Begin with the End to Solve Business Problems and Create a Competitive Advantage

摘要

It is a well known fact that our society is highly focused on immaterial concepts such as ideas, know- how, skills and expertise. Human capital is one of the most important resources today and organizations .know that the capability to manage and use it effectively will become a major source of competitive advantage. When it comes to large multinational organizations, they have more opportunities to learn about markets, competitors and best practices, but they also face a greater challenge because of their size and the complexity it brings (Trussler 1998). Both organizational as well as national borders have to be defeated. This paper presents the ongoing work within the global development and construction company Skanska and its efforts in implementing different global strategic Expert Groups. Currently, Skanska has twelve official Expert Groups. An Expert Group is similar to a sponsored Community of Practice (CoP) that has been created specifically with the purpose to share knowledge within a specific field, and demonstrates for example rapid problem solving and professional skill development. When starting up a new Expert Group, much effort is spent'on the question "What does success look like?" (i.e. to begin with the end). All members within a group should together answer this question and also make a priority of the outcome of what is most important. By answering and documenting this question jointly at an early stage, it has been easier for the Expert Groups to identify their Target Groups and to communicate what type of questions or issues they are willing and capable of responding to. They have been able to stay focused and the political barriers have been low. It has also been easier to measure progress of these Expert Groups. These results provide some guidance for effective collaboration within organizations. Especially multinational corporations benefit from profitable knowledge sharing since the gathering of their diversified knowledge from different operations and markets is a key asset for achieving a competitive advantage.