My paper Brokers on cost management make use of knowledge based practices and ontology based tools, co-authored with Roberta Cuel, Roberto Biscaro and Paolo Collini has been accepted for publication, and will be presented at IMP 2006 (22nd Industrial Merketers and Purchasers) conference, held in Milan, Italy, on 7-9 September.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how consultancy firms on cost management often play the crucial role of brokers among organizations (buyers and suppliers). The analysis has been carried on within an Italian consulting company, and has been aimed at understanding: (i) how consultants on reduction costs manage their knowledge in order to produce effective value from their activities; (ii) how consultants play the role of brokers between buyers and suppliers, and enable product or process innovation; (iii) how semantic based technologies can help consultants and organizations to effectively manage purchasing data and costs.
The work has been based on two different activities: (i) an ethnographic study, and a series of interviews aimed at understanding knowledge management processes (according to the Weick’s sensemaking approach (1995)) between the consultancy firm and its clients; (ii) the investigation of semantic based tools developed within the consultancy firm. These tools are used to manage knowledge about costs and purchasing processes, and their implementation implies some technological and organizational consequences.
We demonstrate that theoretical approaches on cost management can be improved by a knowledge management approach, such as the sensemaking framework. This one becomes much more relevant when cost management activities are developed in outsourcing processes, when distinct organizational perspectives and cultures encounter, and finally when information asymmetries arise. We also explain, how consultants allow the encountering of various perspectives, forcing purchaser officers to look for more suitable, innovative, and less expensive solutions. Finally, the analysis of semantic based technologies illustrates how the industry of cost management is evolving and how innovative solutions enable purchaser officers to effectively manage knowledge, identifying and buying more suitable and less expensive products or services.