is an exploratory study into the individual work of seven representative UK design agencies operating for and within the public sector.

The paper reviews literature on public sector reform and innovation to inform comparative studies of contemporary design agencies working for public sector reform. Interviews with seven designers from NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, Participle, Innovation Unit, Uscreates, Collaborative Change, Futuregov and Snook are conducted to review their perceived role for public sector reform, their design approaches, exemplar projects and main challenges.

Emerging design strategies for Public Sector reform are: a collaborative design approach that considers all stakeholders as equal co-creators of public value; operating at different complementary levels to aim at systemic change; designing from the inside out (innovation culture) and outside in (market change). These different strategies imply the development of possible different business models. Existing creative tensions appear between embedding and outsourcing strategies, acting as facilitators vs designers, developing both designing and service delivery roles.

This paper is based on a limited sample of design agencies, and it is not a systematic study into the impact of their design work, which should be the object of a following study.

This paper brings Service Design practice into public sector innovation debate to inform future interdisciplinary research and innovation policies. It positions existing design innovation strategies within the wider picture of public sector reform to support a more informed design practice.

Few studies have looked at the UK design agencies for public sector innovation and discussed their possible future developments. This paper provides an original and holistic description of design for public sector innovation with considerations on how it should be interpreted when developing supporting innovation and design policies.

Consultant pre‐selection is an essential process to distinguish capable candidates before they are invited to submit their technical and fee proposals for consultancy assignments. Despite that, many clients have their own criteria and emphasis, and this could result in discrepancies in pre‐selection decisions. The aim of this paper is to devise a more objective framework for evaluating consultants' general capabilities during the pre‐selection process. The paper begins by identifying the commonly used criteria for pre‐selecting engineering consultants. In order to examine the importance of consultant pre‐selection criteria (CPC), a questionnaire survey has been conducted with clients who are responsible for pre‐selecting their consultants; and consultants being pre‐selected by the clients. The findings reveal that the perception of the client and consultant groups on the importance of CPC was very consistent. Finally, a multi‐criteria model for evaluating consultants' general capabilities during the pre‐selection is proposed. Based on each candidate score, clients can determine which engineering consultants should be invited to bid for a consultancy assignment.

Pressures have increased for both profit and non‐profit organisations to become “innovative organisations”. This study has revealed the grounded theory of perpetual challenging as a process for enhancing organisational creativity. Perpetual challenging refers to the ways through which creative organisations enhance their employees’ internal drive to perceive every project as a new creative challenge so that their individual contribution is maximised and an innovative solution can arise. Perpetual challenging has four sub‐core variables, namely adventuring, overt confronting, portfolioing and opportunising. A grounded theory approach was used in order to conceptualise the behaviour of employees under investigation. The perpetual challenging process has implications for both academics and practitioners since it explains how creative organisations should develop chaotic situations in their workplace environment to enhance the intellectual capital within the organisation, which will yield the competencies and capabilities for improved performance.

PERA is one of Britain's largest research, consultancy, training and information organisations. Established in 1946, it has a total income of over £4,500,000 per annum, and a staff of over 400 research workers, management and technical consultants, training specialists, information staff, etc. PERA's facilities include extensive laboratories, workshops, offices and a training centre on a 28‐acre site at Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.

The purpose of this paper is to show that through the effective integration of design, companies are more likely to be innovative, become more competitive, increase their profits and boost their performance.

Provides an overview of the Designing Demand programme, a pioneering support programme aimed at helping UK companies make design a deep‐rooted part of their decision making.

Through the effective integration of design, companies are more likely to be innovative, become more competitive, increase their profits and boost their performance. But, it is clear that many UK based SMEs are missing the huge opportunity that design creativity can offer.

This already successful service, provides mentoring and support to firms, helping them to seize design opportunities – be it for design in product, brand, and business processes.