This is an all-round strategy book that gives equal time to both hardware and organizational factors.
“Today, knowledge transfers have to be done in deliberate and systematic ways if the wisdom involved is to be converted into profits,” write English and Baker, consultants who are retired from careers at GTE and Raytheon, respectively. The themes of this book are knowledge sharing, benchmarking, and process improvement, and the presentation is clear and systematic.
The book starts with a short discussion of the competitive benefits of knowledge transfer which few will argue with. Chapter Four begins a series of chapters on classifying best practices and intellectual capital, crafting a workable framework, and implementing tools and concepts, such as software reuse management systems, JAVA servlet reuse, database management, and franchises—in the latter case extending the franchise idea from fast food to retail. Examples in the book derive from IBM, Raytheon, Xerox, Buckman Labs, General Electric, and Toyota.
We like the closing summary of more than thirty “key points and calls for action.” It is a misconception, for instance, that a best practice is one that lasts forever. All best practices have a life cycle, the authors remind us. Another key point: “Three driving forces fill the ‘enterprise innovation pipeline’: necessity, shared vision, and encouragement and learning.”