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About our Services
Business Research
Ask us any business question that requires fact-finding and strategic analysis. Previous clients have asked:
- Should we expand our business by entering XYZ industry?
In response, Working Knowledge® researched five different industries, examining key players, the structure of the industry, and identifying new opportunities which leveraged the client’s competitive strengths.
- How can we justify a knowledge management program inside the company?
In response, Working Knowledge® described the types of KMS and the value each provides, using 12 case studies to explain how each company justified their KMS and the results they achieved.
- Clients: McKinsey & Company, Forrester Research, ICEX, Hurwitz Group, Primix Solutions, and Benchmarking Partners.
Books and Book Collaboration
- Working Knowledge® writes books with or on behalf of clients. Services include research and writing of complete works or editing, writing and research to support existing materials. Working Knowledge® has worked on 28 book projects.
- Publishers: McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, MIT Press, Alfred A. Knopf
Articles / White Papers
- Working Knowledge® writes articles and white papers on behalf of clients. Services include research and writing of complete works or editing and research to support existing materials.
- Past Projects: Training and Development magazine, The MIT Report, MBA Roundtable, Working Knowledge® newsletter, Visions newsletter, Inside Decisions, IBM's Creativity magazine, Business Information Alert, Scientific and Technology Annual Reference Review, IBM Technical Report.
Case Studies
- Working Knowledge® researches and writes case studies that provide an in-depth view of company operations.
- Past Projects: Completed over 30 case studies on management topics for Tom Peters, which were used in his books Liberation Management, The Tom Peters Seminar, and On Achieving Excellence newsletter. Completed 20 case studies on technology topics for Benchmarking Partners. Completed over 400 case studies and company reports for clients such as McKinsey & Company, Fisher Investments, and the MIT Sloan School of Management. Clients use Working Knowledge® case studies to learn about best practices in their own industry, to get new ideas from other industries, and to train employees by incorporating cases in executive education and internal training programs.
Best Practices Reports and Databases
- Working Knowledge® collects, organizes and writes about best practices and leading-edge processes. The results can be stand-alone Best Practices Reports or incorporated into a Best Practices Database.
- Past Projects: Developed the Interesting Organizations Database for the MIT Sloan School of Management. The database describes best practices along multiple dimensions (industry, size, topic, results achieved, lessons learned, etc.). Working Knowledge® developed the thesaurus, documentation and training materials, in addition to writing profiles of 121 leading-edge companies for the database.
Competitor Analysis Reports and Industry Reports
- Working Knowledge® conducts primary and secondary research to write competitive analysis and industry reports. Reports range from 10 to 150 pages. Working Knowledge® has completed reports on the following industries: aerospace, automotive, banking, chemicals, consumer packaged goods, contract manufacturing, food and beverage, footwear and apparel, industrial/heavy manufacturing, insurance, oil, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, transportation and utilities.
- Clients: Forrester Research, Walden University, Primix Solutions, ICEX, Mercari, Benchmarking Partners
Conference Reports
- Working Knowledge® attends a conference on behalf of the client and writes a custom report on the topics of interest to that the client. The report can focus on competitor activities, industry trends, latest research, etc. Each report contains a synthesis of themes or implications for the client.
- Clients: McKinsey & Company, ICEX, Center for Transportation Studies, MIT Integrated Supply Chain Management Program, Center for eBusiness@MIT, Agelab.
Organizing/Creating Content for Websites and Proprietary Intranets
- Working Knowledge® creates ongoing new content for websites and acts as moderator for discussion forums, seeding them with interesting new developments and ensuring that participants' questions get answered.
- Clients: for MIT, created the Electronic Briefing Book for sponsors of the Inventing the Organizations of the 21st Century initiative. Presented Knowledge Mapping workshop to McKinsey & Company for proprietary intranet development. Certification: Certified Online Instructor.
On-Demand Executive Summaries
- Working Knowledge® researches and writes short summary reports of key issues and company examples. Summaries emphasize practical application. They describe how companies are using new concepts and how those concepts can be applied to other situations. Briefings integrate multiple company examples and identify commonalities and lessons learned.
- Clients: ICEX, French Ministry of Education, Hurwitz Group, McKinsey & Company, MIT Sloan School of Management.
Training Workbooks, Workshop Materials
- Working Knowledge® develops workbooks and training materials to accompany executive education and management training programs. All materials are tailored to reflect specific industry or clients needs, including original case studies to be used in the course.
- Clients: MIT Sloan School of Management, McKinsey & Company, Babson College, CareerTrack Seminars, Inc., and numerous public conferences.