Knowledge visualization for strategic change: Mapping knowledge for discovering business renewal

Based on an in-depth case study of a strategic decision-making within a professional service firm, this paper explores how the knowledge visualization tools facilitate a holistic and rational understanding of the business process renewal. There is a pressing need to draw attention to how knowledge is developed and evolved within changing activities and how visual representations can help managers to have a more comprehensive picture of the multiple and reciprocal connections between strategic and knowledge processes. Based on the approach that views knowledge as a social accomplishment situated in actions, our work highlights the power of the symbolic interactions between managers and visual representations for the development of new meanings for actions and situations for the firm’s strategic renewal. We approached our data with the following question: are the visual representations of knowledge in action useful in capturing and stimulating the dynamic nature of the strategic change? The case we study highlights that visual representations in the forms of strategy maps provide a powerful tools for making the multiple interrelations between knowledge and strategy evident and for helping managers to explore promising patterns of business renewal.