Knowledge management in service industries; Tata consultancy services Ltd.

Abstract

Our case study aims to do a qualitative review of what is knowledge management, how it is applied at the business and the organizational level in service industries and what are the key implications with respect to strategy and competition. The case also narrates how a global IT firm like Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), head-quartered at Mumbai, India, has employed and leveraged Knowledge Management for over a decade as one of its competitive advantages. A few existing employees of Tata Consultancy Services we met for the case walked us over the unabating challenges that bothers TCS, the threats pertaining to knowledge capital and the dilemmas faced by the Executive Leaderships pertaining to the v iable adoption of a suitable KM Strategy for growth. We have then focussed on how Knowledge Management helps in mitigating such threats and how developing different learning awareness on the KM initiatives are taken up and implemented by the service firms on a global level. Finally, we have also come up with some recommendations to the dilemmas faced the Leaderships.