A Comparative Case Study of Knowledge Resource Utilization 243Copyright © 2005, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without writtencorporation has seven different instances of the ERP software applications to manage
operations in 47 countries (Konicki, 2000). Ultimately, the company is able to operate
using a single data center and one backup. Legacy assets and redundant IT positions
were combined. Standardization was implemented across every computer desktop. The
change created a capability to move rapidly in response to changing conditions. For
example, when it came time to move to the euro, the corporation did it once on the ERP
system for 15 countries (Barlas, 2002).
As of August 9, 2002, the company had saved $225 million, including the $75 million
saved at Colgate-Palmolive’s pet food division, Hill’s Science Diet (Barlas, 2002). Much
of the saving was earned through the reduction of working capital and inventory
(Konicki, 2000). The firm’s gross profit margins also increased consistently, going from
39.2% in 1984 to 54.4% in 2000 and expected to hit 60% margin by 2008 (Barlas, 2002).
Xerox
The Xerox Corporation is a $17 billion corporation headquartered in Stamford,
Connecticut. The company employs 79,000 workers to offer document solutions, ser-
vices, and systems (including color and black-and-white printers, digital presses,
multifunction devices, and digital copiers) designed for offices and production-printing
environments. The firm also sells associated supplies, software, and support for all its
products.
The company is examined in light of problems that had arisen from an inability to
share experience across the organization. The Xerox Corporation had troubles fostering
best practice among its group of printer maintenance employees. The problem centered
on an inability to circulate employee expertise using existing organizational infrastruc-
ture. The community of Xerox employees who repair the company’s machines found that
machines were not as predictable as documentation suggested. The organization needed
a way to help its technicians share their local knowledge around the world.
To help the maintenance technicians share their experience and expertise, Xerox
wanted to create a database to hold top repair ideas in order to share those ideas with
other technicians in all areas. This plan also called for only the most favored ideas to be
kept in the database as it often occurred that what one person thought useful others
found the same the idea absurd or redundant (Brown & Duguid, 2000).
In order to create a useful database for all of its repair technicians, Xerox created
a database of the technicians’ top reserve ideas. This database also doubled as a resource
for repair technicians who had developed the habit of calling engineers in Rochester, New
York, to answer customer problems (Issac, 2003).
Before the creation of the database, the firm realized that many databases were
created by managers who filled the databases with information they thought would be
useful for their employees. However, most of those databases were rarely used by the
employees. When Xerox created its Eureka database, it also formed a process for entering
and updating the ideas within the database. The process is based on a peer-review
system. Within this practice, the representatives, not the organization, supply and
evaluate tips. In this way a local expert would work with the representative to refine the
tip. Representatives and engineers evaluate the tips, calling in experts where appropriate.
After the Eureka database was implemented and ideas were being added, Xerox
offered to pay for tips being inserted. However, the pilot group of representatives who